Vegas 6.0 Will Not Detect Sony TRV480 Camcorder

[solarblast]

My problem is stated in the Subject. I've tried just about everything I can think of. I've never had this much trouble. Usually, it's a preference setting (Enable Device Control) in Capture Video, or some combo of having the camera on or off when firing up Vegas. The fire-wire seems solidly connected, and XP Control Panel for the device looks OK. Maybe the board need re-seating. I've tried various camera settings: play/edit, camera-tape, ... The camera seems quite OK. A/V DV Out on the camera is set ot OUT. Puzzled.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Does your camcorder show up in My Computer as a folder called "Sony DV Camcorder" (or similar)? If it does and you open the folder, can you see a live image from the camcorder (either playing a tape in VTR mode or live camera image in Camera mode)?

If not, when you connect the camcorder and turn it on, do you hear the usual "ba-dip" from XP?

Can you successfully use Windows Movie Maker with it?

Do you have any Roxio, Pinnacle or Nero apps installed?

[solarblast]

The camcorder does not show up in My Computer. To my knowledge it never has even when working with Vegas. I hear or see no XP sound of small window that indicates XP has found a new device. I don't think I've ever seen a window, but possibly a sound. Just checked again by turning camera on. Nothing other than the camera doing a boing.

No Roxio or Pinnacle installed. Yes to Nero, but I've had it on my system for years. I have an old version of WMM on my system, but really have never used it. 2.1.4.... I just tried to capture data from the camcorder, and it says there's nothing there.

[schematic2]

Try this order of events....
-Start Vegas
-Leave External Monitor Button Off
-Start Camera
-Plug in Firewire last

If this doesn't work, uninstall firewire drivers and reinstall

Good luck...

[solarblast]

If you mean button off as do not use the LCD on the camera,* then that didn't work.

* I left it snug against the camera. It is inactive that way.

[JohnnyMalaria]

The camcorder does not show up in My Computer.

With XP, if that doesn't happen, things aren't right.

When you connect the camcorder (and turn it on if not already), does a menu pop-up in the middle of your screen asking what you would like to do? If not, that's not right either - unless somewhere along the way you have changed the default Windows behavior.

If you like, you can use our software to create a log of what DV devices are connected to your system along with any issues associated with them. Let me know if you would like to know how to do it.

[solarblast]

I have no recollection of XP ever noticing that the camera was there. No windows, no sound. Typically Vegas sees it and responds properly (by reading the tape) without any fanfare, but not now. It's not at all like a situation where I plug in say a small thumb drive. That will produce messages and a sound. It will then pop open the new drive by displaying a window of the folders on it. I'll look into reinstalling the driver. It's got to be something simple.

What software might that be that shows what video devices are there?

[edDV]

The problem appears to be at the XP / DirectShow / IEEE-1394 driver level*. Does the IEEE-1394 port show under device mgr? Try deleteing the driver and let it reinstall. Or delete/reinstall the motherboard drivers.


* Unless the camcorder is faulty. Test it on a different machine.

[JohnnyMalaria]

What software might that be that shows what video devices are there?

Our software will (see signature for link). When it starts, it asks Windows for all DV camcorders detected on the FireWire interface. The software creates a log that you can access via Windows' Event Viewer. For each attached device, you get something like this:

Information for DV device 1 of 3:
 
 FriendlyName:              Microsoft DV Camera and VCR
 Description:               Sony DV Device
 DevicePath:                \\?\avc#sony&mod_0&typ_4&id_0&dv#f44c5f0201460008#{65e8773d-8f56-11d0-a3b9-00a0c9223196}\global
 FriendlyName2:             (0001) Sony DV Tape Recorder/Player
 m_pDeviceFilter:           0x0024E3B4
 m_pIAMExtDevice:           0x0024F5B4
 m_pIAMExtTransport:        0x0024EB64
 m_pIAMTimecodeReader:      0x0024EADC
 
 Capabilities:
 
 AUDIO_INPUTS:              N
 CAN_MONITOR_SOURCES:       Y
 CAN_PREVIEW:               N
 CAN_RECORD:                Y
 CAN_RECORD_STROBE:         N
 CAN_SAVE:                  N
 CTLTRK_READ:               N
 HAS_AUDIO:                 Y
 HAS_VIDEO:                 Y
 INDEX_READ:                N
 NEEDS_CALIBRATING:         N
 TIMECODE_READ:             Y
 TIMECODE_WRITE:            N
 USES_FILES:                N
 VIDEO_INPUTS:              N
 NORMAL_RATE:               29.97
 TRANSBASIC_INPUT_SIGNAL:   525_60_SD
 TRANSBASIC_OUTPUT_SIGNAL:  525_60_SD

If your camcorder is detected at this level then it should be visible to any DirectShow program (e.g., Vegas, WMM etc).

If it isn't detected at this level, Windows simply cannot see it. There are no drivers required (Windows provides a DV camcorder driver and the FireWire interface driver).

