video camera not recognized

how should i proceed to investigate a problem with a video camera not being
recognized? i've spent hours reading web postings about a video camera not begin
recognized
by a computer; it is a hugely popular subject. but i've never seen my problem
posted. (i apologize for the length of this post, but analysis requires it -- i
think.)

the following comments apply to three computers running windows xp pro sp2 and
two video cameras connected to the computers by ieee1394 firewire cable. for
brevity, i'll give each device a label:

"v1" canon vixia hv30 video camera
"v2" canon elura 100 video camera
"c1" dell dimension 8400 (four years old, or is it five)
"c2" dell xps ??? (three years old)
"c3" dell e1705 laptop (three years old)

c2 has had no windows update since c2 was installed. c1 and c3 have had all
updates microsoft cares to install, except sp3. and half a dozen recent security
updates have not been installed on c3.

tapes from v1 and v2 are copied to one of these computers and edited with adobe
premiere pro cs4, which i'll call "pp4."

here's how a properly functioning computer reacts when a firewire-attached video
camera is switched on in play mode:

above the system tray a balloon displays the camera name. that is followed by a
note that "avc device" is recognized. next, the "digital video device" dialog box
opens to provide a choice of what to do with the newly connected camera, such as
edit in pp4.

this correct behavior is seen when either v1 or v2 is connected to c2. this
behavior also occurs when v2 is switched on while connected to any of the three
comptuters. the v1 to c1 connection has worked recently, once. it now
consistently fails.

when v1 is attached to c1 or c3, no "digital video device" dialog box appears
and pp4 cannot control the camera. however, the computer audio gongs twice,
device manager refeshes its display twice and it adds to the device tree, in
"sound, video and game controllers, an entry for "av/c tape device." c3 shows
the name of the camera in a balloon above the system tray; c1 does not. when v1
is attached to c2 the "digital video device" dialog box promptly appears and pp4
can control v1.

how do i get the v1 connection to c1 and c3 to work?
--david

"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...

snipped longwinded and almost coma inducing problem description

Basically all computers recognise the attached connected firewire device
you are just not getting the "balloons" and a Notification area (system
tray) icon with a couple of XP computers ?

The task bar/system tray/notification area "ballooon" when device is
connected:
If you are not getting any "balloons" - such as when anti-virus is updating
or when you connect to the internet etc etc, then "balloons" is switched
off!
The balloon tips can be switched off by a registry hack, third party
software
or corruption.

If device is not being recognised at all and/or missing icon:
It may well be corruption, see issue on shell32.dll
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...59(VS.85).aspx
(You can do your own search on all Shell32.dll patching/workarounds)

A very brief google on the subject found that some resolved
in two ways with such a connected device:
Connect firewire device, power device ON.
Then LogOff (Not reboot) and Logon again with device remaining connected.
Or
If more than one active user profile with those computers.
Logoff, and when logging on again, at password prompt await for startiup
activity to subside - watch front panel light, then enter password.
Implied is a bloated configuration and a slow or fragmented HDD?
But try it.

And a zillion other reasons, from simply it didn't load, goto StartRun
Type: msconfig
In ensuing dialog under general tab, ensure selected:
"Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services"

Now update those XP computers to SP3 and latest Netframework.
Download and install latest DirectX:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

In Device Manager check the IEEE1394 bus host controller is listed and
not flagged with a yellow exclaimation mark, if so:
RIGHT click and from menu select "Uninstall"
Click to comfirm
Once Uninstalled, close all windows and reboot.
On reboot hopefully XP will reinstall the card correctly.
If not and still listed in device manager as problematic, then download
and install uptodate drivers for IEEE1394 bus host controller (do your
own searching for it).

I can be just as longwinded.

Panzy wrote:
"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...

snipped longwinded and almost coma inducing problem description

Basically all computers recognise the attached connected firewire device
you are just not getting the "balloons" and a Notification area (system
tray) icon with a couple of XP computers ?

The task bar/system tray/notification area "ballooon" when device is
connected:
If you are not getting any "balloons" - such as when anti-virus is updating
or when you connect to the internet etc etc, then "balloons" is switched
off!
The balloon tips can be switched off by a registry hack, third party
software
or corruption.

If device is not being recognised at all and/or missing icon:
It may well be corruption, see issue on shell32.dll
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...59(VS.85).aspx
(You can do your own search on all Shell32.dll patching/workarounds)

A very brief google on the subject found that some resolved
in two ways with such a connected device:
Connect firewire device, power device ON.
Then LogOff (Not reboot) and Logon again with device remaining connected.
Or
If more than one active user profile with those computers.
Logoff, and when logging on again, at password prompt await for startiup
activity to subside - watch front panel light, then enter password.
Implied is a bloated configuration and a slow or fragmented HDD?
But try it.

And a zillion other reasons, from simply it didn't load, goto StartRun
Type: msconfig
In ensuing dialog under general tab, ensure selected:
"Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services"

Now update those XP computers to SP3 and latest Netframework.
Download and install latest DirectX:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

In Device Manager check the IEEE1394 bus host controller is listed and
not flagged with a yellow exclaimation mark, if so:
RIGHT click and from menu select "Uninstall"
Click to comfirm
Once Uninstalled, close all windows and reboot. On reboot hopefully XP will
reinstall thecard correctly.
If not and still listed in device manager as problematic, then download
and install uptodate drivers for IEEE1394 bus host controller (do your
own searching for it).

