Black (no data) recording when capturing video from mini-DV camcorder

[Iskren]

Hello,
I've got an old cassette camcorder called the JVC GR-D270, a mini-DV cassette camcorder, and I'm trying to get the videos from it and put them on my PC. I decided to follow this tutorial https://vhsconverters.com/two-ways-to-transfer-mini-dv-tapes-to-computer/ , so I got a Firewire card, I installed it, updated the driver and now I'm trying to capture the video. For the purpose I decided to stick to the tutorial and use the MAGIX Movie software. I have also looked at video tutorials about capturing video with that software and I've made sure I follow the same steps. The problem is, when I want to record, the recording is black and no data is written. When I stop the recording I get a file ending with .avi.h0 which has size of 0 bytes. I am able to use the playback options to control the camcorder's playback through the software and also if I switch to the mode used to shoot photos instead of player mode, I can see what the camera sees. The guy from this thread here is having the same problem as me for reference https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/photography/357293.html . I am using Windows 10. So what would be a solution to this? Let me know if I should provide additional info.

[dellsam34]

Use ScenalyzerLive, it's the right tool for this purpose.

[DB83]

While that software appears to 'capture' from a DV source, if you can not see any picture it suggests a driver issue. And if you are using Win10 there have been several reported issues with IEEE 1394 controller drivers on these pages. Seek out the legacy driver for Win8 at Ms.

[Iskren]

1. That's not the only software that can do that though. And most show other programs.
2. I was already using the legacy driver at the time of writing of the question.
3. Turns out that all I had to do, was unplug the cable from both devices and this time plug it into the PC first and then plug it into the camcorder. I spent hours looking for a solution just for it to be this. Why does no tutorial tell you that??? But anyway, it's solved and I hope that if anyone else has that issue, finds this thread.

[smrpix]

3. Turns out that all I had to do, was unplug the cable from both devices and this time plug it into the PC first and then plug it into the camcorder. I spent hours looking for a solution just for it to be this. Why does no tutorial tell you that??? But anyway, it's solved and I hope that if anyone else has that issue, finds this thread.

There's no one size fits all for the power-up order. Now that you've found yours, write it down. One thing that tends to be consistent is that you can't change settings -- such as audio bitrate -- on the fly.

[dellsam34]

I agree, There is no such rule on how to plug the ends of a firewire cable since nothing happens until both ends are connected, However I do agree that iLink and firewire are finicky from what I can remember back in the day and sometimes for certain hardware required several bootups, I'm glad you solved it and good luck with your project.