DV Camera not recognized in Win XP

[potamus28]

I have a Sony TRV18 video camera and a firewire card in my pc. The firewire card is visible in the Device manager and is enabled, but when I plug in my camera and turn it on (VCR), nothing happens. I there some dv camera driver that I need to reload?

[BJ_M]

a lot of people have problems with that camera - 4 possable solutions:

1. use the usb connection instead (remember to change in sony menu).

2. Before turning on the computer, connect the firewire cable to the computer and the camera, then turn on the camera. And then turn on the computer and start the capture software.

3. A. Under Device Manger/Network adapters - disable the 1394 Network Adapter
B. (Camera) activate the menu and select "Video Edit", then select "Control" change from IR to iLink.

4. go into c:\windows\inf, and rename msdv.inf.1 simply msdv.inf, and msdv.pnf.1 simply msdv.pnf

then restart your computer, go to device manager, find it, tell it to update the driver, and go.

[potamus28]

BJ_M, thanks for answering my post. I'll try when I get home. Isn't USB streaming a slower method of data transfer (12mb/sec for usb 1.1 vs. 400 mb/sec for firewire) which would lead to dropped frames?

On the fourth suggestion, I don't have the msdv.inf.1 and msdv.pnf.1 files, only the the msdv.inf and msdv.pnf. (I had seen this suggestion in an earlier forum). Any reason why I don't have those files and how do I recover?

[yg1968]

I have the TRV-25 (a very similar model) and , after I start Windows XP, I sometimes have to turn the Camera on and off (VTR and off). After I start Windows, I sometimes have to unplung the firewire cable and plug it back. But it always works.

[PelicanDriver]

98 and XP both recognize my TRV-350, but don't seem to have drivers available. I can understand 98 not having them, but where might they be for XP?

[yg1968]

For my Sony TRV-25, I didn't have to install anything. When the camcorder is plugged in, the camcorder is on vtr, Windows XP recognizes it. You may have to enable DV out from your camcorder's menu.

[PelicanDriver]

Looks like I may have a Direct X problem. In 98, I only have msdv.sys in the C:\WINDOW\SYSTEM\DirectX\migrate folder. For XP I have Windows\INF\msdv.pnf and msdv (no extension fhown). I may try to reinstall Direct X.

I did a parallel install of XP using System Commander. On boot I can select 98 or XP. They reside on different drives.