firewire powersurge?

[crazythunder]

my first panasonic pvgs150 came in awhile ago. i might have accidentally had it on while connecting it to my pioneer 520hs dvr. the dvr said "no cam detected". my pc didn't recognize it either. so i got a new one sent to me. the exact same thing happened. only this time it worked a couple of times. i switched my dead battery and then plugged into dvr, but i think the cam's switch was in the on position while i plugged it in. again, no cam detected. i'm sure this is the issue, but, has anyone else ran into this-having the firewire circuit "burn out" because it was on while plugging into a dvr or pc? i can't be the only one who has ever plugged in a cam while on. maybe it's just happening with this particular brand\model? maybe my dvr is somehow shorting out the cam (maybe a surge or something?) or is it really that critical that the cam be turned off while plugging into a pc or dvr? regardless, i'll never have it on while plugging in again. in fact, i'll even remove the battery\powercord. the panny manual DOES say to have cam off while plugging in. but this must have happened to others.

[crazythunder]

ok, either everyone is too embarrased to admit this happened to them, or i'm the only one here who has ever had this problem.

[redwudz]

I'll take a shot at it, though I have little experience with DV cameras, I do use Firewire with external drives and a ADVC-100.

Firewire devices are 'hot pluggable'; which means they can be disconnected anytime without dire consequences. Not to mean you might not lose data that is being transferred, but the drives, devices and the original data should be OK. Simply, it should make no difference whether the camera is on, off or anything, as far as causing damage.

Your problem sounds like there could be a mismatch between the two devices. Bad grounding, maybe? Voltage floating on the Firewire cable?

Just for background, 6 pin Firewire carries power to operate a Firewire device, 4 pin doesn't. I imagine most DV cables to a camera are the smaller 4 pin. Should be no voltages there. Just video and audio signals.

So, you may have a problem with your Firewire DVR or you have just been unlucky with the cameras.

You can unplug the devices and check for voltage on the shields of the two cable ends. Should be zero.

There has been problems reported here of bent Firewire pins causing problems. I would check carefully the sockets of your Firewire devices and see if anything is obvious.

Sorry, that's about all I can offer. You can 'Google' both your camera and your DVR for reported problems and maybe find something there.

[crazythunder]

that's what i thought as far as firewire being hot pluggable. but the cam came with a seperate slip of paper stating how to plug it in correctly, warning that if cam is on while plugged in, it might get a surge from the other device (pc,dvr) which is already on. i also saw an article on dvspot which said camcorders should be plugged in according to the way panny stated. so maybe this can be an issue. i have the extended 5 year warranty on the dvr, so i guess i'm gonna have to get someone with a multimeter to check it. how would i go about testing it? i'm not an electrician and no nothing about ohms etc. would i simply touch the multimeters probes to the outside shell of the firewire plug on the dvr? regardless, this is gonna bug me forever till i figure it out because everytime i plug in the cam i'm going to have to be extremely careful. if it happens with my 3rd cam at anytime, i might have to resort to capturing to dvr with svid. or using the usb2.0 port to my pc. by the way, i never knew you could control the cam with usb2.0 like with firewire. but i imagine it's prone to dropped frames as well as svid, correct?

[redwudz]

I wouldn't worry about checking for voltage on the shields. After thinking about it, probably won't read anything. The voltage difference would be on the internal pins to the shield and to each other. There's probably too much of a risk shorting out something unless you were very careful and knowledgeable. I wouldn't recommend it.

But do check for bent pins on both sockets and cable ends. May need a magnifying glass.

Generally USB is only for still pictures and not video transfers.

It seems strange that if both devices are in good condition there would be a problem hooking them together and causing damage. Maybe that's the way they are built, but it seems wrong and very risky.

I would definitely try some Panasonic and Pioneer forums that cover the camera and DVR and ask questions there.

[hiptune]

ok, either everyone is too embarrased to admit this happened to them, or i'm the only one here who has ever had this problem.

It is very important that the computer AND the 1394 device be powered down before connecting the two.

Either of these two things being on while connecting can cause a fried firewire input.

[crazythunder]

thanks to all for the responses. i knew that they should be off as the manual stated. i was just real curious as to whether or not anyone has done this with the devices powered on, and suffered no consequences. i had a dv cam prior to this one and i could have sworn i plugged it in while it was on. regardless, i've learned to be very careful from now on. onecall.com is a godsend for sending me a 3rd, no questions asked.

[hiptune]

thanks to all for the responses. i knew that they should be off as the manual stated. i was just real curious as to whether or not anyone has done this with the devices powered on, and suffered no consequences. i had a dv cam prior to this one and i could have sworn i plugged it in while it was on. regardless, i've learned to be very careful from now on. onecall.com is a godsend for sending me a 3rd, no questions asked.

I have fried a 1394 card and a Sony DV CAM deck by not powering down.

Deck was fixed under warrenty, and the 1394 was cheap enough. Lesson learned.

Jeff