Can't Capture With Macbook Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5, and Panasonic PV-GS320

[donloper]

I'm going crazy. I can't get my MBP to detect my camera.

- Macbook Pro, early 2011 model, OS X Lion, latest update
- Panasonic PV-GS320, about four years old
- Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5, purchased yesterday
- 4 to 9 pin Firewire cable, purchased yesterday

In System Information under Firewire I'm getting the message "Unable to list FireWire devices." which probably explains something, to someone, although not to me. This is a brand new cable that I just bought.

In Premiere it just says "Capture Device Offline". There has been no sign that the computer even knows the camera is connected to it. I've rebooted, disconnected, reconnected, turned the camera on and off, let it sit overnight, etc. I'm not sure what else I can try other than to go get another cable to make sure that's not the source of the problem. I don't have any other device with a Firewire port so I can't test it that way.

iMovie also doesn't detect the camera.

Yes, the camera is in playback mode.

Any assistance would be MUCH appreciated.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Someone has the same problem, which probably is due to the 2011 Mac mini, but maybe it is due to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Do you still have access to Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and could test there?

 

[cgbier]

Get another cable. These FW cables can be flaky. Are you sure the FW on your cam is ok?

 

[LethalWolfe]

In System Information under Firewire I'm getting the message "Unable to list FireWire devices." which probably explains something, to someone, although not to me. This is a brand new cable that I just bought.

That means the Mac can't see the device so either bad port on the Mac, bad port on the camera or bad cable (which seems unlikely since the cable is new). Or...

I've had DV and HDV decks that had 4-pin FW400 on the back and they would not be recognized at all when plugged into FW800 (either w/a 4-pin to 9-pin cable or with a cable adapter). Plug the same deck into the same machine but via FW400 and it worked. Test it on nearly 2 dozen machines w/the same results. The only conclusion we could come to is that some FW400 devices just would not be recognized if plugged into FW800. Which of course sucks if you only have a machine w/FW800.


Lethal

 

[donloper]

Well, I just went and exchanged the cable and still no worky, so we've most likely eliminated the FW cable as being the source of the problem.

I'm getting the feeling Lethal might have the right answer.

 

[cgbier]

I had a lot of trouble with cables 400 and 800. One cable would work with one camera/deck, but not with the other. We ended up with a bunch of cables dedicated to a specific camera and labeled them.

Canon cameras seemed to have been prone to this issue. We have 4 XL1's and each needs its own cable.