GR-D33 digital camcorder no vid

[Neeshac]

Hi! I have a jvc GR-D33U camcorder. I am running WinXP home on a Athlon 200XP sitting in a new Gigabyte board along with a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound and an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Vid card with the latest Catalyst drivers, and am using Firewire. I am currently trying to use Windows Movie Maker, Ulead VideoStudio 7 SE DVD and ImageMaker Version 1.7. The problem is I cannot capture from the camera. The camera will run just fine while I am trying to capture-but I get nothing in the preview area of the programs I am trying to use and nothing gets captured. I am at my wits end with this thing. One error message I get says that the file is too short. Now after piddling with it for several hours the camera is not even being seen by the computer any longer. Should I just return this thing and get a diffrent name brand? Any help at all would be appreciated.
Ok I got it to see the camera AGAIN and now I get an error message about the file being corrupted on all the programs I am trying to use. Very frustrating indeed.

[Neeshac]

Well I fixed my problem-I went and swapped the JVC for a Panasonic and all is working wonderfully well in any program I care to try!

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Neeshac... you mentioned in another post that you found information from jvc that the camera may not work with firewire... where was that info?

[Neeshac]

The info was in the JVC manual actually. What it said was basically that depending on your machine setup capture of video to your computer may not work. I found on another websight-and forgive me for not being able to recall-that JVC equipment are prone to not working well with firewire. All I can say on that is when I got my new camera and hooked it up to the same firerwire cable the JVC was on it functioned perfectly.

[Platypus]

Camera manufacturers pretty much have to cover themselves by pointing out they can't guarantee their cameras will work with every possible combination of computer, firewire chipset, operating system etc.

In the case of recalcitrance, changing one of the factors is likely to resolve the situation, different firewire card, dual booting a different OS or as in your case, different camera.

Interestingly enough, inside your Panasonic you may find a JVC, Sony, Hitachi...

Be careful to always follow the correct procedure for connecting the camera to the firewire, never make the connection while the camera is plugged into a mains adaptor/charger. Doing this is likely to blow the firewire chip in the camera.

[Neeshac]

So are you saying I should only hook my camcorder to firewire with a battery in use instead of the AC adapter? And thanks for the info.

[NooNoo]

Be careful to always follow the correct procedure for connecting the camera to the firewire, never make the connection while the camera is plugged into a mains adaptor/charger. Doing this is likely to blow the firewire chip in the camera.

Platypus, how about with the ac adapter in but the camera is switched off?

Can you explain the process that causes it to go kablooey for us?

[Platypus]

Using the camera under battery power is a very safe way to do it.

The problem occurs because a desktop computer system is earthed, so its circuitry will be close to ground potential (eg within 5V for a 5V powered circuit).

The camera power supply/charger unit is almost certainly double-insulated, that is, not earthed - safety being provided by non-conductive casing and at least one stage of isolation through a suitably rated internal transformer.

This is fine for user safety, but it means the only earth reference is at the connection to the mains. The rest of the circuitry is insulated by a transformer, and that circuitry can "float" to a voltage which is commonly around half mains voltage. So the problem is more severe in regions with 220/240V mains compared with 110/120V.

But in either case, if the camera is connected to a mains supply, whether the camera is on or not (and remember a camera powered off is only in standby mode) it will carry a potential of maybe 60-120V. There will not be a large amount of energy available, just the energy stored in the capacitance that exists between the circuitry and ground. (If you touch metal parts of double-insulated appliances, you may sometimes feel this as a "tingle" - this is normal.)

But if the connection is made between the two under these conditions, this energy will suddenly be discharged to bring the two to the same potential, and it can be enough to destroy the tiny SMT I/O chip in the camera.

So make the firewire connection first, then plug the power pack into the mains & power up the camera.

[IceMan565]

Using the camera under battery power is a very safe way to do it.

The problem occurs because a desktop computer system is earthed, so its circuitry will be close to ground potential (eg within 5V for a 5V powered circuit).

The camera power supply/charger unit is almost certainly double-insulated, that is, not earthed - safety being provided by non-conductive casing and at least one stage of isolation through a suitably rated internal transformer.

This is fine for user safety, but it means the only earth reference is at the connection to the mains. The rest of the circuitry is insulated by a transformer, and that circuitry can "float" to a voltage which is commonly around half mains voltage. So the problem is more severe in regions with 220/240V mains compared with 110/120V.

But in either case, if the camera is connected to a mains supply, whether the camera is on or not (and remember a camera powered off is only in standby mode) it will carry a potential of maybe 60-120V. There will not be a large amount of energy available, just the energy stored in the capacitance that exists between the circuitry and ground. (If you touch metal parts of double-insulated appliances, you may sometimes feel this as a "tingle" - this is normal.)

But if the connection is made between the two under these conditions, this energy will suddenly be discharged to bring the two to the same potential, and it can be enough to destroy the tiny SMT I/O chip in the camera.

So make the firewire connection first, then plug the power pack into the mains & power up the camera.

So if the SMT I/O chip does get fried, how can you test/verify this and what can you do to fix this if this is the problem?

[NooNoo]

connect it (as described by platypus) to another known good machine. If it finds it then you are looking at a setup problem.

[Platypus]

So if the SMT I/O chip does get fried, how can you test/verify this and what can you do to fix this if this is the problem?

Yes, as NooNoo says. If a camera cannot connect with a known good cable to a known good Firewire port, suspect a blown I/O chip in the camera.

It should be assessed by a service agent authorised for the brand of camera. They will have the equipment to replace SMT (Surface Mount Technology) chips.

It's a moderately expensive repair.

[Ironpenguin]

After reading this thread, I thought I would add my problem and see if anyone has any thoughts... I have a JVC DV800U camera, and when I connect it to my desktop with a 6pin firewire port, I have no problems... however, when I connect it to my laptops 4 port firewire port, the camera only shows up as an Unknown device... I have gone so far as to copy the driver files off the the desktop onto the laptop... Still doesn't work... I even formatted the laptop.. But from what I read here, it looks like it just won't work with the firewire's chipset on the laptop, is that what I'm understanding?