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General discussion

Windows 7 Home Premium not detecting Canon MV880Xi

Jan 20, 2011 10:18AM PST

I have been using my good old Canon MV880xi since it was launched in Singapore.

Till I had a Windows XP laptop I was nicely able to transfer videos from mini DV to hard disk and then create movies etc.

Since my new Dell laptop came with Vista upgraded to Windows 7, I have been frantically trying to get Win7 detect the Canon. I have tried updating everything possible from the canon website, all drivers etc. but to no avail. The Device Manager would not budge and does not show up the camera. Nor does Nero Vision which I have successfully used with WinXP to transfer videos.

BTW, the cable is good because I have got it tested at Canon Master Service Centre who confirmed it after testing on their computer that had Windows XP installed. I asked but they said they didn't have Windows 7. They weren't themselves sure of the Windows 7 compatibility; in fact one of them said that it is not compatible so buy another camera. I told him to get lost as I have so much data locked up inside those mini DV tapes so I had no interest in listening to the technician's sales talk.

I then looked up international sites to find a pdf file (Win7-Digital-Video_tcm14-764086.pdf) on Canon UK website that says as follows for this specific canon product:

OS: Windows 7 (32 bit/64 bit)
Model: MV880xi
Download to PC:
1) Using standard function of OS for Tape/Movie: Supported
2) Using ZoomBrowser Ex for Card/Movie: Updater available (url linked)
3) Using ZoomBrowser Ex for Card/Still: Updater available (url linked)
4) Using standard function of OS for Card/Movie: Not Supported
5) Using standard function of OS for Card/Still: Not Supported

In Windows 7 I could not find any standard OS function (tool) like Windows Movie Maker as in Xp. So when I searched google and microsoft I was advised to download Windows Live. I tried but this too didn't work.

Please could someone help on this if resolved for tape / movie transfer?

Discussion is locked

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Just thinking.
Jan 20, 2011 8:07PM PST

Because of all that Euro hoopla, I think you have to download and install Movie Maker. Or is it Live Movie now?

Anyhow I'd try that next.
Bob

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What didn't work with ...
Jan 20, 2011 8:11PM PST

Windows Live Movie Maker from http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker ?

- downloading to your hard disk
- installing
- running
- making a movie from the files you got from your camera with the updated (the Windows 7 compatible version of) Zoombrowser EX program?

Kees

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Relevance of advice?
Jan 21, 2011 12:03AM PST

Done all that but no change. And yes, back up is a good idea but now such ideas won't help. If some constructive help is gotten, would love it. BTW the XP PC thing is surely an option that I have thought about, provided a technical solution is NOT known to anyone. This I don't believe could be true. After all there must be someone like me who has Win7 and this particular camcorder.

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Very relevant.
Jan 26, 2011 11:14AM PST

Just last month I happened to kibitz on a problem all too similar but NOT THE SAME but close enough. The app was failing in very strange ways. It took some digging to discover it was an Euro version of Windows 7 without media player. This is one strange version and I can assure you that the company now tests with that version.

The solution for us was to check for more installed Windows features and if they are missing to ask them to install WMP and the already mentioned Live product.
Bob

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Additional remarks.
Jan 20, 2011 8:30PM PST

1. Having data locked up in obscure media like mini DV tapes is a bad thing. Just imagine your camera breaks down and all you can find as a replacement only has a hard disk? That's why it makes good sense to backup everything to a more common medium like a hard disk, a DVD or web storage while the camera still works (and, I might add, works with your OS).

2. If it worked without installing anything from the CD it came with in XP, it's likely it will work without installing anything in Windows 7. Windows 7 is very compatible as long as no third party is compatible. Maybe you've forgotten what you had to do to get it working in Windows XP?

3. If all else fails: a secondhand XP machine for just this purpose is cheaper than a new camera. And it won't harm at all to connect it to your home network and use it as a backup device for your new Windows 7 PC. Don't be angry, but I get the impression that your backup scheme needs some updating.

Kees

Kees

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Movie maker
Jan 21, 2011 12:05AM PST

Bob I think Live also doesnt seem to work. There is surely something that an expert should know. Or is there another forum where such experts could be found?

Another question: is there some sort of DAT or another recorder that would help to play MiniDV so as to record on a computer?

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There are miniDV tape decks
Jan 27, 2011 11:12PM PST

out there. They require a firewire connection. Sony makes them. They are expensive.

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Are you connecting
Jan 22, 2011 10:16PM PST

the camcorder with a USB cable or firewire cable?

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Are you connecting
Jan 26, 2011 3:02PM PST

Good question. Firewire 4 pin - 4 pin cable. I know USB won't work.

In parallel I am now planning to roll back from Vista to XP on one of my machines which is the same machine on which I have sucessfully transferred video 2 years ago when it was loaded with XP but later upgraded to Vista. This machine didn't have a 1394 port so I had used a Belkin Firewire adaptor with three inputs, two 6-pin 1394 inputs + 1 USB input. At that time I had actually used the USB port to transfer video as this port got converted to 1394 protocol with this Belkin adaptor.

In short, I shall be trying emulate the same environment as at that time.

Do let me however have any further knowledge that you may like to give.

Regards.

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Once upon a time,
Jan 27, 2011 11:10PM PST

many camcorder manufacturers allowed video transfer over USB. They created and supported the USB drivers. At some point toward the end of the XP timeframe, that support stopped and firewire because the transfer method.

Is the "Belkin adapter" to which you refer a PCMCIA slot model? If so, a Belkin driver update would be appropriate. Or perhaps a firewire-only card.

As for the your using "the USB port to transfer video as this port got converted to 1394 protocol with this Belkin adaptor", I have never seen any method that has any USB involved that actually allowed IEEE1394 to be successfully used properly (with current operating systems). This does not mean it would never work - only that I have not seen it. Between the protocol differences and video importing application requirements, there's always some sort of challenge. This seems like an external adapter - and not a PCMCIA slot expansion card.

Then there is WinDV for a two step process. I have seen it work when other methods failed.