If you are trying to capture HDV video, using Windows XP (SP2 should be installed) and having problems follow these steps:

1- Open device manager

To open device manager;

i-Right click my computer
ii-Click properties
iii-From options menu select hardware
iv-Click Device manager

2- Check if your camcorder is properly recognized in the device manager.

i-If you set your DV lock on, the camcorder should be listed under imaging devices as DV device (look at the left picture below).

If it is not listed, there should be a warning of an unrecognized device. Right click and update that device driver including windows update to the search. If it is listed you can capture DV.

ii-If you set your DV lock off, the camcorder should be listed under sound,video and game controllers as AV/C tape device (look at the right picture below).



As in DV mode, if it is not listed, there should be a warning of an unrecognized device. Right click and update that device driver including windows update to the search. If it is listed you can capture HDV.

3- If your device is listed correctly in device manager and if you are still having problems;

i-Uninstall and reinstall your capture software. It can take a couple of times to fix the problem.

ii-If you tried uninstalling and installing a couple of times and still having problems, open device manager, right click your device and uninstall the driver. Disconnect your camcorder and connect it again. It will reinstall the driver. Make sure your camcorder is listed where it should be. Try capturing again.


Good luck!

__________________
I want a Red One but I will settle for a Red Scarlett

For those who dont see the AV/C tape device you may need to investigae this fix that fixed one of my PCs with XP sp2.

Symptom: you plug you HV20 into your PC via Firewire and get a pop up saying Canon HV20 recognised then get a pop-up driver install window for an AVC device but your system does not find the right driver (no matter what you do).

Cause: missing drivers in XP installation. Either your install was a stripped down version or other reasons I don't know. The two missing drivers are avcstrm.sys and mstape.sys. They should live in c:\windows\system32\drivers

Procedure: Make sure you are indeed missing these files. (turn off hide system files etc) Get hold of a computer that does have these drivers, copy them to your PC where indicated. Plug in the cam find the device without the correct driver then...
* Install from a list or specific location (Advanced ) , next
* don't search, I will choose etc, next
* Choose Sound, video and game controllers
* Choose a manufacturer called Generic
* There should now be AV/C Tape Device

It might complain but force it to accept your choice.
Then bam!, run HDV Split or any capture prog you like.

Note:
(Before you start you may have to delete any hidden drivers that you forced onto you HV20 when trouble shooting before. Use this MS article to see all hidden drivers without going to safe mode http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...b;EN-US;Q315539)

Just to mention, I discovered that you can only switch to DV Lock mode when the camera is not plugged into the computer... took me a few minutes to figure that out.

Thanks for the very useful post! It solved my problems.

Greg

Hello everyone,
I have a canon hv20 .. and I tried to capture video with adobe premiere 2.0 and can not capture anything.. what am I doing wrong.. I'm using a trial version of premiere 2.0 .. I was thinking that was the problem but I dont think it is...
any suggestions, any one ?????????????

Depending on the shooting situation, I like to switch from auto mode to 24P without changing tapes. Has anyone experienced problems due to this? It plays back fine thru the camera to my television, but what about when I try to capture on to a computer?

I don't have a system powerful enough yet, so I just want to be ready for when the new system is in place.

Do you mean from 60i to 24p because auto mode don't decide the frame rate.

__________________
I want a Red One but I will settle for a Red Scarlett

24psf is stored in 60i stream using standard pulldown procedure, therefore for capturing purposes both 24psf and 60i are identical.

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Michael, Canon Elura User Pages

Great job, this sticky is really needed. I spent hours figuring this out and finally had to call Cannon and the rep wasn't really sure - however between the two of us we did work it out.