MiniDV to PC Help

Hi, I'm new to the forums and really need some help if I can get some.

I have two MiniDV cameras, both with firewire support. In the past, the firewire has worked just fine to get my video onto my PC but it just seems very tempermental now. One of my cameras (a Panasonic PV-GS12) is not even recognizeable by the computer anymore. I will plug it in, turn it on, and nothing will happen. Windows and my Mac both do not recognize it at all. I can connect it via USB which it will connect but I don't have the drivers to do anything with it after that. I have tried resetting my Panasonic via the reset button but it still will not work. It has worked in the past, but not any time recently.

My second camera (a Samsung SCD67) will connect via firewire and is recognized, but it won't work past that. In Adobe Premiere it says something about "Unable to start recorded. Please reset the camera". Unfortunately, this camera does not have a reset switch like my Panasonic.

I have no idea what to do at this point. I have a film project coming up soon and I really need to be able to edit my videos digitally but all of my cameras are giving me grief. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix these problems or alternative ways to get the video onto my computer? I looked at some MiniDV tape decks but they appeared to be several hundred dollars which is not very cost effective.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MiniDV decks are a sweet tool to have. But The first thing I would do is uninstall and reinstall your devices. When they're connected you should be able to find them in device manager. Uninstall them. Then look for the latest drivers for your cameras online. Install them. Then connect your cameras.

Thanks for the prompt reply and help.

I am connecting my cameras via firewire and I don't have any drivers for them and have never needed them. I have searched Google for drivers anyway but never found any.

What would they be listed as in the Device Manager?

IEEE 1394 (firewire) is a standard interface and even when you add a firewire card...XP will load its drivers.
Go into the device manager and click the + on IEEE, highlight and right click properties. Try troubleshooting from there.
You can also check it through "settings" then "network connections"
BOL

The fact that more than one computer does not recognise the presence of the Panasonic camera suggests it may have suffered failure of its Firewire chip. We see this frequently at the repair shop where I work - Firewire chips in cameras are prone to damage from ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge), otherwise known as getting zapped...

If possible try it on a third computer as confirmation, if that is the cause it's a moderately expensive repair.

I went into my device manager and tried resetting both IEEE ports but the Panasonic still will not work and the Samsung still has the same error.

My best bet is probably to try and troubleshoot my Samsung. Does anyone have any ideas why it's still saying "Failed to start recorder. Try resetting camera." or how to reset that particular camera?

Come to think of it, I remember the Panasonic stopped working after a rather large storm a few days ago and that's when it first asked me to reset my camera. I guess that is the cause of that camera's problems, and I don't have a repair shop anywhere near here really.

If there is no other way to fix them, is there any other way to get the video onto my PC? I could probably record through the AV out on the camera's, but won't that make it analog and rather crappy quality? Is there any other solution that I can do? Maybe a dirt cheap and rather crappy MiniDV camcorder but has a firewire port?

Thanks again for all the help.

The Samsung isn't set for the DV to be an input is it? The software may be trying to put the camera into record mode thinking you want to upload to the DV input?

I went through the menu on the Samsung and couldn't find any options pertaining to DV at all. I will try a different application to pull the videos and see how that goes, maybe it's just Premiere. I'll post the results.

Thanks again for all the help.

Premiere can be peculiar, definitely. The quality of video from different firewire devices should be the same. The only problem I've ever had involves fields and interlacing. If you're using default settings (60i), you should be fine.

I just tested it in Windows Movie Maker (ew) and it worked fine, atleast for the Samsung. Looks like I don't have to get a new camera after all (I'm relieved, but I was kind of looking forward to getting a new one).

Thanks for all the help again. I'll try and find another capture utility. I think I had one a while back called SceneIt or something.

Don't forget to look for the latest updates for your Premiere App at www.adobe.com. They're pretty good about fixes when it's their fault.