P2 card ate all my footage.... WHY???? :(

R

RedShoe

Member
I had a shoot this weekend for my BIGGE$T client. I was paid to shoot some behind the scenes of some still shoots and shoot the live action scenes later in the day.

I just got the HVX and had only shot with it one other time, on a 16G P2 card and that seemed to work out ok. I heard nothing but neat things about these P2 cards which really had me worried since I've never had any luck with proprietary BS.

So this weekend I rented 3 more 32G P2 cards from EVS and shot my first set of BTS. That card filled up, so I popped it out and put in a new one and set up my computer to transfer the P2 card. I got an error. Some wicked stupid error about the a file being corrupted. So I tried transferring everything but that file. I got another error about another file being corrupted. That happened until I had tried every single file. Nothing worked.

I put the card back in the camera and could now just play like 5 - 10 seconds of each scene.

During the process of me jerkin around with the stupid proprietary P2 BS, I was unable to shoot more BTS and missed out on 2 more BTS setups. We finally set the card aside and had to resort to just 2 cards which ended up being a huge pain in the ass and was scary, because now I was never sure if I was going to lose another card.

Luckily they worked during the live action scenes and did well on Sunday as well. It still sucked being down to 2 cards. By this morning I had calmed down and took the cards back to EVS. They too were unable to retrieve my footage which could be seen by the HVX. I appreciate them helping me out and working with me.

Of course no one else had ever heard such a thing from such a perfect system, but I'm here to say the system is flawed. One of 3 things happened. The camera failed, The card failed, or I failed. Either way it should not have been this easy lose such awesome BTS, and potentially cost me a client. Regardless of who was at fault, I want to know HOW it happened? Was it me? If so, what did I do? If it was the camera what did it do? And if it were the card, then Panasonic owes me the money I lost on not delivering everything I had promised.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?
 
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. The system has really been rock-solid for virtually all users. My theory is that maybe you yanked the card out a bit prematurely, meaning, the data may not have been fully finalized to the card. Make sure the light isn't blinking when you go to remove a card - wait for it to stop!

There is some software out there that claims to repair P2 data.

http://www.imagineproducts.com/P2log.htm
http://www.imagineproducts.com/hdlog.htm


And one guy says, "I've started a Movie Repair Service aimed at fixing those kind of problems. I've been successful repairing footage from HVX200 cameras in all occasions. If you're interested, please visit this web page and follow instructions.
Regards, BJ" http://www.aeroquartet.com/movierepair/
 
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How about some more information, like what your "recording setup" settings were in-camera, what computer and software you were using to transfer the footage, and exactly at what point in the process the errors popped up.

--SM
 
and had only shot with it one other time
Click to expand...

i hate to sound like an a-hole here - but dont blame the system for your lack of knowledge. there are a handful of things that could have gone wrong through user inexperience.

did you update your cameras firmware?
did you pull the card out without stopping recording? (dumb, yes, but weve all done that!)
 
I would assume (based on what is written) that the card was not formatted properly prior to use. Did you format the cards prior to using them?
 
RedShoe said:
I had a shoot this weekend for my BIGGE$T client. I was paid to shoot some behind the scenes of some still shoots and shoot the live action scenes later in the day.

I just got the HVX and had only shot with it one other time, on a 16G P2 card and that seemed to work out ok. I heard nothing but neat things about these P2 cards which really had me worried since I've never had any luck with proprietary BS.

So this weekend I rented 3 more 32G P2 cards from EVS and shot my first set of BTS. That card filled up, so I popped it out and put in a new one and set up my computer to transfer the P2 card. I got an error. Some wicked stupid error about the a file being corrupted. So I tried transferring everything but that file. I got another error about another file being corrupted. That happened until I had tried every single file. Nothing worked.

I put the card back in the camera and could now just play like 5 - 10 seconds of each scene.

During the process of me jerkin around with the stupid proprietary P2 BS, I was unable to shoot more BTS and missed out on 2 more BTS setups. We finally set the card aside and had to resort to just 2 cards which ended up being a huge pain in the ass and was scary, because now I was never sure if I was going to lose another card.

Luckily they worked during the live action scenes and did well on Sunday as well. It still sucked being down to 2 cards. By this morning I had calmed down and took the cards back to EVS. They too were unable to retrieve my footage which could be seen by the HVX. I appreciate them helping me out and working with me.

Of course no one else had ever heard such a thing from such a perfect system, but I'm here to say the system is flawed. One of 3 things happened. The camera failed, The card failed, or I failed. Either way it should not have been this easy lose such awesome BTS, and potentially cost me a client. Regardless of who was at fault, I want to know HOW it happened? Was it me? If so, what did I do? If it was the camera what did it do? And if it were the card, then Panasonic owes me the money I lost on not delivering everything I had promised.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?
Click to expand...

Hmm, it sounds like it was the card. I'm not sure that it would be entirely Panasonic's fault. Renters mishandle P2 cards from the same place, and then you get one of those beaten up cards. Generally, I prefer to use P2 cards from a rental house that is not as busy. That way you know that the cards have fairly low mileage. I also usually do test shots and card dumps before the real deal. Either way, the HVX-200 has been extremely reliable for me.
 