You will need to either:

1. Try a new FireWire interface (do you have any external drives that have FireWire? If so, test them to see if they are recognized - this will tell you if the interface is faulty or not)

2. Try a different cable

3. Try your camcorder on a different PC. If you don't have access to one, take it to Best Buy or somewhere like that and pretend you are looking to buy a new PC and want to be sure that it will work with your camcorder.

[solarblast]

I have a laptop with a firewire port, but it is 4-pin. I only have 6-pin to 4-pin cable. $30 for a 4-pin to 4-pin locally, so I'm ordering one via Amazon. It'll probably be $10 and I'll get it next Monday. This will just have to wait until I can check out the camera.

I swapped my firewire cables and it didn't change a thing.

I'll see if re-seating the fw board helps. Is your software (ensoft dv ...) that produced the above free? It looks like it is. I think I'll try it later.

[edDV]

I have a laptop with a firewire port, but it is 4-pin. I only have 6-pin to 4-pin cable. $30 for a 4-pin to 4-pin locally, so I'm ordering one via Amazon. It'll probably be $10 and I'll get it next Monday. This will just have to wait until I can check out the camera.

I swapped my firewire cables and it didn't change a thing.

I'll see if re-seating the fw board helps. Is your software (ensoft dv ...) that produced the above free? It looks like it is. I think I'll try it later.

Swap slots for the IEEE-1394 board. That forces a complete reinstall. Later you can swap it back.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Is your software (ensoft dv ...) that produced the above free? It looks like it is. I think I'll try it later.

It is.

[solarblast]

I'm about to go down to our local community TV station and use their eqpt to see if the camera can be connected to some video software, then I will try to change the location of the board. I've downloaded your software, but will try it as needed, pending the above experiments.

[solarblast]

I called Sony Camcorder support, and they got me to install Picture Package* and make the connection via USB, but that's not my problem. I want to connect to Vegas via firewire. They told me to try www.creativesoftware.com chat but that site seems to be for developers. Chat? That might be helpful. I finally went to the DMN Forum and posted a message.

I took the camera down to our community TV station and they tried firing it up on some PC software, and the camera just doesn't seem to be there. It's certainly on the USB port as mentioned. I have a feeling it's some software option in Vegas or in the camera options that aren't set properly.

I still haven't tried swapping the firewire board to another position, nor the software mentioned above.

At least, I can get an avi file using the Picture Package on USB.

* This program has an oddity. Once you capture the image, there seems to be no way to save it. It probably resides in some folder within MyPictures or Documents and Settings, but offered no way to put it in a folder I wanted it in. Very strange.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I'm afraid that it sounds like the FireWire port on the camcorder is dead.

If you can get access to another camcorder, try connecting it to your PC and see if it is recognized. At the same time that you have another camcorder, connect the two camcorders together with a 4-pin/4-pin FireWire cable. Turn on the other camcorder in VTR mode - select DV IN if required. Play a tape on yours. You should see the video on the other camcorder. If not, that's more reason to suspect the FireWire port.

[solarblast]

This will all have to wait until Monday, when I may have access to another firewire device and I have a 4-pin/4-pin cable (needed for my laptop firewire port).

P.S. I figured out how Picture Package saves avi files. It's a minimal program. Another of its oddities is that it didn't find my 50 min tape to its liking, and I ended up with getting it all separated on 5 files of varying length.

[solarblast]

This is starting to look a little grim. I got my 4-pin cable and hooked up the camera to my laptop. It has Movie Maker, but nothing really happened. There was no XP notification that a new device was found, and MM offered no clue. Perhaps MM doesn't work with firewire? Maybe it needs to be configured for it?

Well, there's one more avenue to try. I think I can get another DV8 camera on Thursday to try.

[JohnnyMalaria]

This is starting to look a little grim. I got my 4-pin cable and hooked up the camera to my laptop. It has Movie Maker, but nothing really happened. There was no XP notification that a new device was found, and MM offered no clue. Perhaps MM doesn't work with firewire? Maybe it needs to be configured for it?

Well, there's one more avenue to try. I think I can get another DV8 camera on Thursday to try.

I'm sorry

Movie Maker works with FireWire without any need to configure anything. If it doesn't show any devices then it means that Windows hasn't detected any.

[edDV]

When you select import from digital camera, you should see your camera as a selection. Here is what it looks like in Vista.

[solarblast]

I'm using 2.1.4026.00. The only Import(s) I see are on the File menu. It looks like it wants a file. The other choice in MM, is Capture. That tells me it doesn't know about any device--Not Detected.

[edDV]

Movie Maker in XP looks like this. If Windows detects your camcorder, it will appear here as a selection.

[solarblast]

Yes, that looks like the screen I see, but when I bring up the page and then turn on the camera, I get zippo--just a Not Detected msg.

I still have a feeling some option in the camera isn't set properly. If I can get another firewire camera, then I can see how it works.

[solarblast]

Time to throw in the towel, and send the camera to Sony for repairs, $150 min. At least, the USB connection works, so I can get video off the tape.