my brand new HV30 huge problems not recognized by Windows xp

[Chuck Engels]

Hi, this is my long story, and I will put as much details as I could.

I am a computer science grad student and just bought a brand new canon hv30 from Amazon USA and mailed it to friend resides in the states. I captured my trips in states with it on some Sony HDV tapes and they seemed perfect. but problem occurs when I returned to Canada (yes, I live in Toronto).

When I plugged the camera into my computer with newly bought *Ultra 2 port 1394a pci card*(just bought it for camcorder), the computer not recognize hv30 at all (windows xp SP2), yes, I put it in tape mode and no matter whatever I select (play, record, off), the windows never poped up "found new hardware stuffs" like that, ok. I think it's not a problem since i used to play around with Premiere PRO a lot so I just gave it a swirl in CS3.... and under "capture" Premiere pro CS3 tells me capture device is offline... so my best guess was like "heck, the hv30 is too new to be recognized, how about trying DV SP mode". I thus set the camcorder to DV SP mode, output locked to "DV lock"... again, device offline. I was like <language changed>?! I used to edit footages with my old 3CCD panasonic camcorder never got a problem with CS3.

since 1394 doesn't work, I started out to try the usb connection, but guess what? the usb doesn't work either (yes, I put hv30 in still image mode! and connected only USB cable to camcorder), nor does the computer pops up message like "new hardware detected".... so my best guess is that both USB & fireware ports on camcorder are fired?! what a probability... I should go for a lottery

I googled the net, and tried the so called "mstape.inf" method, no good at all, it won't even install . tried it with my linux os installed on the same computer(debian, etch, owner compiled kernel 2.6.24) nope, not working! I am scratching my hairs like a nut...

I guess I should return it to canon for repairing, but it seems that Canon Canada won't issue warranty coverage for products bought in USA... i guess I am screwd.

can someone see is there anything wrong with it or I really missed something trivial?

[Steve Grisetti]

That HV30 is giving a lot of people connection problems with Premiere Elements, jian. And nobody is quite sure what's up, because the HV20, which is very similar, has no problems at all!

There's a big discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2930&start=0

But the solution may lie with a free HDV capture program called HDVsplit, available on the web.

The program doesn't come with any documentation, but it shouldn't be terribly hard to figure out. And the HDV it captures from the HV30 should import easily into a Premiere Elements project with HDV settings.

And be sure to check out the very helpful "sticky" on HDVsplit that George posted at the top of this very forum!

[jian1]

HDVsplit doesn't work either... literally speaking, my hv30 1394 port seems to be dead, no matter what u tried.

[jackfalbey]

You could also check the forums at www.hv20.com; someone there may have had a similar problem with their HV30 and found a solution.

If it's a dead Firewire port, Canon should honor the warranty and replace it. For future reference, Firewire cables can carry a static charge and if they are connected while the equipment is turned on the discharge can fry the port. It's always best to connect Firewire devices when they're turned off.

[Steve Grisetti]

And, if it's any consolation, a new card can be had pretty cheaply. This one is under $10 and includes a 4-to-6-pin cable!
http://www.amazon.com/FireWire-IEEE-139 ... 003&sr=8-8

[Ted]

Perhaps it's late and I'm not understanding this thread...

Am I to understand that I won't be able to use my new Canon HV20 with Premiere Elements 4?

One reason I went with the HV30 and NOT with the HF10, was that PE4 couldn't work with the HF10.

Now I'm learning it won't work with PE4?

What's going on?

(Yes, I checked the other links, but they were mostly talking about HDV Split).

Should I just box up the HV30 and try my luck with the HF10?

[Bob]

Ted,

There are some problems capturing video from the Canon HV30 directly in Premiere Elements, but you can use the free HDVSplit utility to capture the HDV video instead. Premiere Elements 4 will work with the captured HDV files perfectly. So, it's more of a minor inconvenience than anything else. In fact, many prefer using HDVSplit over the built-in capture in Premiere Elements. I'd keep the HV30, it's a great unit.

Jian's problem is different. It sounds like the ports in the camera may have been damaged somehow. A lot of camcorder manufacturers recommend turning the computer and camera off before connecting or disconnecting the firewire cable to prevent such damage.

[Bobby]

The problem between the HV30 and PE4 is only when in HD mode, and then HDVSplit does indeed work fine. But if you downconvert in the camera it looks like a "normal" SD camera and PE4 handles it just fine. So the problem is confined to HD only.

Since most of us aren't producing HD (i.e. BluRay) disks yet, this isn't that much of a problem. I figure that by the time I can afford to upgrade my system to BluRay, Adobe will have fixed the problem.

Bob

[Ted]

Hi Bob & Bob,

Thanks very much for the reassurance. Yes, since I'll do most of my work in SD to begin with, I think I'll be okay.

I did test some HD footage last night before I went to sleep... and it seemed to capture it okay... but I couldn't see it in the preview.

I'll look at HDVSplit. Is it fairly intuitive for a real rookie like me?

Again, I appreciate your answers! I feel better.

[kanone]

This problem is fairly widespread, and not restricted to Canon equipment. The problem essentially lies in the way that Microsoft implemented the IEEE 1394 protocol driver stack. The subject is discussed in some detail in my article posted on BBs Videohelp and FriendsofHDVideo: Canon HV20/30/40 IEEE 1394 connectivity issues with Windows which you can Google.

The bottom line is that, without protocol drivers that explicitly recognize the MPEG2-TS transport stream, the one used on a 1394 connection to transport HDV, your camcorder will not be recognized by Windows XP when its video output is set to HDV. You must change the output settings to SD (standard definition) to downconvert the output for it to be recognized. This is your standard North American 525 lines @ 60 Hz refresh television picture.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Kanone, Welcome to Muvipix
Thanks for the additional info.

I think that most people do not have this issue, I know that I have not had any problems at all on at least 4 systems.
Why is it that some people have this problem and others don't? Are the protocols not standard in the Windows OS?
Thanks

[Bob]

The microsoft drivers to support HDV capture were introduced in XP SP2 and Vista SP1 Premium and Ultimate. If you are at least that level, you should be able to capture HDV.

[Ron]

Kanone, please respond to this post to ensure that you're a bonafide contributor and not a spammer.

Thanks!