I can be just as longwinded.


thank you, panzy, for the great list. nothing in the list fixed the problem.
the most important symptom of this problem, at the risk of being long winded,
is the "digital video device" dialog box never appears, in spite of the "av/c
tape device" line appearing in device manager and the audio bong bong when the
camera is switched on. it is those concurrent events that must be explained.

"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...
Panzy wrote:
"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...


thank you, panzy, for the great list. nothing in the list fixed the
problem.
the most important symptom of this problem, at the risk of being long
winded,
is the "digital video device" dialog box never appears, in spite of the
"av/c
tape device" line appearing in device manager and the audio bong bong when
the
camera is switched on. it is those concurrent events that must be
explained.


In Device Manager you are looking specifically for an entry for your
firewire capture card which if correctly installed will be listed as:
"IEEE 1394 bus host controller"
If listed, the sub-menu should specifically list the number of connections,
and identify the connected device - in your case it is not, "av/c tape
device"
is clearly implying it isn't fully identifying your connected device.

When a device is connected to a firewire port, the "Found new hardware"
wizard should appear and the balloon will change as it installs the device
to identify it, and when ready the balloon will change to confirm it is
correctly
installed and identified - in your case it is not. eg: The Canon Vixia if
connected
correctly would be listed as a "Canon HDV/DV".
(The camcorder must be set to "Play" to be recognised when connected to a
PC)

The process of elimination ruled out the Canon and the firewire interconnect
used as they work on other computers.

From my "great list" they are all causes, but the obvious ones and the ones
to
start with are the configuration of the computer - yours is not uptodate,
and the capture card.
The capture card:
You can initially try Windows on-board clumsy troubleshooter -
In Device Manager RIGHT click on a sub-entry
"OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller":
From the RIGHt click sub-menu select "Properties"
Then the "General" tab
In "Device status" it will list either a problem encountered or state
"This device is working properly".
Regardless of status listed, run the "Troubleshooter"
Repeat for each "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Comtroller" sub-entry.

Cam still not identified/functioning correctly,
Disconnect cam from PC
Open Device Manager
and RIGHT click and uninstall in turn each sub entry:
"OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 host controller"
When all are fully Uninstalled, close all windows.
Reboot, on reboot hopefully Windows will correctly reinstall the firewire
capture card(s) - During Windows loading it will detect the installed
firewire capture card(s) and the "Found New Hardware" wizard will
reinstall them and confirm on completion.

Cam still not being identified correctly when connected?
Now update Windows to eliminate conflicts, bugs, compatibility issues etc

Panzy wrote:
"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...
Panzy wrote:
"J David Ellis" wrote in message
...


thank you, panzy, for the great list. nothing in the list fixed the
problem.
the most important symptom of this problem, at the risk of being long
winded,
is the "digital video device" dialog box never appears, in spite of the
"av/c
tape device" line appearing in device manager and the audio bong bong when
the
camera is switched on. it is those concurrent events that must be
explained.


In Device Manager you are looking specifically for an entry for your
firewire capture card which if correctly installed will be listed as:
"IEEE 1394 bus host controller"
If listed, the sub-menu should specifically list the number of connections,
and identify the connected device - in your case it is not, "av/c tape
device"
is clearly implying it isn't fully identifying your connected device.

When a device is connected to a firewire port, the "Found new hardware"
wizard should appear and the balloon will change as it installs the device
to identify it, and when ready the balloon will change to confirm it is
correctly
installed and identified - in your case it is not. eg: The Canon Vixia if
connected
correctly would be listed as a "Canon HDV/DV".
(The camcorder must be set to "Play" to be recognised when connected to a
PC)

The process of elimination ruled out the Canon and the firewire interconnect
used as they work on other computers.

From my "great list" they are all causes, but the obvious ones and the ones
to
start with are the configuration of the computer - yours is not uptodate,
and the capture card.
The capture card:
You can initially try Windows on-board clumsy troubleshooter -
In Device Manager RIGHT click on a sub-entry
"OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller":
From the RIGHt click sub-menu select "Properties"
Then the "General" tab
In "Device status" it will list either a problem encountered or state
"This device is working properly".
Regardless of status listed, run the "Troubleshooter"
Repeat for each "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Comtroller" sub-entry.

Cam still not identified/functioning correctly,
Disconnect cam from PC
Open Device Manager
and RIGHT click and uninstall in turn each sub entry:
"OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 host controller"
When all are fully Uninstalled, close all windows.
Reboot, on reboot hopefully Windows will correctly reinstall the firewire
capture card(s) - During Windows loading it will detect the installed
firewire capture card(s) and the "Found New Hardware" wizard will
reinstall them and confirm on completion.

Cam still not being identified correctly when connected?
Now update Windows to eliminate conflicts, bugs, compatibility issues etc


having tried everything in your list, except installing sp3, i found at
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=166 a suggestion to turn the power switch
to camera mode. after ten seconds in camera mode, the 'digital video device'
dialog box appeared. with the dialog box on screen and the hv30 switched back to
play mode, problem solved.

thanks again for your help.