MBP not recognizing camcorder

[LukeTruth]

This is my first post, first thread ever. Hopefully one day I can contribute helpful information, but for now I'm still just trying to get started.

I am attempting to capture some footage onto my new Macbook Pro. I purchased a 9 to 4 prong 1394 IEEE firewire cable and connected it to a Sony DCR-VX2000.

No dice. The MBP didn't detect it. I tried a Panasonic PV-GS180 with the same result (or lack thereof).

I'm using Final Cut Express for now and made sure the Easy Setup was properly set to DV-NTSC (right?). But I don't think that step was even relevant because when I do About This Mac > More Info it isn't showing anything connected to the firewire port.

I thought I would at least be able to get this far without asking for help but apparently not. Ah bittersweet humility. Thanks in advance for reading and hopefully helping.

 

[spinnerlys]

Are the cameras set to play, and is the DV-Out set to on on both cameras?

Also most of the time the proper procedure is to set the camcorder into play mode, connect it, and then start the capturing software.

 

[LukeTruth]

Thanks for the suggestion spinnerlys, the DV out was in fact set to off on one of the cameras but that didn't help. When I open FC it tells me that it's unable to locate the external device.

 

[LukeTruth]

Firewire 800 should work fine, right? Or are there some cameras who need FW400?

 

[spinnerlys]

FW800 will work fine, as it is backwards compatible to FW400.

As for your camera not being recognized, have you tried the following:

Turn off camera and Mac, connect them via FireWire, start the camera, start the Mac. Then see if it is recognized in FCE.

Also, have you tried an SMC reset yet?

1. Turn off the MBP.
2. Unplug all cables, even power.
3. Remove the battery.
4. Press the power button for more than 5 seconds.
5. Reinsert the battery.
6. Plug the power back in.
7. Start the MacBook Pro, and if it is finished with all the startup fuss, try again connecting the camera.

Could it be that the FW400 port of the camera is bust? Have you got another computer to try it on?

 

[mBox]

FW800 will work fine, as it is backwards compatible to FW400.

As for your camera not being recognized, have you tried the following:

Turn off camera and Mac, connect them via FireWire, start the camera, start the Mac. Then see if it is recognized in FCE.

Also, have you tried an SMC reset yet?

1. Turn off the MBP.
2. Unplug all cables, even power.
3. Remove the battery.
4. Press the power button for more than 5 seconds.
5. Reinsert the battery.
6. Plug the power back in.
7. Start the MacBook Pro, and if it is finished with all the startup fuss, try again connecting the camera.

Could it be that the FW400 port of the camera is bust? Have you got another computer to try it on?

At times my old trusty Canon DV cam does this. Make sure your camera is set to playback. Another weird one for some cameras is that its set to Input. Not sure what that means. Also to test camera just hook it up to any PC with a 1394 host card. For the life of me I can never figure out why some days the camera works on my mac then some it dont. I havent tried the old Canon with my new MBP. Scared to try