Avid not seeing Mini-DV deck

[hlaycanson]

Forgive me if this is either a redundant topic or in the wrong section, I did a bit of searching and did not find a relevant topic and this seemed like the right subforum.

Anyways, I am trying to import footage from a mini dv tape with a mini dv deck onto my pc. The pc is win7 64bit, and I'm going through a firewire pci express expansion. As you can gather from the title I am trying to use avid media composer to do this. My problem is that it won't recognize the deck. I am not even sure the computer is recognizing the deck. I have tried both 8 and 9 pin connections on the expansion card.

What am I missing?

edit: deck is a sony GV-D1000, AMC is v5.5.2, the card is specifically a PCIxE to 1394 expansion

[aedipuss]

firewire 400 which is what the deck is, has either 4 or 6 pins.

use the correct ieee1394 cable to connect 4 to 6 or 6 to 6 pins.

[edDV]

I suggest you try to capture DV with WinDV then import the resulting DV-AVI file into AVID.

The captured file will be bit identical to the data on tape i.e. no loss.

[hlaycanson]

Ah. I think I mistakenly wrote 8 pin when I meant 6; I went back and checked and the first cable I tried was actually the 4pin to 6pin connection (4pin from deck into 6pin on card). I also tried using winDV, but still could not find the device.

The deck is confirmed working, I can play tapes back on it and it puts a video signal onto another monitor, so at this point I am thinking my 1394 card is bogus.

[edDV]

Ah. I think I mistakenly wrote 8 pin when I meant 6; I went back and checked and the first cable I tried was actually the 4pin to 6pin connection (4pin from deck into 6pin on card). I also tried using winDV, but still could not find the device.

The deck is confirmed working, I can play tapes back on it and it puts a video signal onto another monitor, so at this point I am thinking my 1394 card is bogus.

Try plugging the card into a different slot to force a driver reload/reconfigure. You can always move it back.

[hlaycanson]

That did force a driver reconfigure, but I still cannot find the deck in any software.

[edDV]

WinDV does work in 64bit Win7. There must be a problem with the card or with the player. Test the player on a different computer. IEEE-1394 ports can be zapped if a ground mismatch exists.

[aedipuss]

the deck playing tapes doesn't mean it's firewire port works. try a different cable, then move on to eddv's suggestion of a known good firewire port in a different computer.