WinDV and HDV are no longer 'seeing' my Vixia HV30

[Kong]

Hi folks...

I have a Vixia HV30 mini-DV camcorder. Yeah, I know it’s old, but I love the picture quality and I can’t afford to buy a new camera. I recently had a repair done to it though since it lost the ability to record properly (this was back in May by a repair shop called, straightforwardly, Camera Repair in Glendale, CA).

Last night, I wanted to dump some of my video onto my PC via the FW800 port. Neither WinDV nor HDV ‘saw’ the camera. They did before the repair. And, I noticed that the small FW port in the back of the camera seems a little loose. It was not like this before to the best of my memory. I did try varying the order of events, like when the camera was turned on, plugged in, software booted up, etc. No combination made any difference.

Obviously none of you can diagnose the precise problem just by reading this post. But, I need thoughts, suggestions, perhaps if any of you have experienced something similar... so that I can decide on a course of action.

I live in Mesa, AZ, so going over the shop in Los Angeles is prohibitively difficult. Besides, I'm not sure I trust these characters anyway if something is indeed wrong with my camera. I've left messages with three repair shops within the Phoenix area, however.

Thanks for your time guys.

Keith

[dellsam34]

If you can't go back to the shop and cannot do it yourself the only thing left to do is buy another camcorder and move on.

[aedipuss]

if the firewire connector is loose in the cam, the socket has broken off the motherboard. it was only surface soldiered on and they were easily knocked off.

[Kong]

if the firewire connector is loose in the cam, the socket has broken off the motherboard. it was only surface soldiered on and they were easily knocked off.

Joy. I wonder how much that'll cost to fix.

I may need to find a mini-DV player of some kind.

Alright. Thanks man.

[dellsam34]

Few years ago I sold my HDV camcorder and bought the Sony HVR-M15AU plays DVCAM, DV, HDV, miniDVCAM, miniDV, miniHDV cassettes in both PAL and NTSC formats, and it plays the 1080p (24p, 25p, 30p) the rare format that few consumer and pro camcorders recorded, There is an NTSC version only (I forget the model #) but you can tel from the back, The US version has 4 pin firewire connector and the PAL/NTSC version has a 6 pin fw connector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-HVR-M15AU-NTSC-PAL-1080i-HDV-DVCAM-DV-Digital-Video-Play...kAAOSwB7le5qOe

[Kong]

Dellsam, thank you. I'm going to have a local camera repair shop look at this thing, probably this weekend. But, your route may wind up being the way I have to go. Thank you.

This camera though has two other outputs for HD: HDMI and composite (though the out-port on the camera's for a 1/16th" jack; however, the output on TVs from the RGB jacks at the other end at least is usually pretty good). I'm wondering if one of those might serve as an alternative.

I'll find out this Saturday, but I welcome any other thoughts -- but buying a new camera's not going to happen at this point in time. I just don't have it.

Thanks folks.

[Kong]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-HVR-M15AU-NTSC-PAL-1080i-HDV-DVCAM-DV-Digital-Video-Play...kAAOSwB7le5qOe

Wow... only US$157. Hmm... this is tempting. But, when my stuff doesn't work, it bugs me and I have to address it. But I'm going to keep this info. Thanks.