Canon Vixia HF-R800 "Cannot Record"

[ZenGeekDad]

My Canon Vixia HF-R800 is unable to record to a new top-brand micro-SD card (64 GB).

(This is just to provide a record of it.  I doubt anyone has a fix.  But, feel free to prove me wrong!)

Details:

Camcorder = Canon Vixia HF-R800.  Relatively new (<1 yr old) / very light use / never abused (I'm a middle-aged video hobbiest and am very fussy with my gear; this is a spare camera for me; used for maybe 6 shoots).

Camcorder has recorded trouble-free to prior SD cards -- e.g., to a PNY 32 GB Class 10 / UHS-1 / V90 / "95MB/s R/W".

The currently-failing SD card is a Sandisk Ultra, 64 GB micro SD XC-I (class 10 / UHS 1).  This SD card works flawlessly in ever other camera I use it in (Canon XC15, Nikon D7200, Panasonix TM700, GoPro Hero5), and works fine with my PC.

I initialized this failing SD card in the Canon HF-R800.  (Home icon on touch screen > Other Settings [screwdriver & hammer] > wrench tab at far right > Initialize (4th up from bottom) > Initialize (button at bottom of screen) > Complete Initialization (bottom button of scrren again).  This did not help.

I also tried wiping the card in my PC, by doing a standard format (as opposed to a Quick Format), then trying as is, and when that failed to allow the Canon Vixia to record to it, then repeating the Complete Initialization in the Canon HF-R800.  Again, no luck.

I've repeated the in-Canon HF-R800 Complete Initialization a couple-few times, just to give it every chance to work.  No luck.

I've confirmed the Canon HF-R800 currently records just fine to another 64 GB micro SD card (in this case, a Samsung Closs 10 / UHS-1 claiming 48 MB/s R/W).

Note: Canon's 1st-level monitors / staff here might try to claim this problem is due to using a poor SD card.  But that doesn't wash.  Sandisk is about as reliable a brand as they come.  And that Sandisk SD card is working just fine in every other camera and device I own.

I'm not trying to gain anything here.  Just sharing my experience.  That way, if a lot of this sort of experience gets posted, we can start to sort out the patterns, and make more informed buying decisions.

[BurnUnit]

I think you'll find in the user's manual that Canon recommends using only full-size SD cards. At least there are no recommendations for micro SD cards and their required adapters. Micro SD cards and/or their adapters have been known to cause problems or subpar performance in DSLR cameras and I would guess the same issues could occur with camcorders as well. You're just adding another couple sets of electrical contacts and another area for potential connection problems.

I'm sure they've been used with no problem in certain cameras under certain conditions, but it's not really considered to be a best practice.

[ZenGeekDad]

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@BurnUnit wrote:

I think you'll find in the user's manual that Canon recommends using only full-size SD cards. At least there are no recommendations for micro SD cards and their required adapters. Micro SD cards and/or their adapters have been known to cause problems or subpar performance in DSLR cameras and I would guess the same issues could occur with camcorders as well. You're just adding another couple sets of electrical contacts and another area for potential connection problems.

I'm sure they've been used with no problem in certain cameras under certain conditions, but it's not really considered to be a best practice.

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Thanks for your comments.  FWIW, I scoured the manual but found no warning against micro SD cards.

I understand the speculation that adapters might introduce interference.  Audio techs cite jack adpaters all the time as boosting signal-to-noise ratio.  So something like that might apply here too.  Though it does feel a bit like the scape goat du jour, or perhaps the dragons we draw at the edge of the map where our knowledge ends.  But in this case, I have personally-generated data showing that the adpaters were in fact at least contributing to the problem.  So, thanks for the nudge!  Without your reply, I would not have tested all the combinations.

[BurnUnit]

I've always looked at the Micro SD cards as being designed for use in smaller devices like cell phones, tablets and MP3 players. And the only reason that the adapters existed was to make it easy to transfer files between the card and a desktop computer. Never really gave any thought to using a micro SD card any differently. If the camera has a slot for a full size SD card then that's what I intend to stick in there.

