Camera Problems

H

heartajack

Member
Hey folks,

Was excited about getting my HD100u about a month ago. Now I'm not sure I made the right decision. If anybody has any comments or suggestions, please, send!

No matter what I do, the dead pixels keep coming back to haunt me. Hard to tell they're showing up until you get it on the big plasma tv. This one slays me because I'll fix it and then it comes back the next time I use the camera. Is the pixel compensation only temporary?

I get dropouts galore! I'm using the Sony HDV tapes at $12 a pop and I always get drop outs within the first 30 seconds of shooting, whether I'm at the beginning of a tape or if I'm in the middle of a tape. The dropouts are not severe, but they screw up my 24PA cadence. When shooting in 24PA DV, there will be entire sections where no video has recorded, even though the camera appears to be recording. Never seen this on any other camera.

Is it just me, or is there audio delay when you're monitoring live audio through headphones? This is amazingly distracting.

If anybody can help me here, I'd be appreciative.
 
Here is what you need to do! Warm that baby up for hours. Now I see you live in NV. Very nice. Put it in your car and not in direct sunlight just covered up. Leave it there for 4 or 5 hours to get it nice & warm.. ( Don't have a tape in the camera either ). After that; Just plug it in and leave it on for a an hour or two. Let those ccd's get hot and then run the Pixel Comp process.

This info comes from the top at JVC tech. I have done it, and it works. as I was told it would

Pappas


Michael Pappas
Arrfilms@hotmail.com
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Yep, that's how it's done John! Crazy as it sounds it's so the camera warms up body and all. In DSLR work where we do hour+ bulb ( open Shutter ) shots we actually have a portable air conditioner to blow cold air around the camera that's in a chassis to keep it cold to avoid dark noise-lit pixels -dead pixels etc; so many different names for these little guys.

As I was told by top techs at JVC pro, this works and when the system runs it's self diagnosis it's better for it to catch them when heated up.

Pappas
 
That's the strangest thing I've ever heard. I'll give it a try. Kinda sounds like you have to be a master of the "dark arts" to get this camera to work right. I'll let y'all know how it works out.

As for the drop outs, I'm going to try a head cleaning tape and switch to some Panasonic DV tapes.
 
I just can't bring myself to comment on this one!!! ;-0 I think the quick-witted John Hudson should just have a time of it with this! At the very least we should send it into Leno.
 
Careful about mixing tape brands. There's been discussions on the forum about sticking with one brand. Sony uses a wet-lubricant apparently in its tapes and others use dry. When you mix them - and this is what I hear it accumulates crap around the heads and hence you will get drop-outs (and then you will need to get it professionally cleaned).
 
Actually, I can attest to that technique. I used it on a previous JVC camera when the pixel masking wouldn't take. In my case, I put it beside a heating vent in my house and covered it with a blanket. The vent gets warm but not too hot. I never had the problem again after that.
 
oh boy.. I dont want anyone to hold DVXuser.com responsible for what happens to your cameras when you leave them in a locked car for half the day in the desert :)
 
I think the key word is "warm" not "HOT" or baked! I also only warmed it for an hour which was sufficient. I hope common sense comes into play here!
 
i just came up with an idea for a 3rd party vendor:

please make the royalty checks out to " Jarred Land "

easybakeoven.jpg
 
The only tape stock I can suggest...It's also the only Minidv I have used since Panasonic came out with it years ago , is the Professional AV-DVM63MQ Master series.

I have a strict rule about tapes, no one ever sticks their tape in my machine. When I take a deck or camera in, I give them my tape to test the machine with in the shop. I am strict as hell when it comes to gear and protecting it. Ask Barlow!

Pappas
 
Hey Jarred, at-least JVC allows it's end users to map out dead pixels, unlike Canon and Panasonic who don't trust professionals to run a pixel mapping program. However they would rather have us sit in the middle of a location with a dead pixel. Just one of the things I have bitched at Canon about!

Pappas
 
I know I know Pappas.. just think the fixes are sometimes funny. I do like the ability for user servicable things like this, it shows JVC has faith in the customer.
 
I too can vouch for the "stick it in the car" method for fixing things. I haven't actually tried it with the JVC but I have tried it with my wife. Whenever she nags too much I simply lock her in the car for about six hours. The heat really softens her up and makes her easier to deal with. Logically then, it should also work with the camera.
 
Brian, so you never have to worry about cloning parts, masking or resetting your wife any more? Pretty cool.
 
Getting back to the drop -outs... - I'm experiencing "bad drops" during capture over firewire from the camera that forces FCP to start a new clip. The footage apparently does not drop out, nor is there a timecode glitch. On one interview I ended up with over 15 files, some only 10 seconds long. This is ridiculous. Is this just the camera? Would a deck perform better? I tried every combination imaginable in FCP to avoid starting a new clip upon "break", but there seems to be some sort of a break on tape, though not visible when I play it back on the JVC HD100U. I don't have a deck (BR-HD50) nor am I able to find one to rent here in the SF Bay Area.

If anybody else has been through this, how did you fix it? How can I capture one continuous take over firewire without the "breakup."

This may be a silly question, would I be able to cpature the footage trying a JVC HD1 or HD10 camera?

Thanks. Your help would be much appreciated.

BTW: Capturing on the Mac using FCP 5.0.4, Quicktime 7.0.4, OSX 10.4.5 Tiger. Also, this was before I sent in my camera for the upgrade to "A". It's in Cypress, CA right now.

cheers
...........................
Miklos Philips
Producer-Director
Point Zero Pictures
http://www.pointzeropictures.com
 
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