MAJOR MAJOR FS100 dropouts

M

mpalmer12345

Well-known member
Maybe one of you can tell me why I am getting major dropouts and unusable files with my FS100 and the HVX200. In a 10 minute recording I sometimes get a whopping 5 minutes-worth of dropped frames. I can't figure out whether it's a defective FS100, the FS100 battery, the HVX, HVX battery, or something else. (I'm pretty sure it's not the firewire cord, because I used 2 different ones and got the same problem.) Tonight, for instance, I made sure that all my batteries were fully charged the day of the shoot. Even so, while I was recording I noticed that the light in the front of the FS100 was blinking red and dropouts appeared. Could the blinking be telling me something? Or maybe it's the FS100 software? I'm on version 2, soon to upgrade to 4.

Here's what happened, in more detail: The first 20 minutes of recording with the FS100 plays perfectly, but then in the second 10 minutes the new xml file somehow got major dropouts and the file itself is unable to be imported into FCP due to an error of some kind, even after I tried repair disk, repair clip, etc. I can't believe the battery caused this problem, since I'm using the extended 3-hr battery, fully charged. The camera is on a tripod, and gently moved from one location to another before the second file was recorded to the device. Could that have caused the problem? Also, I used a remote zoom attachment, but I can't believe that that had anything to do with it.

The dropouts look like they sometimes cause the footage to overwrite itself, with certain parts of the footage being scrambled back and forth: ABABA etc. More often, though, I just lose 5-10 seconds of footage with each dropout, which happens about 5-10 times a minute.

This is the third time this dropout issue has happened to me over about 20 recording sessions. (Yes, there have been days, for several hours, when I was able to record dropout-free.) Please let me know how to make this problem go away, or at least suggest how I might test my equipment to pinpoint what is going haywire, and why.

I have a BIG $$ shoot next week, so I'd love to figure this out before then, if possible. Thanks for any and all suggestions.
 
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Set it down on a table and let it record for ten minutes without touching or moving anything, and see if you still get those symptoms.

If you DON'T, you likely have an intermittent connection. If you DO, you probably have a FS-100 with a drive that's failing.
 
Also, do some test with the unit plugged into the wall. I had the same problems but it only occurs when the battery is low. and i also had it bliking red or something like that. once its starts blinking red- "Houston We Have a Problem".

Of course like thoff said, it could be the hard drive.
but it could be a bad connection from your battery to the FS-100. those 3 little tabs that connect the Battery to the unit are not the most reliable.

And then there's the possibility that the batty is faulty. I had a panasonic battery which I used just a few times and now it no longer holds charge. (got me a lemon)

If I can make a suggestion, get the Tekkeon MP3400 battery. that thing will power the FS-100 for 4-5hr + the onboard battery. so you get 5-6hrs. and if the 3hr long battery you have is working, it would be more like 7-8.
 
Thanks. I still haven't found the source of the problem, but I'll keep trying out your various suggestions. I can rule out a bad cable, though, as I got an expensive $40 firewire cable and still get the dropouts.
 
THoff said:
an intermittent connection.
Click to expand...

this might not necessarily mean a bad cable. Maybe the connector is the problem. either on the FS-100 or the HVX. I've gotten many calls or emails from people who broke their Firewire connector on the camera and now want to buy the Firewire Saver.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't hear about the problem until it was too late. I hope this is not the problem with yours because you will have to send the camera for service, but it could be a problem.

Keep checking to see if you have the same problem with the unit plugged into the wall. that will rule out the battery as the culprit.
 
Yeah, I was thinking of buying your thingie as a prcautionary measure right before this problem arose.

Ruling out the battery, let's say, how would I figure out whether it's a bad HVX connection or the Firestore? Can't quite figure out a test for that, and don't know anybody who could lend me a functional Firestore. I'd hate to mail in the camera and find out it's a Firestore problem, or vise versa.
 
(Also, does anybody in the San Francisco Bay Area know where to get this camera repaired locally so that I don't have to mail it in?)
 