I would agree that Canon might have done a better job in their manuals however by stating outright that they DO NOT RECOMMEND the usage of Micro SD cards and adapters.

[ZenGeekDad]

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@BurnUnit wrote:

I've always looked at the Micro SD cards as being designed for use in smaller devices like cell phones, tablets and MP3 players. And the only reason that the adapters existed was to make it easy to transfer files between the card and a desktop computer. Never really gave any thought to using a micro SD card any differently. If the camera has a slot for a full size SD card then that's what I intend to stick in there.

I would agree that Canon might have done a better job in their manuals however by stating outright that they DO NOT RECOMMEND the usage of Micro SD cards and adapters.

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Thanks for sharing your certainty that Canon DOES NOT RECOMMEND micro-SD cards in adapters in the HF-R800.  Since that information isn't in their 288 page manual, ... where did you come by it?

[ZenGeekDad]

Misc Update:

Today I shot a play, using the Canon Vixia HF-R800 as one camera (of several), recording ~90 minutes to a Samsung 64 EVO micro-SD card in an adapter.  It worked.  No failure to record.  No clipped files.  I'm not saying this proves it will always work; I'm just sharing the data point.

[gstrumberger]

I used the same micro-SD with adapter to film a pretty important music event recently. Everything recorded fine--but now I can't retrieve the video/audio files, in their entirety, from the camera! It plays fine while in the camera but when I remove (for instance) the mico-SD and adapter from the camera and use a card reader, all I have is video. No audio. When I try to offload the files, all I get are error messages.

Am I completely out of any kind of luck here? No way to, say, transfer from the card into the internal memory? I'm fairly desperate as we needed the footage to apply to get into a major music festival this summer--and application deadline is looming.

I agree, too, that it would have been prudent of Canon to state that they did NOT recommend using a micro-SD card in this camera because results cannot be guaranteed. I thought I'd be fine using the adapter--as others apparently thought as well.

Thanks - G

[BurnUnit]

Have you tried copying your files with the card and adapter in the camera using the USB cable instead of a card reader? What software are you using to open the videos? Do you have sound when opening other video files shot the same camera on a full size SD card?

[gstrumberger]

I first pulled the card out of the camera and used the card reader to work with the files. All I got was video-no audio. Windows Media Player opened them OK and played the video but, no audio.  Also was able to open the file this way using Power Director. Again, no audio.

Then I wondered whether I'd have audio if I put the card back into the camcorder. At that point, video and audio played on the camera's screen but I wasn't able to open the file with any other software via the camera with a USB cable connected to the computer. No video, no audio--nada. Just got repeated error messages "unable to retrieve file".

This was the first time I used this camcorder so not sure if a full size SD card will net me different results. Of course, I intend to test it before shooting anything else.

[ZenGeekDad]

gstrumberger: 

I've never had the problem you describe, on my Canon Vixia HF-R800.*

My advice to you:

1 - Your best option is to try to copy the file(s) from the Vixia to your PC over a USB cord from Vixia to PC.

2 - If that fails, you might try playing it from your camera to your PC (over an HDMI cable; you need a mini-HDMI to standard HDMI cable) and recording the input at your PC, ... assuming you have means to do that.  If you edit video, your editor can probably do live capture (e.g. Premiere Pro can).  If not, then google "capture live video free software" and see what grabs you.  I saw Wondershare in one "top ten" list.  I have Wondershare for downloading web video, and I like it for that, but I have never tried it for recording a live HDMI-inputted signal.

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* I've used mostly micro-SD cards in adapters in it, but at times opted for standard sized SD cards too.  To date, the only difference I've seen between micro-SD and SD is the above-hypothesized differnce in reliability of data transfer (where I got the one FAIL, in recording to a micro-SD via adapter, which  started this thread).