Macs won't recognize my Z1U

Looking for some help here. I've connected my Z1U to my Macs daily for a long time with no problems. But, today I can't get the computer to recognize the camera. I've tried just about everything I can think of - turn off/on multiple times, changed the firewire cord, rebooted computer and hard drives, tried it in three different Macs - nothing is working. My PD170 is instantly recognized on all stations so it's leading me to the camera as the problem.

Wondering if maybe I've worn out the DV port on the camera itself? I've messed with every setting in the menu possible and am still stuck.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I'm under deadline for this and can't move forward till I can capture this footage.

Mahalos,

Bryce

Looking for some help here. I've connected my Z1U to my Macs daily for a long time with no problems. But, today I can't get the computer to recognize the camera. I've tried just about everything I can think of - turn off/on multiple times, changed the firewire cord, rebooted computer and hard drives, tried it in three different Macs - nothing is working. My PD170 is instantly recognized on all stations so it's leading me to the camera as the problem.

 

Wondering if maybe I've worn out the DV port on the camera itself? I've messed with every setting in the menu possible and am still stuck.

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as I'm under deadline for this and can't move forward till I can capture this footage.

 

Mahalos,

Bryce

Hi Bryce,

I think the FireWire port died, unfortunately. Try to remember: when you connect the camcorder with the computer, were any of them switch on? Sony sais that both devices should be switch off before connecting, otherwise it can kill the firewire port on the camcorder. (When I bought my V1, I had to sign a paper, that the distributor warned me about his possibility, because the warranty is not void for this...).

So try to grab another HDV tape or camcorder to capture the footage...

Best

Jules

Hey Jules - guess that's a possibility. Don't want to admit it though. Anyone else ever hear this?

I do sometimes hook up the firewire when the camera is on - and almost always when the computer is on. Done it for 8 years virtually everyday with no problems. Problem is, I have no other way to get the HD footage into the computer right now. Guess I may need to buy that deck I've been avoiding for so long...

Thanks for your reply - I just tried resetting the camera and nothing still.

Shoots!

Hey Jules - guess that's a possibility. Don't want to admit it though. Anyone else ever hear this?

 

I do sometimes hook up the firewire when the camera is on - and almost always when the computer is on. Done it for 8 years virtually everyday with no problems. Problem is, I have no other way to get the HD footage into the computer right now. Guess I may need to buy that deck I've been avoiding for so long...

 

Thanks for your reply - I just tried resetting the camera and nothing still.

 

Shoots!

I think you may try to rent one for a day.

Or, if you have an Aja Kona or Decklink card, you can capture the footage via them (analogue output from the camcorder and digitize with the capture card).

Bummer Bryce....I think you killed ya port.

Always have the camera off when plugging in the fire wire cable into the camera or computer with the camera attached.

Yeah, think it's dead. I had the camera off when I plugged it in today at first - and it was fine last night - just seems odd.

Jules - you using either of those cards? Wondering the pros/cons versus an HD deck - other than price (without getting into the tape/tapeless discussion)?

Hey Bryce,

I doubt your port is dead. This happened to me as well. Took some digging but uncovered the bug and the fix.

Try this first:

1a. Shut down your computer

1b. Trash final cut preferences and empty trash

1. Disconnect the firewire cable

2. Turn the camera on, set to VCR mode, make sure it is set to play HDV, go into the menu to Rec In / Out, and make sure ilink Conv is set to Off, (On for DV) and load your tape.

3. Connect your camera to the mac via firewire.

4. Now turn on the mac and launch FCP.

5. Close any projects that open with it.

6. Choose one of the HDV easy setups, for example, HDV1080i60/50, if that's how you shot your video.

7. Now open a new project.

8. Open up log and capture. Make sure you have your capture scratch disk set.

9. Play a bit of your tape using the computer keyboard to control the camera, and then try capturing.

If this doens't work, you need to go deeper into preferences. Drop me a line today and I can walk you through it. Could be complicated but fixable.

Shawn

Shawn,

When trashing preferences one should never dump the trash until FCP is re opened. This will create new preferences and only then you should empty the trash.

Steve

Shawn,

When trashing preferences one should never dump the trash until FCP is re opened. This will create new preferences and only then you should empty the trash.

