Live Capture to new G Drive FAILING

Question

I have a very unique problem. The reason I claim it is unique is that I've contacted the Apple 'Geniuses' (no sarcasm intended) in person at the local retail and the Apple pro at B&H Photo and none of the people could figure out my problem. Here it is:
I'm using FCP 5.0, with an Intel Duo Macbook Pro with 2 Gigs of ram and a 100gb 7200RPM HD. I have a 250GB G-Drive hooked up via Firewire 800 on both ends of the cord, and a Canon GL2 hooked up to the Firewire 400 on my computer. If I have the G-Drive hooked up, turned on, finder recognizes it, and it lets me make files, copy, paste... so forth. If, while Final cut is open, I turn on my camera to VTR and then go to the capture screen, it fails to recognize the camera, says "unable to initialize video deck." If I turn the camera on first and then the G-Drive, it won't recognize the G-Drive... so basically, whichever is hooked up first works.
WHAT I'VE TRIED either on my own or with the Apple Geniuses:
- Different Hard Drives
2 pro pc hard drives didn't work
1 Intel mini G Drive WORKED, FW 800-800
- Different Cords
800-400 didn't
400-400 didn't
different 800-800 (not the one that came with the drive Didn't work
- Different COMPUTER
Used the new Mac Pro with FC Studio 2 DIDN'T work
So... I'm in a bind here... and quite confused. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks sooo very much ahead of time!
Macbook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   17", 2GIG RAM, 100gb 7200RPM HD,

Answer 1

It's not the G-Drive's fault, it's Canon's crappy implementation of firewire.
Here's my standard "so you are using a Canon camcorder to capture and it isn't working" routine:
Not all Canon cameras have connection issues, but hanging around this site I've come to recognize their ability to connect in FCP is the most problematic of all the camera brands. If you have a Canon camcorder, and can not get it to connect up with FCP, the following is a way to sort through the issues and get it to work. Some are elegant - some are ugly.
Before we go any farther
-you should be using 'Firewire Basic' as the control protocol. If you aren't, go change it and try again.
-Also, verify that you have a solid installation of Quicktime. You may want to reinstall it using the 'delete receipts' method. Do a quick search here on the site - it is mentioned daily if not hourly.
With some confidence that the software installation and camera settings are correct and it still won't capture correctly, you are most likely a victim of the dread 'Canon firewire bus incompatibility problem'. Simply stated: Canon cameras do not play well with other devices on the same firewire bus. And, since all the firewire ports on a Mac connect to one bus - well - you get the picture.
The most direct solution is to purchase another, non-Canon device to use as your capturing machine. The Sony DSR-11 is highly recommended for DV work. A deck will save wear and tear on the camera's lightweight drive mechanism and will allow you to permanently connect a NTSC/PAL monitor for proper viewing. (If you are working with HDV, you will have other issues ...)
Beyond replacing your tape playback device, the path you take depends on the model of computer you own.
1. If you have a G5 tower or a MacPro, capture to a second internal drive with only the camera attached. If you need to move material to firewire drive, disconnect the camera. A second internal drive is quite inexpensive these days if you do not already have one.
2. If you have a G5 tower (PCI) MacPro (PCI), G4 powerbook (PCMCIA) or MacBookPro (Expresscard 34) with an available slot, purchase the appropriate firewire card for the slot. Connect your camera to the card and you should be good to go. The new card creates a unique bus and will avoid collisions with the external drives.
3. If you do not have a slot or a second internal drive and you are stuck with the camera, welcome to the camera/drive shuffle.
- shut down and remove the external hard drive(s) from the system
- connect the camera directly to the firewire port of the computer
- start the camera then the computer
- capture to your internal (system) hard drive
- shut down the camera and computer
- disconnect the camera and reconnect the external hard drive(s)
- start hard drive(s) and computer
- move captured files to external hard drive(s)
- edit
If you output back to tape or wish to view your work on an external Video (NTSC or PAL) monitor, you need to set up the camera to use the firewire out as the A/DV converter or VTR - which means reversing the steps:
- copy the file back to the internal drive
- shut everything down
- disconnect the external drive(s)
- connect the camera to the firewire port (and the TV to the camera if needed)
- start the camera then the computer
- play the file.
One caveat here - You may have difficulty getting the file back to tape without dropping frames. Playing files off of the system drive is very demanding and they may have a hard time keeping up.
All in all, if you do not have the option for second bus (i.e. iMacs, eMacs, iBooks, MacBooks) you may want to think about a computer with expandable options next time.
There is the option of capturing using iMovie, but that brings on it's own set of problems and is not recommended.
Good luck.
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