Problems Capturing Video

[battman3525]

I have a Panasonic AG-DVC60. I have had no problems in the past capturing video from my camera to my Mac. However, recently, my Mac no longer recognizes my camera. I've tried multiple cords, multiple cameras and multiple Mac, so I am certain the problem is not my firewire port or my cord. The only other thing would be the port on my camera, however, I have another panasonic camera which also is not recognized. The only thing I've done to my Mac since the last time it worked was to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Has anyone had a similar problem? Any other ideas?

Andy

 

[xstep]

See if the camera is seen by System Profiler. Plug the camera in, tun it on to playback mode and then start System Profiler. Look under the Firewire entry for the camera. If the camera is communicating, I'd at least think you'd see the connection even if your video editor doesn't.

The above is the first step in debugging connection issues. Even if the camera is seen, this doesn't solve a new incompatibility with the camera.

 

[battman3525]

It does not show up in the profiler when I connect it. I'm getting to the point where I think the port on my camera is bad. Is there any other way to get the footage off the camera using RCA or SVideo ports or will I need to get the DV port fixed?

 

[dr dave]

Try connecting the camera and rebooting.

 

[xstep]

Did you try hooking up both cameras and review the Firewire connection in System Profiler? Use the Refresh menu item under the View menu each time you hook up a camera. Also be sure the camera is on. If both are not seen, try another cable. If both are still not seen, then I suspect the computer or Snow Leopard. To eliminate the firewire port on the computer, try hooking up another firewire device.

Some cameras also have USB. If yours does, make sure that is NOT connected.

Unfortunately, narrowing this down takes several steps.

To get stuff from analog, I use my Elgato Hybrid TV tuner. It is a two step process because after import, I have to export from what I understand is an MPEG2 data stream to a format compatible with iMovie or FCP, usually AIC.