I thought there was a way to dump from the p2 cards to a Hard drive with those buttons to press and back up. But maybe that was using the USB connerctor and not the firewire. (and that is of course if you have a P2)

Maybe rent a fs-100. that could solve it. or if you can reproduce the problem fairly quickly, you can go to a rental house and see if they would let you try out your FS-100 with their HVX and try out their FS-100 with your camera.
 
also. are the drop outs only seen in the computer. cus maybe you are having the problem when copying from the FS-100 to your computer. can you replay the video from the fs-100 on the HVX?
 
Yes, the dropouts show up on FS100 playback.

Got the camera connected to computer, and no dropouts in the 2 minutes I tested. Also, I jiggled the firewire cable near the camera, and no dropouts, so I am slightly inclined to rule out camera connection failure and focus on the FS100 as problem source. Will do a longer test soon...
 
could you not hook up your FS to your computer, have it mount as a drive and run a disk utility to test the drive inside to see if it is faulty?
 
Interesting idea. I gave it a go on Mac's Disk Utility, and it passed verification.

Also, I did a longer, 20 minute test of camera via computer and there were no dropouts, so I am leaning more and more towards the FS being the source of the problem. Or maybe FS battery? Do those things go bad? Or maybe the battery connections are bad? I had one of the gold contacts fixed a few months ago because it was broken, so they should be okay.
 
well. plug the thing to the wall and start recording. In fact take the battery out of the unit and just have it plugged into the wall. if it doesn't give you any drop out after multiple tries. then it must be the battery. or battery connectors.
 
Well, I tried 2+ hours of home tests so far using every combination of setups I could imagine --FS battery, wall power, cheap firewire cable, jiggling the cable around, etc. -- and none of them gave me any dropouts. This is worse than finding the problem, as I know it still exists -- it happened last Monday and Tuesday and completely ruined the footage on both nights -- and yet I cannot reliably reproduce the problem nor expect that the people in a repair shop will be able to do so either. I now have equipment that is unreliable, unfixable, and is keeping me from making a living. The worst of all worlds. I'd do anything to get back my JVC DV500 right about now!
 
well, if its still under warranty, just talk to one of the FS-100 reps and demand a new unit. Not a fix, but a new one. they are pretty good about stuff like this, and I believe they understand that doing a shoot is alot of money and the last thing they want is to create a name of unreliability for the fs-100.
Also if your Panasonic HVX is under warranty also, why not switch it too. talk to them and demand it.
Both the FS-100 and the P2 cards have provided problems for a few people. Sometimes things just cannot be made identically even in a controlled environment. (like my Panasonic battery. It just died. and I didn't even use it that many times)

I head of people with problems with the JVC DV500 also. which is funny you said that. I'm selling mine. I already have a buyer, but if he backs out, maybe you can get one back. mine is practially brand new. with only 22hrs on the drums. I never used it. ahahahhaha
 
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Next time I'll make sure to read the SECOND page as well before responding
:thumbsup:

EDITED TO ADD:

Have you tried the FS100 on a different camera?
Might want to do that, just to make absolutely certain you've isolated the problem to the unit itself.
Though from everything you've done, it definitely sounds like that's what it is.

How do you mount your FS100 when you're shooting?
 
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I mount the FS to the top handle with velcro and a velcro strap, right behind the top red record button. (Very secure. Allows me to do handheld fairly easily.) For a while I thought maybe the FS was leaning on the red button, causing the dropouts, but I couldn't get this to happen after a few deliberate positionings. . .

FS is still under warranty, but guy at FS says that if they can't find a problem they simply send it back to the user saying NOTHING FOUND (NTF). Moreover, I quote: "This happens a lot." I guess I could irately demand a replacement, but without them finding something wrong by some easily retraceable set of steps, I don't see them doing this.

HVX not under warranty.

Never had a problem with the DV500, and I put it through a lot. Not going back to SD, though, even though the DV500 looks way better in low light than the HVX ever has, alas.
 
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