Sony A1U Firewire Capture Not connecting at all

[Greg Lewolt]

Tried downloading hdv split on my internet computer and plugging my camera in via fire wire, does’nt see the camera here either

Cable works fine with my dv deck, so the firewire card on the camera must be fried.

I’ll update when i find out for sure

Greg

[Jeremy Rasnic]

That can happen as the ground lead in the firewire cords are the same length as the others so by plugging up your camera when your system is on and your camera is on (or off) you could short out your firewire connection.

This isn’t something they tell you, but it is something that people find out the hard way. I hope your cam has warranty.

If not, you can always buy a cheap consumer grade HDV cam and use it specifically for capture if the cost of repair is greater than the cost of a new cheap cam.

j razz

[Greg Lewolt]

To update

I borrowed a friends cheap sony hdv camera and was careful to turn off camera and computer before connecting the firewire, also shut down and restarted when I had to change the down convert to off

Thanks to your post I did not fry HIS camera firewire board too

This time the HDV capture worked easy and fine

Sounds like a class action suit someday lots of fried boards when the menu says “hot pluggable device ”

many thanks

Greg

[Yuri Osorio]

Hello,
I just got my XH A1 and I’m having the same issue. I have all 3 though;

None
AJA video device.
IEEE 1394/MPEG2-TS device.

the last one has a check mark.

I’m able to download SD video using Vegas 8.0 pro when select DV but when I select
HDV or SDI, it has device not available

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[John Rofrano]

> I’m able to download SD video using Vegas 8.0 pro when select DV but when I select HDV or SDI, it has device not available

This suggests that your camera is in DV downconvert mode. You need to change it so that the firewire on your camera is in HDV mode. Disconnect the camera, change the mode, then connect it again.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Jay Bauer]

I have this exact same problem.

I am using a Sony HVR A1U and Vegas will not recognize it. Just like the original poster, I select my video preference and then select the firewire card and get the “not available” message.

I went into my cameras menu and turned on the firewire export and it still did not work. I am out of ideas.

[John Rofrano]

> I went into my cameras menu and turned on the firewire export and it still did not work.

It’s more than just turning on firewire. You have to also set the firewire output to either DV or HDV depending on how you want to capture and then use the matching capture mode in Vegas.

> I am out of ideas.

Have you been methodical about how you are debugging this? You need to start from one end of the chain and work toward the other:

1. Does your firewire port work? Have you used it with another firewire device to prove it works?
2. If Yes, does the firewire cable work when plugged into your working firewire port? Have you used it with another firewire device to prove it works?
3. If Yes, does Windows acknowledge your camera when you attach it via your working firewire cable and port?
4. If Yes, have you tried using both DV and HDV capture in Vegas to see if one works and the other doesn’t.

Somewhere along the line you will fine the point at which it doesn’t work and that’s what needs to be fixed.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com