Cant find external AV device

Question

I am new to both the Mac and Final Cut Express. I have a Sony FX7 HD Camcorder. When I start up Final Cut Express, I get a message that it cannot find my external device. I have not been able to import or capture any footage to work with. I can capture footage from the camcorder to iMovie. Is there some configuration setting that I need to modify?

Answer 1

Hello, and welcome to the Final Cut Express forum!
You are getting this message for one or more reasons. You either 1) do not have your camcorder connected and turned on when you start FCE and/or 2) your FCE Easy Setup does not match your camera, and/or 3) you have other FireWire devices connected to your Mac at the same time as your camcorder.
The FX7 is an HDV/DV camcorder, so 1) it needs to be connected via FireWire and 2) in FCE you should be using one of the HDV Apple Intermediate Codec easy setups, which one depends on how you shot your video in the camcorder. Of course, if you shot DV video then you need to select an appropriate DV easy setup.
To check or change your Easy Setup, do +Final Cut Express > Easy Setup > Format = All Formats > Use = select the appropriate Easy Setup for your camcorder.+