I was digitizing from a Cannon HD camera (I was able to get hours of maerial in) and then for no good reason at all, it stopped and I can't capture any more.  I'm getting "no input signal present" error.  I mean, it literally just stopped working as I was digitzing different clips.  Questions:

1) why am I getting this error?

2) how can I get past it so I can digitize again?

3) how do I avoid this in the future?

Thanks!

Try - in descending order of likeliness:

Reconnect Camera.

Powercycle Camera.

Reconfigure decks.

Restart AVID.

Restart Windows.

Reinstall Windows.

Write thread-titles in mixed case letters...

 I've done all this with NO LUCK.

I do have deck control but no picture or sound.

Any ideas?

This error popped up while i was trying to switch projects: 

"dvaudio_manager_lava_execute_error"

It's like a riddle for each error!  Here's a crazy idea: instead of crypic language, why don't the errors actually define the problem and list out possible solutions?  Or would that just be too easy?

Might this have anything to do with it?  I searched the forums, but no one seems to have an answer for it.

I re-registered the dvbuffers thing.

In the Settings folder, I deleted MC State, Site Settings, and Site Attributes. 

I powered everything down and unhooked everything and then plugged everything back in, and then fired it back up.  I relaunched Avid. 

HERE'S THE STEPS I TOOK:  I go to Deck Configuation, I "Add Channel".  It says Channel Type: Firewire (I changed my Port to "OHCI"), and hit OK.  It then ask me if I want to autoconfigure, I select "No".  I then select "Add Deck" and select my Cannon camera.  I hit Apply, the pull up my Capture Tool.

Still no luck.  Same error: "No Input Signal present"

Note:  I can digitze fine from my main deck (ntsc Sony DSR-11), but not from the HD camera.

Can anyone help?

I even tried a new project and user name.  I'm out of ideas.

How do I get the video and audio in my system?

Please help.  Thanks! 

Are there any camera settings that could have inadvertently been changed?  Are you still able to recapture earlier material?  Have you tried a different firewire cable?

The fact that the process failed part way through a previously successful operation suggests a physical failure for some sort.  That physical failure could also include corruption of your Avid software or your O/S on the hard disc, but it's less likely than something associated with the camera or the camera/PC interface.

And just reinforcing macjaeger's earlier comment: please don't head your threads all in uppercase.  It's seen as shouting.  I accidentally looked at this thread because I usually don't enter threads headed in caps.  I'm sure I'm not alone.

Thanks, jwrl for you help.

I put it in all caps because I was shouting!  This is ridiculous!  I'm kidding-- I put it in all caps because my caps lock was on.

I don't think it's the firewire cable because I can still digitize from the standard def deck.  Also, the computer DOES recognize the deck.  It seems like Avid just won't take it's video and audio.

Any ideas on how to solve?

Do you have any other capture application, like another NLE? Try to capture there, just to see if Avid's broken or your hardware's faulty. If you can, also try to connect your Camera/Deck to a fellow editors system, to see if you camera/cabling is the problem or your workstation. Narrow down the broken part by excluding as many links of the chain as possible, until there's only one left.

I'm wondering whether the camera settings were changed during the shoot.  Could it have been switched to 24F?  If so, your only choice might be to digitise using something like Premiere or FCP if you have access to them.

If you go the FCP path be sure that you don't export the media as ProRes.  Use Avid codecs LE and export your media as QT DNxHD.

HI,

I recently went through this and here's what I discovered.  If the footage was shot in 24F mode your options your options are limited.  Here's what they are:

1) if you don't need HD, you can always turn on the AV->DV option and digitize the footage as regular DV - fastest and cheapest solution.

2) digitize off the HD-SDI port on the camera.  This is probably your best option for quality.

3) use FCP or Premiere and import. best compromise for quality and expense but most time consuming.

Good luck,

Brian

Thanks everyone for your help.  These are all great suggestions.

I checked the tape and the camera settings were NOT changed during the shoot (good suggestion to look at that, though)  the footage definitely was not 24f (I hit that problem once before on something else and had to use FCP to get the material) and I don't have any other capture applications unfortunately. 

But this is RANDOM:  for shits & giggles I plugged the camera in yesterday and for NO REASON it was working again and I could digitize fine.  I was able to pick up right were I left off.  How weird is that?

I digitized as much as I could (while it was working) and as a test I switched projects (to NTSC) and back to my other deck (Sony DSR-11 ntsc).  That deck as working fine.  However, when I tried to GO BACK to my HD project and my HD camera I got the error again "No Input Signal Present" and all the same scenerio.  I tried restarting... etc, etc, etc.... but nothing worked.

Any idea on what is going on?  How can I switch back to digitizing HD when I want?

This sort of "random" problem may indicate a hardware problem, like a broken connector, although that happens not very often. And as it is limited to your HD cam, you should look there. Do you have any way to test your hd cam at another computer?

Or is there any way to reliably reproduce the error, like "it always fails when i connect the cam a second time"? This would point to software related issues, like driver / application keeping its hand on the device.