[Jack Niedenthal]

Actually, in Barry Green’s book about the HPX 170 he says: “While it may or may not function to use the camera in USB device mode with a Macintosh computer, it is not recommended or guaranteed; when connecting to a Mac, please use the 1394 terminal instead. The USB terminal is guaranteed to work only with Windows PCs.”

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands

[Jack Niedenthal]

Okay, for some reason I was thinking the USB port was only for Windows computers.

Isn’t USB much slower than the 1394 port?

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands

[Jack Niedenthal]

Thanks, Steve. I did read the manual, but I couldn’t get it to work right. Let me state what I have discovered and tell me if you think this is okay to do:

My setup is as follows:

I have an iMac with a 2 TB external hard drive.

My FCP X has all of its files on the ext HD.

What I do when I load files from the camera:

1 turn off hard drive
2 attach firewire 800 cable from camera (turned off) to ext HD (which is also turned off).
3 turn on camera, get into PC mode
4 turn on hard drive

This gets the camera mounted onto the computer, then I open FCP X and import. Works fine, but I just want to know if any of these steps might damage anything.

Thanks for your help.

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands

[Jack Niedenthal]

Thanks, Jeremy. I used to think living in the middle of nowhere was a challenge and an adventure, then I got this camera…

The time on the cards could become an issue as most of my shoots are done in my free time (weekends, after work, etc), so we cram in a lot of hours at those times.

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands

[Jack Niedenthal]

If I shoot at 1080i/60i wouldn’t this appear more like a home video as opposed to a movie, say, shot in 24p? Is there an advantage for the requirements I mentioned above to shooting this in 1080i/60i as opposed to say 720/24p?

I really appreciate the responses to these questions that may make me appear is a neophyte. As I have said, I am in the wilderness.

Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands

[Jack Niedenthal]

Thanks Ty, that is an interesting idea. I didn’t use anything else plugged in when the humming/buzzing occurred, all equipment used was on battery power, but if the hum comes back what I might try is plugging in the camera for the recording session.

[Jack Niedenthal]

Thanks Richard,
Your questions put me in the living room with 3 different mics and 2 cables, I don’t have another camera to test the mics and cables on, so I used the PD170.

First I tried each mic with each of the 2 different cables. The hum was there each time. Then just for the heck, I plugged in 2 mics into the 2 xlr ports on the camera so I was getting sound from each mic, right and left. I flicked some of the switches on the camera, the Mic ATT switch, the cable 1 to cable 1 & 2 switch, etc. I also started switching between manual and auto sound controls. I then unplugged both mics, then just plugged in just one like I normally would when filming. Low and behold, no matter which mic I used, the hum/buzz was gone. I tried everything to get it back, but I couldn’t so I am thinking the problem is solved, the scary thing is I don’t know why. My fear is i go out to film and the hum/buzz returns because I couldn’t really figure out what caused it… At any rate, thanks Richard, your questions prompted some experimentation that might have fixed the issue!