PC doesn't detect Sony camcorder via Firewire

dubkov · #1 (**permalink**) 10-25-2006, 04:16 PM

hi all,

I recently bought a supposedly new Sony Dcr - HC19 camcorder on Ebay. The problem I have is that when I connect it to the firewire port on my laptop, nothing happens - the PC doesn't detect a new device. My laptop doesn't actually have a built in firewire port, so I had to buy a PCMCIA card (the card gets recognized fine). When I connect the camera using USB everything works fine - the pc detects it and I can capture, but no luck with firewire. Today I took my friend's old Sony PC series cam and tried to connect it to my laptop (via firewire) - everything worked fine (the camera got detected and I was able to capture). This leads me to believe that there's something wrong with my camera (I hope not :( ). Can there be anything that I'm missing?

I was thinking maybe it's that HC19 has only DV out, and not DV in/out, like hc22 for example, but I doubt that it is the problem here...

Anyway - any help would be appreciated, thanks!

-Anton

Nikosony · #2 (**permalink**) 10-25-2006, 10:28 PM

Does the camcorder work in every other respect apart from the problem you describe in your post? Can I take it you are connecting a small 4 pin plug into the camera and a 6 pin into the laptop or is it also a small 4 pin? Peraonally, I wouldn't use a laptop for video work as they don't have the same resources as a desktop computer. Video uses up large amounts of memory and hard disk storage and CPU, which most laptops don't posess. Try another firewire cable and did you get any driver software along with that camera on CD?

dubkov · #3 (**permalink**) 10-26-2006, 04:26 AM

You are right - 4 pin (small) into the camera, and 6-pin (bigger) into the laptop (pcmcia card with 3 ieee1394 ports). The cable doesn't seem to be the problem since the other camera (sony pc something), that I tried plugging in using this particular cable into my laptop, got recognized and etc. ... There was a CD that came with the camera, it didn't have any drivers I believe, just some software for capturing, burning and etc. Also, I have WinXP.

Nikosony · #4 (**permalink**) 10-29-2006, 10:48 PM

Your camera could well have a problem if the other camera you used and firewire card are working fine. Someone else on this forum had a problem with a Sony camcorder a few months ago, I can't remember the details now, but it involved either disabling or deleting a driver in Windows Device Manager (did you check there to see if the Sony is listed as a capture device in Windows Device Manager) and they installed a new driver and it seems to have sorted the problem out for them. Try going onto Sony's website and see if there are any updated drivers or patches or fixes for your particular model of camera. If there is one, downloaded and install it to see if that does anything. Apart from that, I take it the camera is in playback mode and as you say it only has DV out rather than both DV in and out, so you don't have to worry about switching from one to the other.

dubkov · #5 (**permalink**) 10-30-2006, 08:00 AM

Thanks for the reply! I actually submitted the camera to a sony service center, and hopefully sometime this week they will be able to tell what's happening.

Nikosony · #6 (**permalink**) 11-01-2006, 09:39 PM

I hope Sony can sort out the problem for you and it won't cost a small fortune to fix.

robertclemenson · #7 (**permalink**) 11-23-2006, 02:08 PM

HI
i have exactly the same problem with my camcorder. I even relaced the firewire card but it still wont recognisemy cam . Have you had any sollution to the problem yet.i am beginning to think like you that its maybe the cam its self that isnt working but have no other cam to try. I would appreciate any help
thanking you
Robert clemenson

Nikosony · #8 (**permalink**) 11-25-2006, 10:45 PM

You should also look back over the posts put on this particular section going back six months to see if anyone else has put anything up relating to 'Problems with Sony Camcorder' as I'm sure you may find something.

CompCrazy · #9 (**permalink**) 04-04-2007, 11:24 AM

Hi,

You mentioned that you had sent the cam to Sony. What was the result reagrding the DV problem?

Regards.

d15k · #10 (**permalink**) 07-09-2007, 12:38 AM

Hello,
i'm having the same exact problem with Dell Inspiron 6400, Windows XP SP2, latest hotfixes, Sony Handycam DCR-HC96. I bought camera in december '06. still under warranty.

Tried 2 different Firewire cables, two different Dell laptops with built-in ports - no result.
Tried all kinds of disabling ports, changing IRQs, etc. on my Inspiron 6400 - no result.
Video capture from USB works just fine.

BTW, when I connect camera to PC thru Firewire, "DV In" writing on camera's display appears for one second. That's all I get.

Tried so many software: Sony Vegas 7, Adobe Premier 2.0, Ulead VideoStudio 10, different other software - no result. They don't detect camera connected to Firewire at all! that's has just become frustrating.

Any answer you received from anybody on solution?