"Device not available" on Sony Vegas 10

MrAdamMovies wrote on 8/1/2011, 1:10 PM
Hi,

I have a HDR-HC7 camcorder and Vegas Movie Studio 10 and I plugged the camcorder into the computer which runs Windows XP. I clicked on Capture Video and on Preferences-Devices. Then I clicked on the IEEE1394/MPEG2-TS Device which my camcorder told me was the right one, but it says "Device Not available" it does this when I have the camcorder on and off. I'm not sure how to get around this problem.

I'm trying to capture my footage from a HDV tape and have tried both the USB and Firewire ports but it's really getting on my nerves.


Thanks for any help.

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/1/2011, 2:04 PM
First, have you ensured that Windows recognizes your camcorder? IF it does, you'll hear a bing bong sound and a little camcorder icon will appear on your task bar.

Next, did you select the Capture option on Vegas MS's Project Media panel? Then did you select the HDV option?

Then, in the Capture window, did you go to the Video menu and ensure Microsoft DV Camera and DV is selected?
Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/1/2011, 2:15 PM
Also, and this probably goes without saying, ensure that you're actually using a IEEE-1394 FireWire cable and not a USB cable.

Most of these cams come with USB cables -- but you need to buy your own FireWires.
wmgeorge wrote on 8/2/2011, 5:55 AM
XP is funny sometimes on new devices. Go to the Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager. Sometimes it gets installed and was detected as the wrong Device or it was an incomplete install.

It should be listed under the 1344 Icon or as the camera. If so go into the properties and disable it.

Re-boot the computer without your Firewire connected or Camera on. Then connect the cable and make sure the Camera is powered up, you should hear the Bing noise and the icon showing it found the hardware and is installing. It might need drivers to complete the install, not sure if you got a disk with the camera or not but I would guess that is where they are at.
MrAdamMovies wrote on 8/2/2011, 7:04 AM
First, have you ensured that Windows recognizes your camcorder? IF it does, you'll hear a bing bong sound and a little camcorder icon will appear on your task bar.

Yes.

Next, did you select the Capture option on Vegas MS's Project Media panel? Then did you select the HDV option?

Yes.

Then, in the Capture window, did you go to the Video menu and ensure Microsoft DV Camera and DV is selected?

There is no video menu.

Also, and this probably goes without saying, ensure that you're actually using a IEEE-1394 FireWire cable and not a USB cable.

I'm borrowing the camcorder from a friend, and he gave me the firewire.

XP is funny sometimes on new devices. Go to the Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager. Sometimes it gets installed and was detected as the wrong Device or it was an incomplete install. It should be listed under the 1344 Icon or as the camera. If so go into the properties and disable it. Re-boot the computer without your Firewire connected or Camera on. Then connect the cable and make sure the Camera is powered up, you should hear the Bing noise and the icon showing it found the hardware and is installing. It might need drivers to complete the install, not sure if you got a disk with the camera or not but I would guess that is where they are at.

Did all this and no change.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 8/2/2011, 8:50 AM
The Video menu is on the DV capture screen.

On the HDV capture screen, you click on the Prefs button and, under the Device tab, you set the IEEE-1394 device.
wmgeorge wrote on 8/2/2011, 8:58 AM
Does it see the Device and install the Drivers (if needed) and does it show up in the Control Panel as above? If so the post above is the answer.
BTW I am assuming you have a Firewire port on your computer or a add on card that has the port, anything else won't work.
BikeRidinBill wrote on 2/1/2014, 6:24 AM
I have had the same "device unavailable" problem using Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11.0, AND, on Vegas Pro 11, ever since moving over the Win7 Pro. I had no issue on my older computer (XP Pro), but this issue has driven me crazy on 3 computers.

However, I think I may have learned how to make it work just a few minutes ago on my Win 7 laptop, using Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum, and my Sony HDR-HC7 camera.

I've tried a zillion things, including updating drivers, trying Legacy drivers, Sony drivers, changed fire wire cards & cables, and none of them worked. Here's what did to fix it!

I went into my camera's Standard menu. I made sure that the HDV iLink output was ON, and that the HDV to DV conversion was OFF. Once I changed these settings, I noticed that my Sony HDR-HC7 automatically popped up on the HDV Capture Device screen. I hit Apply, and began capturing video, just like with WinXP Pro. Wow! Am I relieved! I'm again capturing video as I write this!

I don't know why I never had to do this before. Previously, everything worked correctly without having to ensure these settings corresponded to a particular setting, versus another. Perhaps something inside the Vegas software has changed, because my computers ALWAYS recognized that a camera was hooked up via fire wire, and that the camera, as well as the drivers, were reportedly operating correctly. So, it appeared that ONLY Vegas was unable to recognize that the camera was attached properly.

Hope this helps someone else, because I had searched in vain all over the internet for the last year for an answer to this problem, and never did find one!!!