two firewire devices simultaneously

David Thiel wrote on 4/8/2006, 3:58 PM
help (I am not a newbie, however) I have no sucess using more than one firewire device with Vegas.
scenarios:
Canopus ADVC-100 (for NTSC preview) and a JVC DV/VHS combo (for capture) XP SP2 dual proc 2 gig RAM ---does not work I must unplug the unsed device

Canopus ADVC-100 (for capture) and M-Audio Audiophile Firewire external audio device.

Sony DV camcorder and the JVC DV/VHS combo (selective capture, pick one at a time)

I have not tried the SP2 hotfix but none of this has worked across Vegas4,5 & 6.

I have experienced the total failure to be able use more than one 1394/firewire device across three different machines so it is not one funky install or firewire interface.

Are others doing this successfully? In one case it is just inconvenient to have to disable the unused device on the other I cannot monitor audio and capture at the same time.

I was so hoping that Vegas 6 would address the multiple capture device issue or is this a lame 1394 device issue this XP?

Clearly this is not a bandwidth issue as the bandwidth going to the M-Audio audio box is a fraction of the stream coming from the camera and both together should be less than 25% of 1394 bandwidth.

I would be glad to know that others routinely do this as this would encourage me to invest some time poking around.

thanks in advance

david thiel

Comments

JackW wrote on 4/8/2006, 4:52 PM
Not sure what the problem is, but judging from my successful experience using multiple firewire/USB devices simultaneously it sounds like the problem might be with your firewire card.

I'm using a six port firewire hub on my computer, connected like this: The hub is connected to the computer (firewire card) via a 4 pin to six pin firewire cable; a miniDV deck and two external hard drives are then connected by firewire to the hub. At times a camera is also connected to the hub.

All these devices are on at the same time, having been turned on one at a time AFTER the computer boots: i.e., turn on the computer; turn on external hard drive #1 and wait until the computer recognizes it; then on to #2, etc.

To shut down, turn off the computer in the regular manner, then turn off the peripheral devices.

Hope this helps.

Jack
David Thiel wrote on 4/8/2006, 5:23 PM
Thanks Jack, that is information.

I did some knowledge base diving and found that the JVC DV deck uses a naughty firewire chip which doesn't relinquish the 1394 bus.

I am using motherboard firewire which uses a TI 1394 controller. This should be ok.

So I am still between a rock and a hard place the rock being:
MAudio http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FirewireAudiophile-main.html
and the hard place:
Canopus ADVC-100 http://www.canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

My goal is simple:
MAudio for audio during editing and ADVC-100 for capture without having to go the hub and disconnect.
David Thiel wrote on 4/8/2006, 6:21 PM
Jack gave me two important bits of info
a - it works for him (I had never been able to do it on other systems)
b - turning external devices on after booting

I plugged M-audio into the hub and got audio working again.
I tried capture. No device.
power cycled the canopus
voila - it captures!

the JVC DV/VHS deck lowered my expectations enought to discourage me from poking around at other related problems.

thanks, consider this post successfully closed
ddt
rs170a wrote on 4/8/2006, 7:20 PM
David, even though you said the thread was closed, I'd like to add two comments as, with the exception of the Canopus box, my work systems are almost identical to yours.

First of all, assuming the JVC deck is the SR-VS30U, why do you even need the Canopus? I use the JVC deck for both capture and NTSC preview purposes.

Secondly, I went through issues similar to yours and my solution (with the advice of folks here) was to give the M-Audio box it's own firewire card. Problems solved :-)

Mike
David Thiel wrote on 4/9/2006, 9:34 AM
Mike, now that is information! It didn't occur to me to use the JVC for NTSC preview.
The other reason is that I added the JVC later for the purpose of capturing DV tapes (this is for an in- corporation studio that sees moderate traffic).

thanks

ddt