Firewire and mini dv camera burnout ilink problem

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Firewire and mini dv camera burnout ilink problem

I have been working with the emac and firewire technology for several years to edit my videos. The cameras range from Sony,JVC and Panasonic.ALL CAMERAS LOST THE iLINK CONNECTION(BROKEN/BURNED NEEDED REPAIR) AND BASICALLY I HAD TO BUY A NEW CAMERA as the cost of repair was more than the cost of the camera. Is this a fault with camera or emac.I think this is a big problem with this technology and I am not sure which platform is at fault. Am I not setting up correctly. COMPUTER 1ST THEN CONNECT TO CAMERA.COULD ANYONE LET ME KNOW IF THEY HAVE HAD PROBLEMS WITH THIS FIREWIRE TECHNOLOGY. WHEN IT WORKED IT WAS FINE but Ilink replacement is ridiculous.PLEASE GIVE ME ADVICE. THANKS

Emac

Posted on May 26, 2008 7:36 PM

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Answer 1

May 27, 2008 4:25 AM in response to needsome

G'day,

I too have used firewire/iLink/IEEE 1394 with a few different video cameras (Sony & Canon) over the past 4 years. Never had any problems though.

When you say "burned", do you mean they simply stop working, or actually cause physical damage to the camera/computer?

Considering you can buy a 2nd hand eMac quite cheaply, compared to the cost of a new video camera, I'd have thought that would be a better option (assuming that the price of repairing the firewire port was extreme).

Can you try the eMac's firewire port with another firewire device, such as an external hard drive?

cheers

cosmic

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Answer 2

JMVP

Level 6

16,851 points

May 27, 2008 9:21 AM in response to needsome

Are the cameras four-pin Firewire or six-pin (as is the eMac)?

While this is unlikely to involve someone who's been using Firewire cameras for years, a number of posts over the years have noted a design flaw with the four-pin connectors used by many cameras, in that there's very little to distinguish the top from the bottom of the connector, and it's all too easy to jam the connector in upside down, switching the power and ground contacts and frying the device. Applying a drop of paint or nail polish to the top of the plug, with a corresponding drop on the top of the camera connector, helps.

Are you certain the problem is with the cameras and not the computer? If the Firewire link just stops working with multiple cameras, I'd check if the Firewire isn't latched up on the computer. Especially if the computer isn't on an Uninterpretable Power Supply (UPS), it's possible for momentary power glitches to trip the Firewire bus fuses and leave the fuses latched up. A quick check is to use System Profiler to see if th Firewire bus has vanished entirely. If so, remove all peripherals other than the keyboard and mouse, then remove the power cord from the side of the eMac (to remove the trickle current drawn by modern electronics even when nominally off) and wait 15+ minutes. Then reattach the power cord, start the Mac, and check System Profiler to confirm the Firewire bus is recognized.

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