Are you guys gonna miss the tape drive in the HPX170?

[ChipG]

I figured the P2 hour meter would count any time powered up, but I hadn't considered the tape side. Maybe it's the same idea - all hours powered up while in tape mode, not just drum hours.

I recently sold my 200 and bought a 200a. It (the 200) had 90 hours P2 and zero tape. Nonetheless I like having the tape drive. Maybe some day I'll actually use it : )

Yes,

On tape mode the drums are turning and the hour meter is counting (always) wether you are recording or not...

Why are you guys suprised? It does the same thing in P2 mode...

 

[Ted Spencer]

Yes,

On tape mode the drums are turning and the hour meter is counting (always) wether you are recording or not...

Why are you guys suprised? It does the same thing in P2 mode...

Typically, a helican-scan ("drum") type recorder will stop the drum spinning after a period of about 5 minutes in pause. So it would in effect be causing no head wear, which is what one would want to know about hours for (thus the term "drum hours").

Also, with no tape in the drive, the situation would be likewise. Thus, if the HVX counts hours all the time it's switched to tape mode, regardless of the above situations, it's going to count a lot of drum hours it shouldn't.

P2 hours are mechanically wear-less (aside from the act of inserting and removing cards, which is momentary, and not necessarily represeneted in any coherent way by the hour counter). In a car it's like the difference between paint wear and brake wear. A properly maintained car will likely never wear out its paint for the duration of original ownership, like a camera will probably never need new electronics. New brakes on a typical car? Almost definitely. Tape drives will wear out likewise.

As a buyer of a used camcorder I'd be a lot more concerned about high drum hours than high P2 hours. Panasonic's 5 year warranty on P2-only devices versus 1 for tape drive equipped ones reflects that.

 

[ChipG]

Ted,

Here is my stand... When my HVX wears out I'll donate it to the Panasonic Lab... It could possibly be 20 years from now! Heck, it has been been through some ruff times... Ya, the tape drive keeps counting hours on my cam. I now have high drum hours on an HVX that has seen 5 or less mini DV tapes....

Sorry to hear about your car problems!

Chip

 

[ChipG]

I figured the P2 hour meter would count any time powered up, but I hadn't considered the tape side. Maybe it's the same idea - all hours powered up while in tape mode, not just drum hours.

I recently sold my 200 and bought a 200a. It (the 200) had 90 hours P2 and zero tape. Nonetheless I like having the tape drive. Maybe some day I'll actually use it : )

Hey Ted,

The HVX in P2 mode does count hours when powered up, not sure if it is because my pre-record mode is on (for the 3 sec in HD) or not, but, I'll bet I have shot maybe 100 hours of recorded P2 footage on my HVX...