Sony Handycam via firewire not auto-detected

[Andrew Woodruffe]

My digital camcorder has the 4pin "i-link" AV out. I've
got a sony cable which connects it to ieee 1394 6pin on
my pc running xp. When connected it is not auto-detected
and video editing software does not not have any of the
capture operations available. Have I got to set anything
up?

 

[Brian]

It could be a bad cable, try another device if you can, or is i link
detected in XP?

 

[Jeff]

I have the same camcorder, and whenever I turn it on while
it's plugged I get a little dialoge box, sort of like the
found new hardware. If you don't get that, it means
either 1) your firewire isn't working or 2) your computer
doesn't know what it is. If you can verify your firewire
is working properly, you need drivers to let your computer
know how to recognize the camcorder. Probably at sony.com
you can find drivers, or at least get pointed in the right
direction. Either sony or the company that makes the card
where your firewire connects to your computer should have
the drivers you need.

Hope this helps!

 

[Hausi Tellenbach]

Hi Andrew.

Try an other IEEE-1394 (aka Firewire aka i.Link) cable - I know many cases,
where a bad cable caused this, e.g.:
http://www.dvboard.com/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=13&t=21&st=75&#entry1713 and
many other posts...

Cheers,
Hausi

 

[ramar]

I have the exact same problem that I have been trying to
get a fix on for months without success. I believe there
is a bug in xp see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;329256?
Unfortunately I bought xp with my computer from Dell and
I cannot get Microsft to give me the fix because I get to
revert to Dell. Dell says they do not supply fixes merely
ensure that the install of xp is as normal. If you got
your xp off the shelf you may be successful in getting
the fix. If so please let me know. Here is my story
I just bought a new Dell 4600 computer, 512MB, Intel
Pentium 4-2.8, with

Windows XP Professional and transferred from my old

computer, a Texas Instruments OHCI compliant firewire
card in it. I cannot get any consistent video capture
from my Sony DCR-PC1 mini dv camcorder. Most of the time
it tells me that "a video device was not detected..etc."
or some similar type message, depending on the software I
am trying to use. On very very rare occasions if I leave
the camera connected and powered on, a window pops up for
a fleeting microsecond giving certain options. This
window is similar in appearance but not content to that
which one gets when you first pop in a CD or DVD in the
drive. On 2 occasions out of many hundreds, I was able to
catch this window and tried to capture video using Movie
Maker. The capture on both occasions worked but for less
than 2 or 3 seconds before cutting off. One of my prime
uses for my computer is video editing and I need help> to
correct this. I have tried using capture in Movie Maker,
Adobe Premiere and the Roxio platinum edition all to no
avail. I was able to capture video using Windows 98 and
various capture programs with the same firewire card and
connection on my old computer with no problems.

 

[Hausi Tellenbach]

Very often is a bad IEEE-1394 cable the reason ...
....see e.g.
http://www.dvboard.com/index.php?s=&act=ST&f=13&t=21&st=75&#entry1713

Cheers,
Hausi