life expectancy of HVX 200

1

1ace11

Member
What is considered to be a lot of operation hours on a HVX 200. Are we looking at 1000's of hours. Anyone know?
 
It's got no moving parts. Nothing to wear out (other than the tape heads). It should last for thousands and thousands of hours, but since it's only two years old we don't really know.
 
I read an ad for a rental house that was selling a hvx with 5000 hours on. They claimed it performed like new.
 
If you are the average News Shooter, about 1,000 hours or less. :)
If you're as careful as you should be, probably over 10,000 hours. (I'm just guessing). But barring physical damage you should be able to use it till you need to upgrade to a higher end camera.
 
12 years, 3 months, six days, 10 hours and 7 minutes.

Just kidding, but can anyone really answer this question?

I would guess with carefull handling it will last for many years. It's very dependable. For new technology, Panasonic built a nice camera.
 
I would almost bet, if you don't throw it off a roof, you'll never wear it out (or will be several generations of new technology before you could).
 
On one of my old Sony Betacams, the capacitors on the circuit boards eventually leaked from old age just sitting in it's locker. Not worth the expensive fix. It was a real workhorse with reg. maintenance for all the moving parts, but I never expected IC board failure.
 
well I was still using my XL1 when I got the hvx about a year ago. my xl1 lasted me for a good 6 years, with countless hours of shooting, films, events and gag I say weddings. I only thing I ever had to do was clean the heads. and its full of moving parts.
 
jbblunck said:
Capacitor leakage is easily avoided by firing up the equipment regularly.
Click to expand...

Not true. Capacitors are almost always the weak link in electronics, due to their very design. I've seen literally hundreds of PCs fail due to swollen capacitors, and every single one of them was in active service when it happened.

I've often suspected (though I have absolutely no evidence) that the HVX's beeping issue that occurs with a small percentage of cameras is somehow related to swollen caps.

Luckily, capacitors are fairly easily replaced on most devices, provided you or someone you know has the soldering skills necessary. The hard part usually comes in disassembling and reassembling the device, in the case of something like a camera.
 
My original iMac G5 20" had swollen capacitors and there was no way to replace them. Apple thankfully replaced the entire logic board for free even after three years because they have had huge problems with this generation of computer.
 
And how many licks does it take to get to the center?

I think this camera will last until a comparable camera costs $1,000. By then, repairs won't make sense anymore.
 
I guess I better fire up those old Betacams in the basement now and then. Engineer told me capacitor leakage smells like rotten eggs.
 
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