Firewire testing

[airborne_artist]

I've installed a Firewire card - and a check on mycomputer-> system info -> hardware -> device manager says that the card is correctly installed and working. There is also an FW entry in the network adaptors section, which tends to suggest that the PC/FW setup is complete and 100%.

The card came with a cable to connect to a DV port - which is what I have on a JVC camcorder.

No joy when I connect the two, and turn on the camcorder. Nero says there is no device detected when I ask it to capture video.

I've bought a new cable, and still as above.

I guess the only remaining option is to take the camcorder to a known working FW card, and try there, and to do the reverse, ie borrow camcorder known to work with FW port, and test it on my PC.

Unless, of course, you know differently?

[Saab Dastard]

Can you confirm that it is a PCI card? If so, what version of PCI is the card, and what version of PCI are the slots in your PC?

SD

[Conan the Librarian]

Some Firewire cards and DV Camcorders are a bit touchy. About three years ago, several manufacturers (and those of video editing suites) were mentioning specific cards that were known to work.

When I installed my own card first time around, it could not see the Camcorder and so I returned it to the supplier, who replaced it and from that point in time, everything has been fine.

Conan

[Bern Oulli]

Some editing software require the camera to be "On" and connected BEFORE you invoke the software itself, otherwise they don't "see" the camera.

[airborne_artist]

Card is PCI, PC is a six month old Dell mini tower running XP Pro. Installed card, card recognised on start-up, and installed by WinXP.

Turned camera on and plugged it in - nothing seen. When I plug in the still camera via USB it pops up a dialogue screen asking what I want to do. Expected to see a similar screen on firing up the Firewire.

[spannersatcx]

Never used nero to capture, use pinnacle studio, but there is an option to select which device to capture from make sure that is selected to the camera.

It's always advisable to plug in the camera the firewire socket first then switch on.

Is your capture card compatible with nero? see here (http://www.nero.com/nero7/eng/all_capture_devices.php) assuming you are using nero 7!

[eticket]

airborne_artist,

As you have found, getting video cameras to talk to computers via Firewire is not as straight forward as it should be.

Here is a link to a forum (http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=106567&page=2&pp=15) on JVC camera / Firewire problems. The link is to page 2 where replies to problems put to JVC and Microsoft have been posted halfway down. There are a number of possible solutions suggested in subsequent posts and maybe one of them will help. Alternatively you can follow the links in the posts to other forums (fora) that offer help.

One implication is that JVC don't/didn't support Firewire problems and that Microsoft don't provide drivers for all cameras. Here is a link to Microsoft's list of video cameras (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q300459/) that have drivers included in Windows XP. I hope that yours is on the list, if not you may have to try to get a driver from JVC - if they do them.

Your original suggestion of borrowing someone else's non-JVC camera is a good one as if it works then at least you will know where you can borrow a camera! (Yes I know that it is not a helpful long term solution for you. Sorry.)

Stupid question #1 but you are using the camera in it's play mode and not in it's record/camera mode when you attach it to the Dell?

For your info the Firewire card that I have installed in my Dell computer is an ADS PYRO PCI 64, as recommended by my editing software manufacturer. Post #39 on the forum linked to above mentions that JVC Technical Support told him that JVC cameras were designed to talk to TI chips/chipsets on Firewire cards, (info from Feb 2004), and I see on the ADS website (http://www.adstech.com/products/API311/intro/API311intro.asp?pid=API311) that the PYRO PCI 64 does in fact use a Texas Instrument chipset (TI) and that they can be supplied with or without software bundles. (These Firewire cards can sometimes appear on eBay.) Perhaps in addition to JVC you might be able to get some advice from ADS as they have an ask an expert section (http://www.adstech.com/KB/%28qa5g3imqzldppanvrrdf1a3j%29/ADSCustomer_login.aspx?path=qhome) (needs registration).
(Mods I hope that the above wasn't too commercial. I am merely an end user not a retailer or a dealer/seller for ADS!)

Without wishing to depress you I have also found it impossible to get some cameras/vtrs to talk properly and this applies to both Windows and Macs. So even by changing the Firewire card it may still not be possible to get your JVC to work.

I don't know how good Nero is at talking to different Cameras but most reputable editing software manufacturers have a list of camcorders etc. that they have tested their software on posted on their websites. Most however are full of provisos as to what you can't do with each model.

Best of luck with your problem as I have been there on several occasions.

eticket

ps What is the full model number of your camera as this might help us to track down a solution for you?