C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

OB1

OB1

Active member
I know this has been well covered, but . . .

Barry - somebody please help out here. The conflicting advice on this issue is killing me:

(1) The local Panasonic dealer says clean the heads with the head cleaner tape every 50 hours and only clean the pins, rollers, guides, etc. with the chamois/alcohol technique.

(2) The local Panasonic repair/engineer guy says clean the heads with the head cleaner tape every 100 hours ("to keep the flat surface of the heads flat") and to only go in there with the chamois/alcohol thing on the heads as a last resort if the dirty head alarm won't go away. (He continued to spin off quite a list of reasons why not to go in there with the chamois directly on the heads unless absolutely required.)

(3) The Panasonic Head Cleaner tape has the following message on the back: "This DV cleaning cassette tape is designed for use only when soiled video heads cause degraded picture quality. Not for regular maintenance. . . "

Now that statement really gets to me. This is in complete conflict with the advise from the engineer and the Panasonic Sales guy - Though it is in line with the DVX operating instructions which seem to indicate only cleaning the heads when they are dirty (Video Heads p. 64).

Everyone seems to have their own opinion on this issue but what is the proper one to follow?

Is there anything wrong with just NOT cleaning heads UNTIL "degraded picture quality" or the red X comes up?

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME. Please help. (the force is not with me on this. )

;) :P
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Thanks Pookie - but I've read this novel twice already! It actually adds to the confusion. I guess I'm just looking for the sun god Rah to come and lay the law down on this.

Who do you trust on this? (or Who's really screwed up and can say for sure NOT what to do? )
:)
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Sorry OB1, I slightly misunderstood your question.

There's been considerable debate here regarding head cleaning, and I follow your confusion.

Personally, I use a head cleaner about every 75 hours, just to keep ahead of trouble, then I "hand" clean at about 100 hours.

The warning about not for regular maintenance is simply to stop it's use as a "weekly" type of fix, as that repeated use would wear the heads needlessly.

Use a good quality head cleaner around 75 to 100 hours, and you'll be fine. I've used that system on all my equipment for many years without any ill effects.
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

thanks for the advice/experience. I think that's the most important - what's the experience that people have had and how it's paid off for them.

thanks again!
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Pookie

If one uses a good quality head cleaner every 75-100 hrs, as suggested by you, how many total hours one can expect the camera heads to put on. Normally it is 1000 hrs...Right?
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

I recently posted about humidity and head clogs (see Dirty heads after 25 hours) for some reason a small urinating contest broke out on how the video camera operates. But anyhow, the first defense to head cleaning is not to have to do it at all. Be careful that your camera stays in it's case and when out protect it from the elements. That being said, as you have seen in other posts and diagrams camera cleaning is precarious at best. One mistake in touching those heads and it can cause a lot more grief than just thinking it MUST be time to clean the camera. The neat thing about video is if the heads are dirty YOU KNOW IT. Either all of part the playback screen is grey or snowy. The other parts of the tape path however can build up a sticky residue that can "hang" the tape as it travels. Much easier and safer to clean. Either way you will know if you have a problem as soon as you play it back. In the field keep a tape cleaning cassette handy. It is a course method of cleaning but what else can you do? When you get back to the studio carefully clean as neccessary. By all means be careful.
 
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Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

My 2 cents: There's absolutely no point in using a clening tape for regular maintenance, because this ca't stop future problems. Heads clog regardels of the clening tape usage. What really helps is keeping the tape path clean by using hand cleaning. Cleaning tape is not designed to remove gunk from the tape path - it works only for the high speed rotary heads. Thsi is valid for any format, be it VHS, DV or digibeta. Use cleaning tape only when you get the red X of death. Cleaning tape is quite rough on the heads an my personal advice is to use it only when needed. I could go more in depth here why, but it would get very technical. Having said that, hand cleaning on the heads has to be done extremely careful, definitely not in the field. Read again the heads/tape path cleaning post, it's very good.
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

OK - I'm thinking about all of this. . .
 
Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

Re: C  L  E  A  N  I  N G   ?!#%*@?!

OB1--no need to stress, you've gotten some good advice. Panasonic is not going to recommend that any prosumer camcorder owner clean the heads because of the potential for making a mistake and needing an $800-$900 head replacement job. While I'm personally not a big fan of cleaning tapes, having one in the field in case of potential problems isn't a bad idea. I would not use a cleaning tape unless you run into head clog problems. Routine cleaning with a chamois swab and pure isopropanol every 50-100 hours isn't a bad idea--just to keep your tape path clean. If you feel like you're not up to doing the job yourself, then it would be worth having an authorized service center clean the tape path including the heads--maybe every 100-200 hours of actual head use.
 
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