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  1. Hello:

    Newbie here so I posted in this forum as requested.

    I inherited a SONY DCR-PC7 DV videocam which is great. However, I inherited it from my father who lives in Asia and thus ALL the button lables and on-screen menues are in Japanese. I tracked down an English instruction manual so this isn't too much of a problem.

    I have successfully transfered video via the Firewire port to my computer in the past. I now seem unable to do so. I have tried using various programs to do it. I have tried using a different computer to do it. Same result each time "no video device is connected......"

    I am wondering if somehow the wrong menu button etc. was pushed (ALL Japanese remember) and the output from the camera has been switched from the Firewire port to the analog port. I can't find anything in the manual that says how to switch back and forth so I am pressuming it is automatic.

    Does anyone have any ideas/pointers or experience with this camera model?

    Thanks very much.

    RiverdaleDV
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  2. Member edDV's Avatar
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    Mar 2004
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    For consumer models, I can't think of a setting that turns DV off at the camera end.

    In "Camera" mode the live camera feed appears on the IEEE-1394 port.
    In "VCR mode" the tape playback appears on the IEEE-1394 port and remote transport control is active.

    As part of VCR mode, some models have an "Analog Pass Through" mode where the analog inputs appear on the IEEE-1394 port instead of tape. Some camcorders have a switch or menu selection for this mode, others default to analog mode when the tape is removed.
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  3. Possibly it is behaving like my old Sony DCR-SC100. It seems to have an issue with certain FireWire interfaces. e.g., I have an ADS Technologies PYRO 1394 Port For Notebooks that I use with my IBM T40 Thinkpad. In camera mode, it transfers the video just fine. In VCR mode, though, it doesn't. Windows detects the camcorder but can't complete the communication and so (some) applications report a problem (others don't do anything at all).

    The same camcorder works just fine in VCR mode when connected to my main system - either via the integrated FireWire on the motherboard or the PCI FireWire interface I have in it.

    So, try it in camera mode and see if that works. If it does, at least that might give you cause to try a different brand of FireWire interface to get it to behave in VCR mode.
    John Miller
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  4. My old computer (XP PC) had started to become a little less than reliable and had many issues with ports etc. including possibly my firewire card. Now I now have a brand new iMAC and wow as a switcher to my first MAC I am very impressed, although that is a topic for another post.

    Anyway, I am now confident that the firewire interface is in working condition. So I hooked the PCR-DC7 up to it and still nothing, iMovie doesn't see it nor does the computer in general. There doesn't seem to be any camcorder menu items to switch outputs etc. and I have tried it in camera and VCR modes, still nothing.

    Is there a way to check the pin out voltages from the camera's firewire port to see if there is any type of signal coming out of there? Does anyone have the specs for this?

    Thanks again for your help and suggestions.
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  5. The 4-pin FireWire cable/socket carries just the very high bit rate data so you won't be able to detect anything. You would need a decent oscilloscope or a fully fledged FireWire analyzer.

    Your simplest option is to find someone else with a miniDV camcorder and hook it up to your iMac. If it works, your camcorder is likely at fault. If it doesn't, the iMac is likely at fault. However, as I mentioned before, some combinations of camcorder and FireWire interface can prevent proper operation. So, a final test would be to connect two camcorders via FireWire, set one to DV In and in tape mode, one to DV Out in camera mode and see if you see the camera feed on the other camcorder.

    There is an extremely remote chance that if your camcorder's FireWire port is damaged that it might damage the other FireWire ports. But that would be very unlikely.
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