JVC Customer Support is Joke !

[georgeknows]

I have a miniDV video camera made by JVC, Model GR-D770U, and followed the manual indicating hooking up a fire wire cable to transfer the video from the camera to my PC running Windows XP. So far I have been unsccessful in trying to transfer the video from the camcorder to my pc, Windows Movie Maker will not capture the video, and Adobe Premier Pro CS4 would not capture the video as well, I can manipulate the camera through the software, (rewind, play, fast forward) but thats about it. I called customer support at JVC, and they couildn’t help me, and despite pointing out the fact that their manual says I can, they tell me I can’t, and that I need to use a DVD recorder to transfer the video in order to get it on my computer. So now i have to use a work arouind that I’m not sure will work ? And the customers service rep begins to tell me that is why JVC are changing from tape to hard drives, and sd cards, Cmon, JVC is clueless about what they are doing in the support department. I can garuntee you I’m selling my JVC camera, and purchasing another brand that will work without all this BS work around nonsense. Now I know why people prefer other video camera brands, and Macs over PC’s for video editing.

[composite1]

George,

Apparently, XP is recognizing your device via firewire. Not being able to capture sounds like a firmware issue with the camera. Are you still under warranty? If so, send it back for repair or replacement. You’re issue with JVC is not isolated with them. All the major companies are trying to push the new tech and supply less and less support for the old tech. So no matter what brand you get, you’re going to run into similar problems with tape vs solid-state gear. If your camera has a USB input, see if you can capture from that in Movie Maker. At least you might be able to digitize your footage.

[georgeknows]

The manual is clear about transferring stills via USB, and video via Firewire, however despite my efforts, and research on the internet no one has offered any advice that makes sense. The camera is working fine, and it’s not a firmware issue. The only other option that I can think of, is purchasing a Pinnacle, or Diamond brand video capture hardware with RCA plugins to the computer. After capturing the DV, sending the DV to a CD/DVD writer, and then looking to see if the software recognizes the DVD as a drive with a filename and then saving the DVD information to he hard drive for editing with Adobe Premier Pro CS4. It’s a bit of a work around, and I dont know if it’s going to work, but I’m willing to take a $70 gamble with additional hardware. I was looking for a definitive answer from some video entrepreneurs to help me with a solution, but so far as a subscriber to Videomaker magazine, no one seems to know, or offered advice as to how to solve this problem. one more try, and then you can look for the camera on Craigslist, Ebay, and Amazon.com.

[composite1]

George,

Have you tried to capture footage through Movie Maker on another computer? At minimum you should be able to capture DV footage through firewire without all of those 3rd party solutions. Try it on another computer to confirm whether there’s something going on with the camera or your current system. For some reason your camera seems to be communicating with your system but there is some interference either with the camera’s hardware or the computer’s software that’s keeping you from capturing. I really don’t think buying more software is the problem.

Once you’ve plugged in the camera via firewire into the alternate computer, power up the camera and see if it is recognized by windows in the ‘My Computer’ window that shows all active drives and devices. If the camera is recognized, then go to movie maker and do a direct capture of a few seconds of video. If the capture is successful, play it back to check for anomalies. If all of that works, there’s something incompatible with your system and you may need to reinstall the drivers that came with the camera.

If any portion of the above procedure fails, it’s the camera so send it back under warranty for repair or replacement. Hope this gets you where you need to be.

[Author]

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