DVX Won't Record or Playback...

T

Trent Morrison

Active member
Okay, so I'm capturing a little footage with my DVX100a that was shot earlier in the day, when all of a sudden the LCD goes blue and won't display any footage. I don't think much of it until I check it out and realize that the camera will no longer record or playback anything.

It would be one thing if when I got the camera out of the bag and turned it on it wouldn't playback, but it's just so weird to me that everything was going fine, and then suddenly I get nothing.

I'll see if I can scrounge up a head-cleaning tape later today, but I'm sort of doubting it'll do any good, since I'm not getting any image whatsoever, no glitches, no nothing.

Does anyone know what the problem is? I did a search and couldn't find any information on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated, anything I can test... If worst comes to worst and I have to ship the camera off for repair, where's the best place to send it? I think I have one of those MACK warranty things. I don't know if it will be of any use or not...

Thanks,
Trent
 
This sounds like dirty heads, which can prevent any playback at all, producing a completely blue screen. This can happen even if the camera was recording properly only moments before. Try recording and see if you get a red "x," which indicates dirty heads. Either way, the best thing to do is, (i) fastforward and rewind a new tape through the camera 3-4 times to see if you can dislodge the clog and (ii) get the heads cleaned.
 
I had the exact problem. Was shooting and stopped to check a bit of footage and got nothing but blue screen. I tried to record to a new tape and got the same blue screen when I tried to play it back. I didn't get any red X's or other warnings... it just came out of nowhere. I just used a Panasonic head cleaning tape for the required time and all is well. The good news is that all the footage that I had recorded was still on the tape and fine. The heads just couldn't play it back.

Keep in mind that some recommend cleaning the heads by hand (or having them cleaned by hand). I opted to use the cleaning tape, and all is well. My understanding is the the head cleaning tape actually grinds the heads vs. cleaning them, so be sure not to exceed the recommended cleaning times. I think somewhere on the boards there is a tutorial for cleaning the heads by hand if you are interested.
 
DVX won't Play

DVX won't Play

This could be caused by a variety of problems. Most probably a combination of dirty heads and camera software. Try this: Find the reset button on the camera. it resides where all your other switches are located. Use a paper clip or similar to push in the button. NOTE: This will send all settings back to factory defaults. You will have to go through the menus and reset your switches, etc. BUT if you cannot get the DVX to do anything, this usually will sovle the problem.
 
Ahh, this gives me hope! I was almost certain I was going to have spend a chunk of money I don't have to get my baby taken care of, but this news has made my day alot better!
I seemed to have misplaced my head-cleaning tape, so I'll have to go buy a new one today and try it out. I've already reset the camera multiple times to no avail.

Thanks very much!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top