Can anyone advise me what are the circumstances (if any) under which a
working digital video camera can be rendered unworkable by connecting
to a computer with a 1394 firewire. Any information most welcome.

"SjT" wrote in message
...
(Norman Y. Smith) Kissed me, Licked me, then
left me a note:

Can anyone advise me what are the circumstances (if any) under which a
working digital video camera can be rendered unworkable by connecting
to a computer with a 1394 firewire. Any information most welcome.

Disabling the 1394 port?!

Without pulling the cable apart and rewiring, or pouring water in the
socket before hand there's very little you can do wrong.

I beleive 1394 is hot pluggable too? i.e. you can do no harm plugging
it in when the cam is on.

Try doing it in low light!

I've seen the tiniest of sparks when plugging in...

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 12:01:19 GMT, (SjT) wrote:

I beleive 1394 is hot pluggable too? i.e. you can do no harm plugging
it in when the cam is on.

Post from Sony Customer Services Group in March 2003 to a guild list copied here
with their permission

Hello Everybody,

Just a friendly word of caution.

It has come to our attention that certain types of six pin I-Link connectors and cables can be incorrectly inserted on computers
and peripheral devices, causing damage. This is of particular problem with some six pin to four pin leads on the market,
especially if the computer and units are powered up at the time of connection.

Our advice would be to check your six pin connectors/ leads and replace where necessary and if hot connection must be made,
connect the six pin end on the computer before connecting the four pin end at the camcorder / VTR.

I hope this is of help to you in preventing damage.


Stuart

www.mckears.com
www.oldfart.tv - have your say about the state of UK Television

On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 13:51:56 GMT, "G Hardy"
allegedly wrote:

"SjT" wrote in message

I beleive 1394 is hot pluggable too? i.e. you can do no harm plugging
it in when the cam is on.

Try doing it in low light!

I've seen the tiniest of sparks when plugging in...

Yep me too! I always have my camera off since then.

"G Hardy" wrote in message
...

Try doing it in low light!

I've seen the tiniest of sparks when plugging in...

Might have been static, from you, being earthed via your computer and the
FireWire lead. I'm always getting static type shocks from earthed
equipment. Seems as though my sweaty feet have not yet made my shoes even
slightly conducting. Life was safer when I wore shoes with an anti-static
sole.

--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

I can personally vouch for this.


I bought a sony TRV30 and really love it it's a great camera. But through
not turning the camera off before connecting the 1394 connector I manage to
fry the circuit board on the camera.

Unfortunatly on the Sony TRV30 the circuit board that controls 1394 is
applied to the main board of the camera via some kind of heat process which
makes it impossible to replace independently of the mainboard.

All this mean was that the repair bill was about £500+ and I said thanks but
no thanks and now have to use analogue output. What I am trying to do now is
find a cheap DV cam that I can use as a deck only....


As an aside to this, the repairer (authorised sony repairer) told me that it
happens A LOT with Sony DV cams....so for those of you that have one I would
recommend that you turn the camera off before connecting and off again
before disconnecting...



"Stuart McKears" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 07 Mar 2005 12:01:19 GMT, (SjT) wrote:

I beleive 1394 is hot pluggable too? i.e. you can do no harm plugging
it in when the cam is on.

Post from Sony Customer Services Group in March 2003 to a guild list
copied here
with their permission

Hello Everybody,

Just a friendly word of caution.

It has come to our attention that certain types of six pin I-Link
connectors and cables can be incorrectly inserted on computers
and peripheral devices, causing damage. This is of particular problem
with some six pin to four pin leads on the market,
especially if the computer and units are powered up at the time of
connection.

Our advice would be to check your six pin connectors/ leads and replace
where necessary and if hot connection must be made,
connect the six pin end on the computer before connecting the four pin
end at the camcorder / VTR.

I hope this is of help to you in preventing damage.


Stuart

www.mckears.com
www.oldfart.tv - have your say about the state of UK Television

As an aside to this, the repairer (authorised sony repairer) told
me that it happens A LOT with Sony DV cams....so for those of you
that have one I would recommend that you turn the camera off before
connecting and off again before disconnecting...

Seems like a *serious* design fault to me.

The repairer told me that sony would recommend to me the following.

1. Turn off computer.
2. Turn off camera.
3. Connect camera and computer.
4. Turn on computer.
5. Turn on camera.


And I think if that IS the case then that is rediculous. Having to reboot
your machine just to connect a camera??? I don't have to do that with my
iPod...why with the camera?

I they they should be hot-pluggable and that Sony is just using this
sequence to get out of fixing the unit (it was of course 1 month out of
warranty)


"SjT" wrote in message
...
(SjT) Kissed me, Licked me, then left me a note:

I beleive 1394 is hot pluggable too? i.e. you can do no harm plugging
it in when the cam is on.

...Apart from breaking your cam.... Hey... i wasnt far off the truth!


To be honest i never plug anything in when its turned on apart from
usb, even TV aerials i turn the tv off first.

--
My music @ Skijump FM (Shoutcast/Winamp)
http://213.48.102.230:9174

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 22:45:09 +1100, "Steve Franklin"
wrote:


I bought a sony TRV30 and really love it it's a great camera. But through
not turning the camera off before connecting the 1394 connector I manage to
fry the circuit board on the camera.

Unfortunatly on the Sony TRV30 the circuit board that controls 1394 is
applied to the main board of the camera via some kind of heat process which
makes it impossible to replace independently of the mainboard.

All this mean was that the repair bill was about £500+ and I said thanks but
no thanks and now have to use analogue output. What I am trying to do now is
find a cheap DV cam that I can use as a deck only....


As an aside to this, the repairer (authorised sony repairer) told me that it
happens A LOT with Sony DV cams....so for those of you that have one I would
recommend that you turn the camera off before connecting and off again
before disconnecting...


1394 is specified to be hot-pluggable. Unless the camera manual
stated VERY prominently that it didn't fully support 1394, I think
you'd have a good argument that the camera was "not fit for the use".

On Wed, 9 Mar 2005 07:23:20 +1100, "Steve Franklin" wrote:

I they they should be hot-pluggable and that Sony is just using this
sequence to get out of fixing the unit (it was of course 1 month out of
warranty)

I think it's worth repeating, it's not necessarily a problem with the interface.
AIUI, the problem has been clearly identified as cheap firewire leads which
short when hot plugged. Looking at the 6 pin end, you can see that if the slot
is slightly oversized due to cheap manufacturing, any extra wear will very
quickly cause the power pins to short to the data pins and bang!!

Stuart

www.mckears.com
www.oldfart.tv - have your say about the state of UK Television