The p2 are drops free, but the data can be lost if you don´t do the steps
My experience is similar. Now I just use 4gb cards, and check it every time that I ingest to the laptop, I use Addonics adapter and compare the data bit to bit in the p2 an the folder in laptop
 
Sounds like pilot error to me.

You don't pop out the card and replace it with another one the instant it fills up, you wait for the camera to finish writing before yanking the card.

One thing you should have tried is to repair the clips in the camera. The function is there for a reason.
 
Sounds like pilot error to me...

Yes and a student pilot also without a solo.
As Walt Garrison use to say in a Skoal commercial. "You don't get paid to practice, and you won't get paid if you don't"

Mule Ferguson
CFI Hot Air Balloon
 
not sure what happened with his p2 cards, but i read above someone said maybe the p2 card wasn't formatted or the camera's firmware might not have been updated?

i just bought my first 16GB card (been using 4gb cards for the past year) so do i need to update the firmware on my camera or format the 16gb p2 card?

if so then how - any links are helpful.

Thanks!
 
The camera wouldn't have written anything to the card had it not been formatted.

Having said that, I wouldn't trust a card from a rental house to have been formatted properly by the last person that used it, I would always format it myself in the camera.

If you are renting a camera, you might also want to bring a SD card with the V4.06 firmware just in case. I keep a copy of the firmware on the same card I use for my scene files, there is nothing that prevents you from having both on one card.
 
Thanks for all the input. :)

I appreciate everyone blaming me. I aint mad at ya. :)

I do know I'm VERY cautious of that camera and I know for a fact I waited for the lights to stop blinking. I didn't know about the firmware, and I didn't know a blank card from a rental house would need to be formatted. They seemed to record just fine it was just getting that footage OFF the card that failed.

However... I still think it was WAY to easy for it to happen and since I don't know exactly HOW it happened there is no guarantee it won't happen again. I'm not in a position to halt production over something like this.

Imagine you're shooting a sporting event. Do you really have the power to stop the game while you fiddle around with a camera. (and yes I realize it can shoot indefinitely).

Either way, I can't have that happen again. So... I'm selling it. If anyone wants it, send me an email.

bryansides at yahoo dot com.

I'll double check, but I'd say it has less than 60 hours on it. I still have the original box it came in.

$4500 and it's yours. We'll split shipping if you live outside of Los Angeles.
 
RedShoe said:
Thanks for all the input. :)

I appreciate everyone blaming me. I aint mad at ya. :)

I do know I'm VERY cautious of that camera and I know for a fact I waited for the lights to stop blinking. I didn't know about the firmware, and I didn't know a blank card from a rental house would need to be formatted. They seemed to record just fine it was just getting that footage OFF the card that failed.

However... I still think it was WAY to easy for it to happen and since I don't know exactly HOW it happened there is no guarantee it won't happen again. I'm not in a position to halt production over something like this.

Imagine you're shooting a sporting event. Do you really have the power to stop the game while you fiddle around with a camera. (and yes I realize it can shoot indefinitely).

Either way, I can't have that happen again. So... I'm selling it. If anyone wants it, send me an email.

bryansides at yahoo dot com.

I'll double check, but I'd say it has less than 60 hours on it. I still have the original box it came in.

$4500 and it's yours. We'll split shipping if you live outside of Los Angeles.
Click to expand...
Just curious but what will you be getting instead? Tapeless shooting is where the field is heading whether it be P2 cards, Sony's format, CF card or any other format. Each will have its issues especially if people don't read up on how to handle the cards.

Formatting the cards is critical I would say as that gets you to the file structure the camera expects. Not blaming you here per say as no-one can claim 100% reliability on any product but for the most part card issues tend to be user driven, i.e. they improperly deleted the footage, did not format cards, not updating firmware, pulling the cards out before they are fully written to, etc...

You will need to familarize yourself with a new workflow in any case when more and more cameras move to tapeless format. But its your decision and if you are not confident in your tools than you are making the right choice for your business. Though I must add that many people have used a tapeless system on the HVX, HPX, Sony EX, and Red One with great success. You just have to be familar with the tools and how to handle them.
 
Also, you may have gotten a bad card from the rental house. They are rental houses so people could abuse the hell out of them and you would never know.
 
selling your camera over one mishap? i think thats ludicrous! if everyone sold their kit after a single glitch wed all be empty-handed.

i think before you continue going off half-cocked, youd be best off taking a breath. resetting your camera to factory defaults, re-rent those same cards and see if you can duplicate the problem. because overall, there isnt a more foolproof or reliable modern HD camera system out there.
 
A bit overkill but you should test all rented cards/cams with the record settings I will be shooting as per the project.

A quick test can reveal any flaws a cards or cameras may have.


Also, if your new to P2 recording pay a tech to come along on a shoot like the one you had, someone who's owned the cam for a while who would check settings/firmware/card/dumping.

A good 1st AC is worth the money. Once you are comfortable and know your way around the problems you may have IE a big red x on a clip in the clip viewer. You can do it all solo.

Sorry for your trouble... in any case it sucks to loose any footage whatever the cause.
 
Are you willing to sell your 16gb card? I mean it's most likely broke so, I'm willing to take it off your hands at a good price:) Just having fun. But if you are selling, I would like the card:)
 
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