How long will a DVX 100a last?

If we put as many hours on our cameras as we spent on this forum, we'd have some legitimate longevity concerns!
 
I am the rookie around here, but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

I see this camera as any other equipment that you invest in. You have to take care of it, and not beat on it.

I have had computers lasts way longer than they should have. Mainly the harddrives which have magnetic heads and plates that are constantly reading and writing.

Same thing with cars: Do the maintenance, and you will be fine.

Like I said, i may be all wet, but I am sure that you can get more than 3000 hours our of the camera as long as you take care of it.
 
I think i read in the manual and here that it is suggested to replace heads after 1000-1500 hrs of use.

I used mine for a documentary (14 tapes shot and acquired), plus some minor works (maybe extra 10 tapes in total), and i already have 135hrs on the meter. this means i'm already at one tenth of the dvx's heads life? ...

Andrea
 
Baluardo said:
I think i read in the manual and here that it is suggested to replace heads after 1000-1500 hrs of use.

I used mine for a documentary (14 tapes shot and acquired), plus some minor works (maybe extra 10 tapes in total), and i already have 135hrs on the meter. this means i'm already at one tenth of the dvx's heads life? ...

Andrea
Click to expand...

Panasonic lists that as a recommendation, it's not set in stone. If you take really good care of your DVX100 by not over recycling your tapes, keep it clean, and have the heads cleaned regularly, you may exceed that estimation. It may sound strange but I had a customer tell me that they have an office policy that says if anybody puts a tape on a table or in a shirt pocket or anywhere for that matter without it in the manufacturers cassette case, they will be reprimanded. He wasn't upset about it though because he said it works, they get more hours out of their heads than many of our other customers. Just food for thought.

Andrew Hoffman
Senior Operations Manager
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510 USA
800-359-1858
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com

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Baluardo said:
I think i read in the manual and here that it is suggested to replace heads after 1000-1500 hrs of use.

I used mine for a documentary (14 tapes shot and acquired), plus some minor works (maybe extra 10 tapes in total), and i already have 135hrs on the meter. this means i'm already at one tenth of the dvx's heads life? ...

Andrea
Click to expand...

You are nowhere near the life of the camera, if you take super care of it. I have had a shooter for local TV shows go over 1700 hrs. I was just amazed when he brought it in. He only turns the camera on to shoot, and never uses it for digitizing. It always sits on a tripod, and is transported in a hard case. Same MQ tapes all the time, routine professional head cleaning. That baby can go. I really have heard of most problems happening when it sits on the shelf. I have never heard of DVX's failing under daily usage, except due to shovel-strike, karo syrup or sand/grit from an outdoor desert shoot :grin:
 
Well hmmm I use my camera for everything... shooting/deck. I seriously doubt I would rack up 5-600 hours in the next 18 months before Id change over. Its just a camera.. I look after it well, but I mean I bought it to use it.
 
I've got to admit, the topic of this thread makes me sad... I just got mine on Monday, and am going through the 'Proud Parent' phase. :)

Anyway, the station where I interned this summer was preparing to go all HD with the new professional Sony cams, and I got a chance to play with the new equipment. Among other things, they all had portable 40 gig drives to go with each cam, thus eliminating the need for recording to tapes. The idea behind this was to be a timesaver for capturing video to the edit bays. However, after thinking on this, wouldn't using said field drives with the DVX's output capabilities help to increase the lifespan of the DVX? Or, for that matter, just using the output to a cheapo DV cam so as to minimize the head usage on the DVX?
 
Time that you aren't putting on the head results in lower head hours. Nothing against Firestore by any means, just keep in mind that mechanical devices are made to be used. If you ignore the tape mechanism for a long period of time and then have to use it in a pinch you may find that it doesn't work like a new camera that has low hours on them. The rubber pinch rollers start to crack and fall apart. We are just saying that there are good and bad things to everything.

Andrew Hoffman
Specialized Communications Corp.
20940 Twin Springs Dr.
Smithsburg, MD 21783-1510
800-359-1858
Fax: 301-790-0173
andrewh@spec-comm.com
www.spec-comm.com
 
guerilla_pictures said:
I've got to admit, the topic of this thread makes me sad... I just got mine on Monday, and am going through the 'Proud Parent' phase. :)

Anyway, the station where I interned this summer was preparing to go all HD with the new professional Sony cams, and I got a chance to play with the new equipment. Among other things, they all had portable 40 gig drives to go with each cam, thus eliminating the need for recording to tapes. The idea behind this was to be a timesaver for capturing video to the edit bays. However, after thinking on this, wouldn't using said field drives with the DVX's output capabilities help to increase the lifespan of the DVX? Or, for that matter, just using the output to a cheapo DV cam so as to minimize the head usage on the DVX?
Click to expand...
I think this is a great idea, but as Andrew pointed out it doesn´t sound like a good idea to stop using the heads for a long time. But if you used the heads on the DVX every now and then, I would think it should increase the livespan of the DVX.

I´m going to take a very good care of my B when I get it. SD will be around for many years to come and these beauties won´t become obsolete soon.
 
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