dumb newbie question.....

[basshawg95]

i just bought a sony dcr-trv33 camcorder to video my band's gigs. it came with sony image transfer. i have abobe premiere pro and a ADStech pyro pci 64 firewire card. computer is a dell with 45 gb left on HDD. i have a couple of problems.
1. i can't get any of the programs to recognize the camcorder hooked up with firewire.
2. using the USB, it will work for image transfer, but not premiere pro. it will record about 15 minutes then stops and says i'm out of HDD space.
help!!!!!
bruce in maryland

[redwudz]

Forget USB, that is generally for still pictures. Firewire from a camcorder can get strange at times.

There are a few things to try: Turn on the camcorder and set it to play, then boot the computer. Or, plug the camcorder in while it is playing into the Firewire connector. Hot plugging is safe with Firewire. Sometimes you have to try a bunch of different methods to get the computer to recognize the Firewire connection.

If you continue to get no recognition of the camera, test with another camera or another Firewire device to troubleshoot the setup. Try a different Firewire cable also. If all else fails, get an inexpensive PCI Firewire card and try that. Also try your camera with another computer that has Firewire input to test the camera and your cables.

The XP OS is what recognizes the Firewire device, not so much the video software. I believe SP1 is needed at least for the XP OS. Once you find the combo that works, then it gets easier. I use WinDV for Firewire transfers, then other programs to edit and process the video.

EDIT: And get another additional HD if possible. DV eats up a lot of HD space. 13GBs an hour if I recall correctly. With editing and special effects, the space goes fast.

[rumplestiltskin]

Swap out that ADS card for an Adaptec or Keyspan card. Check Networking in XP to verify that networking over 1394 (FireWire) is turned off; it's usually on by default.

Premiere should work for you. Redwudz's advice about a separate HD is 100% correct; might even be closer to 15GB/hour. 7200rpm is a must; best on its own bus (not shared with any other HD or the optical); get an ATA/133 card if necessary. Load up with RAM (512MB min); any NLE (non-linear editor) will consume it like beer on the 4th of July.

Clean out any crap from the system tray, especially AIM or Messenger (and other like-viruses).

If all else fails, get an iMac. (No, not trying to start a flame; I use both Macs and PCs.)

Good luck.

[marksk918]

i just finished building a new pc and it has a firewire input on the motherboard. i started windv and hooked up my camcorder via the firewire but windv said there was no video device found. do i need to install the software that came with the camcorder for it to be recognized?

i'm running XP with SP2.

[gadgetguy]

Hook the camera up first, then start WinDV. You shouldn't need to install the software that came with the camcorder. Also, others have complained of similar problems when upgrading to SP2. (I don't use XP myself so I can't give more details.)

[marksk918]

got it working. not sure how, but it works (plugged and unplugged it a few times)

thanks!