DV Deck FireWire Problem

April 26, 2005 11:25 PM

My Mac won't recognize my DV deck...

This has been thus for the last week or so. It may have been coincidental with my installation of 10.3.9.

I've tried resetting FireWire by unplugging the computer for 5 minutes, I've reset the nvRAM and PRAM, I've trashed the Preferences, and I've reinstalled 10.3.9 from the combo update. Still nothing, although the computer recognizes my iPod and my camcorder.

I have a Quicksilver 733 MHz G4, and the deck is a JVC SR-VS30U. My 3-year AppleCare Protection Plan ran out a month ago; without being able to interface with this deck the utility of this system drops precipitously, and I can ill afford repairs, a new computer, or a new deck.

I'm hoping that wiping the hard drive and installing Tiger will solve the problem, but I have plenty of work that needs to be done before Tiger arrives.

posted by jtron to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

It sounds like a problem with the deck if the iPod and camcorder work. Also are you able to test connecting your camcorder directly to the deck? And does the deck appear in System Profiler (Apple menu > About this Mac > More Info >Firewire) when connected? Which applications aren't recognising it?

I spent an unhappy afternoon wrestling with a similar JVC deck to get it in the right mode to connect to my PowerBook, though I don't remember what worked. Have you changed any settings on it, or has anyone else used it?
posted by cillit bang at 2:16 AM on April 27, 2005

I'll go with a couple of mildly obvious suggestions.

1) Install an older version of the OS on another drive and boot from it.
2) if your' doing this in FCP, try imovie.
3) system profiler - does it see the deck?
posted by filmgeek at 9:47 AM on April 27, 2005

Since you didn't mention it, did you try Repairing Permissions in Disk Utility? This has often cleared up otherwise inexplicable programs-aren't-recognizing-hardware-that-they-used-to problems for me.
posted by bcwinters at 9:52 AM on April 27, 2005