Have you tried another FireWire device in the computer's port? Sometimes
they get fried.

Have you tried another FireWire device in the computer's port? Sometimes
they get fried.

Jay, seems like that is what has happened. 1394 controller chip on my
Gigabyte motherboard is fried, so is my Freecom external Hard Drive
and i suspect - the 1394 on the PD6 as well.

Did you try to connect other gear to these ports to check ?

FW busses can hang rather fast, and resets ( hard ) most of the time
cure it.

I assume you have all the DVD RAM drivers and such installed on your
PC/mac ?

roberto,

i checked the motherbaord myself, in fact i had built this machine.
the 1394 controller chip is fried. the external HD is being replaced
under warranty - i am getting the new one today. they reported a 1394
firewire port short-circuit.

I assume you have all the DVD RAM drivers and such installed on your
PC/mac ?

yes, i got the Instant CD/DVD package and installed the Instantwrite
part of the software on both PCs.

I agree with Roberto, I really doubt there is anything wrong with the
firewire port in the PD6, however there certainally are problems with your
computers. One complaint I have with the firewire system in general and
Windows XP is that every time I connect and disconnect, Windows must be
restarted to connect again. That is... once a connection has been made and
disconected, the computer will not see the external drive until the OS has
been restarted.

I know Masaki has been working with you on this problem. Here's what he
told me about your problem..."So far, I suggested various different thing
for him to try, such
as changing the order of booting up, enabling IEEE1394 setting,
physical cable connection, but to no avail.

We, in the US, have never experienced any electrical fault on the
PD6 Firewire circuitry. We only had one machine came back but
it was that the customer broke the Firewire connector physically.

The PD6 does not have self diagnosis for Firewire function,
which I explained this to him.
When you set 1394 enabled on the Utility menu, what
the PD6 does is; it will completely disengage its own
DVD-RAM drive from the internal CPU and dedicate it
to a host computer. It will now behave like an external
storage device. The PD6 in IEEE1394 mode, it will become
totally passive that there is no internal communication
available between the DVD drive and its main CPU. "

Hopefully your dealer can get you another machine to use. Also if you need
a player, can you borrow a DV-40 from this same dealer? This is really the
best way to play files as audio.

I still strongly believe that a recording device should also play back
multitrack audio as easily and flexibly as it records the audio, both
analog and digital. Why else would the PD6 have 6 audio out XLRs? All
that real estate could have been used somewhere else, or the machine
could have just been lighter and smaller. And why have even AES/EBU or
SPDIF out too, if it was just to xfer the material? (Ok, ok, one needs
to give the option of a backup. But a backup recording device can also
get it's source from the mixer.)

I don't think there is any excuse for the PD6 not being able to
playback an entire DVD-RAM like a tape. Moreover, relying on -one-
output - the IEEE1394 (firewire) port for xfer is suicidal, just as in
my case. I guess having another option like a USB or Gigabit ethernet
should not be much trouble. The data is already on a disc written in
UDF, except that it is a DVDRAM disc. I am aware that soon, all CD/DVD
writers will also read DVDRAM, as some already do...

I fully understand and appreciate the advantages of having a
multi-track recorder - any one for that matter. The ability to have
discrete tracks for each source is great and provides for great
flexibility in post. I also appreciate the ability of these 'new-age'
devices to integrate production processes with post in a much better
way than before.

If my posts reek of frustration with dealing with a fried firewire
port on my new PC, hard drive and probably the new PD6 too, it is not
really that. It is more the absurdity I have to face in the event that
the firewire port fails.

I am not into machine/company/whatever - bashing. I am merely and
simply an end-user. I don't have many options here in India (as of
now), and whatever I have, I would like it to work well enough for me
to get the job done efficitently. I am not interested in frills,
thrills and whatever else.

-vin

I also needed to install DVD RAM drivers on my XP machines, you also
have these ?

Have you tried procuring a PC DVD-RAM drive?

Nothing to add

I also needed to install DVD RAM drivers on my XP machines, you also
have these ?

XP includes a DVD/RAM driver. My XP recognizes my Panasonic LF-D201 drive
and will read and write to it. The one caveat is that it won't recognize
Deva 2, FAT 16 disks. I had to load an older version of 'Write DVD' inorder
to read my Deav DVD's with an XP PC.

I don't think there is any excuse for the PD6 not being able to
playback an entire DVD-RAM like a tape.

Moreover, relying on -one-
output - the IEEE1394 (firewire) port for xfer is suicidal, just as in
my case. I guess having another option like a USB or Gigabit ethernet
should not be much trouble. The data is already on a disc written in
UDF, except that it is a DVDRAM disc. I am aware that soon, all CD/DVD
writers will also read DVDRAM, as some already do...

I am not into machine/company/whatever - bashing. I am merely and
simply an end-user. I don't have many options here in India (as of
now), and whatever I have, I would like it to work well enough for me
to get the job done efficitently. I am not interested in frills,
thrills and whatever else.

Well the cantar also did not have that in the beginning, only after
requests from customers this came in the software-updates.
So, don;t be surprised if next month the next firmware will have this
option. ( to late, i know )

You can buy dvd ram readers here for 70 Euro, i would defenitly get
one of these if you use a PD6.

About the USB2 for data, i'm not that into the specs, but i know that
USB is far more power & CPU hungry then FW.
But USB is also giving me much less problems then FW, thats true.

R ( sometimes things do get fried )
you're so right. shit happens..

You can buy dvd ram readers here for 70 Euro, i would defenitly get
one of these if you use a PD6.

well, if it is only 70 euro, i am definitely getting one.