FCP 7 will not see my Canon XHA1S

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Level 2

335 points

FCP 7 will not see my Canon XHA1S

I have just bought a new *Canon XHA1S* HD Camcorder and made a few clips, all HD 1080i 50 (PAL). I have tried connect the camera via the 400 (6 pin) Firewire socket on the camera to the 800 on the MAC Pro. No matter what I try the MAC has no idea it exists. I have tried removing all other firewire devices .. making sure the camera is powered and on VCR with the FW cable in before starting FCP7 no joy. Also have tried iMovie 9 too, it also sees no camera. The cable and port on the MAC are fine to verify this I connected the same cable to a small external FW drive and it worked first time. I have adjusted various FCP settings and on the XHA1S too .. I now have very little hair left all pulled out .. all help is gratefully received !! HELP PLEASE !!

MAC Pro 2 X 2.26 Quad CoreXeon, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 12Gb 1066 RAM 2Tb HDD + 4TB Drobo

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 12:51 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 20, 2009 1:27 PM in response to JimKells

(deleted)

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Answer 2

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Sep 20, 2009 3:09 PM in response to JimKells

Have you tried to connect the camera to another computer?

If not, try that. The problem could reside with the camera.

Of course, you must also verify you have the camera setup correctly ....

Good luck,

x

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Answer 3

JimKells Author

Level 2

335 points

Sep 21, 2009 10:58 AM in response to Studio X

Hi X,

I am going to try my MAC Book Pro but I need to get a 400 - 400 (6 pin - 6 pin) FW lead. In the interim I have raised a support ticket with Canon. For the benefit of others viewing this I will update you with the outcome of both Canon Support desk and the MAC Pro .. Thanks for the suggestions .

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Answer 4

Sep 21, 2009 11:05 AM in response to JimKells

Jim, I have a MacPro and a MBP and a XH-A1. Both machines capture fine using the FW400 bus. I've never tried the 800.

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Answer 5

JimKells Author

Level 2

335 points

Sep 22, 2009 9:36 AM in response to Denis Murphy

Hi Denis , I have bought a nice new FW400 - FW400 lead and tried it on my MBP both iMovie 09 and FCP 7 do not see the camera. I am my wits end with this now 😟 I have tried just about ever setting I can see I including changing from HDV to DV - changed from 1080i to 576i , HD Down Cov On and again with it OFF .. I even grasped the letterbox off straw .. what settings did you use ? By the way I note you mentionthe FW400 on your MAC Pro mine only has FW800 ports hene why I usedthe FW400 on the MBP

Jimkells

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Answer 6

Sep 22, 2009 9:52 AM in response to JimKells

Hi Jim.

I just use the HDV 1080i50 Firewire Basic Easy Setup, which is preferable for Canon equipment. Everything works fine.

With regard to camera settings, I just put the cam in VTR mode and make sure it's set up for HDV. Downconversion should of course be OFF if you want to capture HDV. (By the way I've found it's necessary to disconnect the firewire cable to enable/disable HD downconversion, not that that's relevant to your immediate problem.)

The camera setting AV->DV should be OFF. (On is for when you're recording straight to the camera using the RCA analogue inputs.

Sometimes the XHA1's VTR is a little finicky in and refuses to switch properly between HDV and DV. Make sure the correct format is showing in blue in the camera's mode selector dial (when you switch it to VTR mode).

That's all I can think of - but of course the more unpalatable possibility is that the camera's firewire port is not working. They're pretty delicate; you have to be very careful inserting the cables, but I'm sure you've been careful with it.

Do you know anyone else with a know working system (or a working XH-A1 that you could borrow?)

If you're in Dublin anytime soon I'd be happy to let you try your camera on my own system. (My email is in my profile, though not in the usual place).

Hope this helps.

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Answer 7

JimKells Author

Level 2

335 points

Sep 23, 2009 8:50 AM in response to Denis Murphy

Progress !! I on my MBP I reinstalled 10.5.8 and looked in the system profiler for FW devices this showed my XHA1S was cnnected, then using Denis's advice on settings I can now log and capture with FCP. What a relief .. now the bad news is that on my MAC Pro it seems to have a FW bus conflict because when I connect the camera on it system profiler cannot detect any FW devices. I am going to procure a samall 2 port FW400 card and see with a dedicated FW400 bus will it work. I can cope by capturing the product on the MBP but it is adding another step to my workflow which has already enough .. beside wrestilg the MBP off my wife is the big issue..

Jimkells

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Answer 8

Oct 7, 2009 9:17 PM in response to JimKells

This worked for me:

I just worked with a Canon camera this weekend, and you need to sit down and make sure that you've got every setting correct before you start plugging things in. With Final Cut off, and no firewire cable plugged into the camera, switch it to VCR mode, so you can watch the tape with the controls on the camera. Then go into the menu, make sure that you're not set to down-convert to DV. Get out of the menu. Shut the camera off, plug in the firewire cable to both the camera and computer, and turn the camera back to VCR mode. Open up Final Cut, and go to Easy Setups > HDV > 1080P24 Firewire Basic (or whatever setting you used + firewire basic). This should be the correct setup, but it really depends on how you shot. Cmd-8 to open up the log and capture window, and you should be good to go.

I had to digitize from the Canon camera with Firewire Basic, but when laying back to tape, it wanted a standard firewire, not basic, but this could be because I laid back NTSC DV material.

If this doesn't work for you, post back and we can see where we have to go from there.

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Answer 9

JimKells Author

Level 2

335 points

Dec 28, 2009 3:56 AM in response to JimKells

My issue came down to me trying to set up the camera while it was connected. When I followed the advice of other users it worked and still does.

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Answer 10

Mar 3, 2010 8:14 AM in response to JimKells

Did you ever get it to work with your Mac Pro? I'm experiencing problems right now, and I'm thinking of buying this FW 400 pci express card from OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technology/FWUSB2E/

Any luck?
Like you, I tried with my MBP and had no problems (though I only have iMovie on there). But did you ever get it to work with just a 6-9 pin cable?

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Answer 11

JimKells Author

Level 2

335 points

Mar 17, 2010 2:52 PM in response to Joel Majors

Apologies for slow response .. I got it to work with a lead .. I did eventually buy a FW400 pci express card which I now use .. with greater reliability.

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