I want to document the problem I just had with my DVX100A for others who may learn by it and also if others think I did the right thing.
I was rolling the second or third shot of the day and I see a red circle with a white 'X' flashing in the upper left corner. I play back the footage we had recorded that day and I hear faint but definitive digital noise in both audio channels, but the picture is fine. I also watched the footage I had taken the previous day but it was completely clean (video and audio). I look up the flashing 'X' to discover that it means the cylinder head is dirty. I didn't own a cleaning cassette and this was Easter Sunday so there was no way to get one. I read Barry's post about manually cleaning the heads and decided this was the best bet for resolving my problem. (link to head cleaning post: http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=6889)
The next day I went out seeking the correct solutions and tools at Radio Shack. The only cleaning solution they had was a bottle that came with a CD cleaning kit that listed 'Isopropanol' as the only ingredient. I took this to mean that this was the only ingredient and that it was pure, but looking back I should not have assumed as much. It probably contained water.
So I used this solution to clean the heads as described in Barry's post. I let it dry for about 5 or 10 minutes then powered it up and put a tape in. Immediately I heard an abnormal squealing noise and the message "AUTO OFF, CYLINDER LOCK." appeared. I ejected the tape and pulled it out, but it had not put the tape back inside the cassette. The tape appeared to have dirt or moisture marks on it.
I tried a new tape and the same thing happened.
I brought it down to the nearest Panasonic recommended repair place (Nivie Electronics -- nivie.com -- for those of you in the NY area). I figured a proper cleaning would be all that was necessary but they told me that the recording cylinder needed to be replaced. The total parts and labor were $576.
Since several people reported clearing up the 'Cylinder Lock,' error by either waiting or power cycling the unit I almost feel like I'm being ripped off, but then again, my camera did eat two tapes and I did clean the heads with questionable fluids.
So...
A) Does anyone else feel like I may be getting ripped off? Could my risky cleaning job have really ruined the heads?
B) Don't clean your camera unless you know what you're doing! (Though this may have been a severe problem with my camera that had nothing to do with my cleaning of the heads).
C) Be ready for potential camera errors / cleaning errors in the middle of your shoot. Huge lesson learned there on my part.
Hopefully this experience helps someone else in the future.
I was rolling the second or third shot of the day and I see a red circle with a white 'X' flashing in the upper left corner. I play back the footage we had recorded that day and I hear faint but definitive digital noise in both audio channels, but the picture is fine. I also watched the footage I had taken the previous day but it was completely clean (video and audio). I look up the flashing 'X' to discover that it means the cylinder head is dirty. I didn't own a cleaning cassette and this was Easter Sunday so there was no way to get one. I read Barry's post about manually cleaning the heads and decided this was the best bet for resolving my problem. (link to head cleaning post: http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=6889)
The next day I went out seeking the correct solutions and tools at Radio Shack. The only cleaning solution they had was a bottle that came with a CD cleaning kit that listed 'Isopropanol' as the only ingredient. I took this to mean that this was the only ingredient and that it was pure, but looking back I should not have assumed as much. It probably contained water.
So I used this solution to clean the heads as described in Barry's post. I let it dry for about 5 or 10 minutes then powered it up and put a tape in. Immediately I heard an abnormal squealing noise and the message "AUTO OFF, CYLINDER LOCK." appeared. I ejected the tape and pulled it out, but it had not put the tape back inside the cassette. The tape appeared to have dirt or moisture marks on it.
I tried a new tape and the same thing happened.
I brought it down to the nearest Panasonic recommended repair place (Nivie Electronics -- nivie.com -- for those of you in the NY area). I figured a proper cleaning would be all that was necessary but they told me that the recording cylinder needed to be replaced. The total parts and labor were $576.
Since several people reported clearing up the 'Cylinder Lock,' error by either waiting or power cycling the unit I almost feel like I'm being ripped off, but then again, my camera did eat two tapes and I did clean the heads with questionable fluids.
So...
A) Does anyone else feel like I may be getting ripped off? Could my risky cleaning job have really ruined the heads?
B) Don't clean your camera unless you know what you're doing! (Though this may have been a severe problem with my camera that had nothing to do with my cleaning of the heads).
C) Be ready for potential camera errors / cleaning errors in the middle of your shoot. Huge lesson learned there on my part.
Hopefully this experience helps someone else in the future.