Trouble recognizing Canon XHA1

Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

Trouble recognizing Canon XHA1

Posted by Loretta Wilson on October 18, 2009 at 7:56 am

Hi,

I have been capturing HD footage for almost 12 months from a Canon XHA1 in to Final Cut Pro 6. All of a sudden FCP isn’t recognizing my camera. Usually a reboot would solve this problem. I have tried a SD tape in the camera in a SD DV PAL project to test the firewire connection and it works fine.

The only settings in the camera’s signal setup are:

TIME CODE
PLAYBACK STD (Grayed out but set to HDV when firewire is unplugged)
COMP OUT
AV – DV – off
HD DOWN CONV (Grayed out but set to OFF when firewire is unplugged)
LETTERBOX

If I change AV_DV to on, the deck is recognised but I get the following message when I hit capture now:

“This operation could not be completed as there is no video.”

Found another Post on the subject and followed the instructions to no avail.

Re: frustration with capturing and canon
by Brett Nelson on Mar 25, 2009 at 11:53:41 am

Jessica,
Here are steps that I think someone posted here a long while back. They have worked for me:

for HDV capture:
1. You FIRST need to disconnect the FireWire cable, then put your camera on VCR/Playback mode.

2. Click on the menu button and go to SIGNAL SETUP. (Since you do not have the FireWire cable plugged in, you can NOW change 2 important settings needed to import HD footage).

3. Under SIGNAL SETUP, scroll down to PLAYBACK STD. Click on that and make sure the HDV is set. NOT the AUTO, it most likely will not import under AUTO. Once the HDV is set, you’re half-way there.

4. Next go back to SIGNAL SETUP and scroll down to HD DOWN-CONV and click on this. Make sure it is OFF. Once you set this, you’re done.

5. Go back to SIGNAL SETUP and check this settings to make sure they read:
PLAYBACK STD HDV
HD DOWN-CONV OFF

6. You can now plug in your FireWire cable and you will see after a few seconds that these settings turn “gray” and you cannot change them.

7. Restart FCP

You didn’t mention if you’re logging and capturing, or just capturing everything at once. I’ve found Canon/FCP reliable for capturing whole tapes, but I’ve heard it’s less reliable capturing logged clips or on recapture. I haven’t done those much with this camera, so I can’t say.

Good luck!

Brett

I’m hoping I am missing something easy amongst the stress of meeting the deadline of this project because I am unable to capture! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Loretta

Richard Likong replied 15 years ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

Loretta Wilson
October 18, 2009 at 9:16 am

Okay, problem solved. Just played with easy set up settings, got back to the initial setting and it miraculously worked…very strange, but glad it is solved.
Dionisio Ceballos
November 29, 2010 at 3:50 am

Thanks a lot.

I was having this problem and the specific steps you posted worked perfectly. I have been searcing on my owners manual for an hour and now in 5 minutes steps I am up and running.

Thanks so much!!!
Jason Jenkins
April 20, 2011 at 3:27 am

Thanks for posting those steps. I was able to use them to help a colleague get his HDV capture working. The COW rocks!

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!
Richard Likong
April 28, 2011 at 4:24 am

I have a Canon xh-a1 and FCP 7, I used the setup you recommended but FCP still does not recognize the camera… Does FCP 7 will support the camera?

Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up

Creative Communities of the World Forums