how do you determine the life span of a non-tape camera like the HMC?

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dv416

Well-known member
i have a DVX and i know that the tape heads are rated for something like 1000 hours. seems the HMC wouldn't have the same limitations, as there are no tape heads to wear out. right?

how do you determine the life span of the the HMC150?
 
Total hours of usage matters. I had the video board in one of my HMC-150 blowout/fail at random while on a shoot ( I think it shorted out during a firmware update, but not really sure). Panasonic informed me it was one of the most expensive parts of the camera (1200-1500 plus labor) to be replaced if the 3 year time period is up. Tape heads or video boards........something is going to fail down the road.
 
That's unfortunate that that happened. Honestly electronics if cared for properly will last an extremely long time. My Fisher Price PXL 2000 still works like a charm. I think the camera will probably outlast you.
 
ALP,

sounds like thats a very atypical circumstance. unless you had a thousand hours on the camera?

i dunno, i just don't see the hour meter on the HMC as being anywhere near as relevant as it was on the DVX.
 
The camera was well under 100 hours when the video board went out. I take great care of my equipment, so it wasn't from mechanical shock or misuse(the body is cosmetically perfect). BTW- I never had a mechanical/electronic failure when shooting 4+ years with three PD-170's. I guess it was just bad luck.
 
ALPHA1JD said:
The camera was well under 100 hours when the video board went out. I take great care of my equipment, so it wasn't from mechanical shock or misuse(the body is cosmetically perfect). BTW- I never had a mechanical/electronic failure when shooting 4+ years with three PD-170's. I guess it was just bad luck.
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Sounds like a problem (probably manufacturing) with the board which was just waiting to happen all along. Circuit boards shouldn't wear out in the way tape heads do, as long as they are not exposed to environmental problems such as humidity etc.
 
The MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) on a solid state video camera is likely to be thousands and thousands of hours. The back-light in the LCD is likely the first thing to go. (I think that's around 10,000 to 20,000 hours.)

HOWEVER, MTBF is only an average of all the failures. Thus some cameras will fail before the MTBF time and some will last a lot longer than the MTBF time.

By the way, my Fuji Finepix 602 Digital Camera is still working and I purchased it back in 2002. About 2 years ago, I dropped the camera, but that didn't seem to hurt it a bit, it still keeps working after thousands and thousands of photos.


I can only give you a wild guess, but I'll guess that the HMC40 & HMC150 have a MTBF of around 10,000 hours.


Bob Diaz
 
I work in electronics. The likely problem was that the firmware update failed and this corrupted the board. Similar to a 'no boot' on a PC. I have seen this so many times.When I have to do an firmware update I start to get hot, nervous and sweaty until it is finished . I will not update my firmware until I am happy there will not be a problem and never after my warranty is up.
 
dv416 said:
i have a DVX and i know that the tape heads are rated for something like 1000 hours. seems the HMC wouldn't have the same limitations, as there are no tape heads to wear out. right?

how do you determine the life span of the the HMC150?
Click to expand...


I have had my HVX200s for 3 years now. THey have been very well used, and I have not had a single problem with them until I had a wreck with my production trailer and realized the batteries had been left on the cameras. both of them had battery tabs broken loose in the accident. Specc-comm had me up and running quickly and all is good again. The HMC is very similar. I think you will be just fine!
 
dv416 said:
i have a DVX and i know that the tape heads are rated for something like 1000 hours. seems the HMC wouldn't have the same limitations, as there are no tape heads to wear out. right?

how do you determine the life span of the the HMC150?
Click to expand...


I would use your HMC-150 as much as possible during the warranty period so any possible defects will show up in that time frame. At the same time, I would take good care of the unit and keep it stored properly when not in use.

Someday (maybe only 5 years?), the HMC-150 will no longer be serviced by Panasonic. That is when you have to really worry about it's lifespan.

I have many older camcorders which the manufacturer will no longer service. When they break, they are done. Even my 2003 JVC GR-HD1, the first HD camcorder ($2,000ish), is no longer serviced by JVC and it may need heads. That is really a bummer. On the other hand, I have the 8mm film video camera my dad used to film me as a baby 46 years ago and it still works like new.

The bottom line is unfortunately all these electronic devices are essentially disposable. But with good care and a little luck, they could last far into the future.
 
I wouldn't worry... people change cameras around here like underware! I was waiting to see all the GH-1 & 5D films until the 7D came out. Now I'd like to see some of the 7D owners make films before the next big thing comes out.

Seems a lot of people here are busy buying the newest, coolest gear instead of making films.

Have to run...on my way to Best Buys....
 
Advances in technology are a big issue here, because today's latest solid state video camera will likely work in 5 --> 10 years, but because of continuing improvements, in the next 5 to 10 years, may not be the best choice to continue using.

Consider memory sizes, in about 5 years we should see 8x to 16x larger memories. So, the "big" 32GB will be considered small and 256GB and 512GB memories will be the "big" memories. You may not be able to purchase the small 32GB memories any more by then. In 10 years, 64x to 128x larger memories will be around. So, 2TB to 4TB will be the "large" memory sizes.

With larger memories, why bother with excessive compression? Why not use a very limited compression that allows for easy editing and minimum generation loss?

Then again, what about improvements in image sensor technology? Likely we'll see low light improvements, dynamic range improvements, and other improvements in the image sensors.


Just look, back at technology, it wasn't that long ago that 1" Type C was considered as technology of choice. :happy:


Bob Diaz
 
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