DVX playback?

[olwiggum]

Hi there,
I bought a DVX100 last February or so. I didn't have any problems with it until around November. I was shooting some footage and kept getting some kind of error signal. I cleaned the heads and it did OK for an hour, then I got the error again. When I went back to capture that footage, it was pixelated badly. I put the tape in my smaller "family camera" and it played fine. The firewire jack is fried on that camera, so I can't capture with it though.

I have shot a few more times with the camera with no problems. I used it 2 nights ago and didn't get any error messages, but my footage is badly pixelated again.

A friend of mine said that he had a similar issue with the error message a while back and it was apparently a problem with the tape. Is this a common problem. I'm afraid to keep cleaning my heads all the time as I've read that this can wear them down.

Anyone?

[Jaimebailon]

did you use a cleaning tape?
you should never use those they are way to harsh on the heads.
you should get them proffesionally cleaned or follow the tutorial that i on here or try running a brand new tape and letting it play for the whole time on the tape and then dispose of that tape. hope this helps

[olwiggum]

Yeah, I used a cleaning tape. I've never been read that you shouldn't use cleaning tapes. Crap.

[jambredz]

well i wudnt say never...its just that its not the prefered way (first choice) cuz as Jaime said, they are harsher. So u used it...kool...nutn will happen to ur cam. Dont use it for more than 5 seconds or on consecutive runs ( using it, then using it right after). Professionally cleaned or th blank tape method is a better way to go.

[David Jimerson]

Fears about the cleaning tapes are overblown. You should avoid it if you can, but in a pinch, it isn't gonna kill you. The heads are tougher than that. One spin with the cleaning tape isn't going to cause you problems.

[SPrimeau]

Or you can manually clean the heads by following this guide by Barry Green:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=6888

[R Hudson]

Echo.

The cleaning tape should be considered a last resort when you're in a pinch. The problem that can occur with cleaning tapes is where the user runs it, still gets dropouts, runs it again, still gets dropouts, etc. Multiple runs like that can be pretty abrasive. If you need to use it (after trying other methods first) and it doesn't work after the first try, I would suggest having it professionally cleaned. It's much cheaper than new heads :)