i CANNOT get my heads clean

S

slickcme2

New member
I just got my hvx last week, and since I recieved it, I have not been able to record any good footage. It is as if the heads are dirty, but in a very extreme jittery way on playback. I can watch old footage recorded with my vx2100 with very few problems, but most of the time, cannot record any unflawed footage... I bought a panasonic cleaning tape and ran it a couple times to no avail, and am thinking maybe it's the fuji tapes i'm trying to use? I ordered some panny AMQ tapes that should be here in a few days. Do you think that is my problem? It's very, very frusterating that my 5000 piece of equipment is not functioning out of the box.
 
what bothers me, however, is that I recorded with my vx2100 using fuji tapes exclusively, and they always worked. This is what is confusing me the most. I want desperately for it to be the tapes, but I can't get ANY footage out of the camera. It looks worse than any dirty heads I've ever had.
 
Some camera's don't like other cameras tapes or brands. that's probably the problem. I'm sure if you played the tapes on the 2100 it would play fine.
I'd say clean the heads with a regular head cleaner, then only use new panasonic tapes in your hvx200.
 
I just read about a Panasonic cam having problems with Fuji tapes and no others on another forum. Don't know if that means anything, but there you have it.
 
okay...so i got some panny advanced master tapes...and a panasonic head cleaner. I've run teh cleaner a few times, and it's still happening. THe dropouts are very very jittery and violent, and i've noticed that they seem to be more prominent when I'm trying to record in 24p. This is making me wonder, do i just have something stupid set incorrectly? I really don't understand how it could be the heads, this thing is right out of the box.
 
I have a dvx100 I used the fuji tapes and I am experiencing the same problems used the panasonic head cleaner with no improvement.
 
Could be shot heads. I'd return the cam if it's really one week old. Even with crap tapes, a week old camera should do just fine, you run into problems when you mix tape stock. I still use AMX tapes exclusively, but I'd be really surprised if using Fuji's for a week would clog your heads like that. Another note, don't keep cleaning the heads, you're wearing them down with each pass of the cleaning tape.
 
yeah for the longest i used cheap tdk tapes with my dvx with no probs. after 3-4 head cleaning cycles those tapes started giving my dropouts and i moved to mq's but a brand new cam should record on anything.
 
Did you say you shot 24p footage on the HVX using tape? I was under the impression that you could only shoot 24p on the P2, and not on SD mini dv tape... So does that mean, if I got this camera, I could still shoot regular mini-dv and basically get the same footage I get from my DVX?
 
UncleBen,

There are a couple of discussion threads (vague memory) somewhere on the site that debate the DVX vs. HVX tape capability.

Seek and ye shall find. (sorry I can't remember)
 
Benji,
The HVX can record SD footage to mini dv. That footage can be 24p, 30p, or 60i. I can also downconvert (though i've never used this feature, so I might not be remembering all the caveats to it correctly) footage from your p2 card into a DV tape. This downconverted footage be DV25 quality though.

What you cannot do to tape is record in any mode other than DV25. DVCPRO50, or HD.
 
Well, that's good. So, it will shoot like a DVX before I gather enough funds for the P2 cards. Yet another reason to snatch one up.
 
I would definitely suggest getting that camera looked at if its only a week old.
This shouldn't be happening - with any tape brand.

EDITED TO ADD:
Just realized the original post is a little over a month old - either way, get it looked at.
 
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