Steve

I will usually move the prefs off to somewhere else and save them in case things go kablooey, but usually the reason things went south is because of the prefs anyway

You can use FCP rescue to do all the prefs stuff. Make sure you make a backup of working prefs as well:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/fina.../fcprescue.html

You may also wish to check if you did any updates to your OS or programs. Sometimes that screws up something. You can reapply the last OS update (download the combo rather than software update) and always backup before you update.

Frying the port is not very easy but it does happen.

To test your port quickly, if you have another DV cam, just connect via 1394a 4 pin and see if the other camera sees it. If you don't have another camera, plug into your computer and use a program like Skype or something to test the feed.

I am still looking for it, but there is a post on either Apple or Creative Cow on how to fix this in the case nothing works. It finally worked for me.

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Shawn - it's not a FCP pro issue - b/c I can't even get the LCD screen on the camera to show "HDV/DV In" - when it's hooked up.

I feel like the computer isn't recognizing the camera - not the program. I've got a PD170 and a PD100 that both load up instantly when I hook them up - making me believe it must be a camera issue. I'm pretty good at trouble shooting this situation usually, but this has me totally strapped.

Drew - no changes to this OS - It was good in the morning and bad by the night time. Ran ONYX and repaired permissions anyway though with no response. Also have two other Mac work stations, each running different versions of the OS - none of which will recognize the cam. Shut down computer for an hour to reset the Firewire ports - nothing...

Any more insights as I really don't want to send off this camera simply for the Firewire port?

Hey Bryce,

I doubt your port is dead. This happened to me as well. Took some digging but uncovered the bug and the fix.

 

Try this first:

1a. Shut down your computer

1b. Trash final cut preferences and empty trash

1. Disconnect the firewire cable

2. Turn the camera on, set to VCR mode, make sure it is set to play HDV, go into the menu to Rec In / Out, and make sure ilink Conv is set to Off, (On for DV) and load your tape.

3. Connect your camera to the mac via firewire.

4. Now turn on the mac and launch FCP.

5. Close any projects that open with it.

6. Choose one of the HDV easy setups, for example, HDV1080i60/50, if that's how you shot your video.

7. Now open a new project.

8. Open up log and capture. Make sure you have your capture scratch disk set.

9. Play a bit of your tape using the computer keyboard to control the camera, and then try capturing.

If this doens't work, you need to go deeper into preferences. Drop me a line today and I can walk you through it. Could be complicated but fixable.

Shawn

Thanks Shawn! I thought I'd also fried my firewire link on my V1, but that trick has now fixed it and it is up and running again. I hardly ever use the V1 to capture so it wasn't the end of the world, but I'd been scratching my head for the last couple of days as I had to export something under DVCAM and couldn't get it to work. Nice one!

Sorry it didn't seem to fix your problem Bryce!

Cheers, Simon

edit ---- Now it wont recognise my normal capture device. Do you need to do this every time you change the camera you capture with?

Reset the camera. Then try to test the camera again.

Simon, no but sometimes the prefs go screwy. You also need to make sure you choose the right capture preset.

Yeah, think it's dead. I had the camera off when I plugged it in today at first - and it was fine last night - just seems odd.

 

Jules - you using either of those cards? Wondering the pros/cons versus an HD deck - other than price (without getting into the tape/tapeless discussion)?

Hi,

yes, I use a Kona LHe capture card for capturing HDV footage directly to Prores, and to monitor the footage on an external monitor.

Pro: you can avoid HDV

Con: cost much money...

Best,

Jules

Drew - tried resetting the camera on the first day - with no results.

Jules - my one thing with the cards is that you still end up using the camera for capture purposes. Probably a better route though for the future when I end up tapeless one of these days....

Thanks for all the thoughts again -

Yes, it is true. But in your current case, you could get your footage out of the camcorder, since it is bypassing the iLink output...

Jules do you have any noticeable increase in quality by capturing that way or is it just a method to bypass a major mac hardware upgrade? I've heard about using a similar system for live recording, but if you have already recorded to tape then isn't it ultimately HDV quality that you are capturing even though you are using ProRes?

Cheers, Simon

if you have already recorded to tape then isn't it ultimately HDV quality that you are capturing even though you are using ProRes?

Once it is on the tape, it is HDV...

(Need to figure out a way to carry my computer tower underwater )

Jeez Drew you're up early/late!!

Cheers, Simon