My First Card Failure and Lost Clip Disaster!

Bazza -- This is a stretch, but in your footage you could look for anyone else with a video cam. I'm assuming you were shooting solo. If you could get the footage from "uncle Louie" and add that patch to yours, you would at least stay seemless.

I'm concerned because these cams haven't been around long, so if there are big probs (possibly with the cam itself) we are on the hook for it.
 
Out of curiousity...

Are people always ( every single time you switch cards ) formatting their cards before using them?
 
SanDisk Extreme III "30 MB/s EDITION" -- 16GB

Seven months of using these -- often to full capacity -- never one single problem -- not one single problem.

The above leads me to believe the problem is with the card -- not the camera.

Personally -- I would rather have three good cards than ten questionable ones. I also don't understand the logic of spending $3500 on your camera and then being stingy on buying the right SHDC cards.

My heart really does go out to the people who lost data -- and I really do hope a reliable data recovery method can be found. But for those who report losing "faith" in the camera -- I do question the logic of buying one of the most advanced cameras on the market -- and then buying the cheapest possible recording media from an entirely unknown manufacturer that appears to be simply slapping stickers on generic cards bought in either Taiwan or China.

Again, the Sandisk Extreme 3 "30 MB/s EDITION" (the quote is directly from the card) -- seven months of use, often to full capacity -- never one single problem of any kind. Really, not a single problem of any kind in any way relating to any file produced by the HMC.
 
xnight your right, but when I bought the camera it seemed everyone including the camera supplier thought Transcend was "state of the art" and I went along with that. I'll happily pay whatever it takes now for a couple of 100% reliable cards I can use for those important shots like ceremonies and speeches.

But what is reliable? So far on this thread Patriot and Skandisc look promising and today I met up with a guy who has two HMC-151s and also uses Skandisc with no problems.

Also today looked at the Panasonic cards available for around £69 although double the Transcends it's OK if they are reliable. I note they are now CLASS 10 which sounds impressive but I don't know exactly what the benefit is, are they more reliable? Does anyone have any exoerience with them?
 
AGMedia said:
Personally -- I would rather have three good cards than ten questionable ones. I also don't understand the logic of spending $3500 on your camera and then being stingy on buying the right SHDC cards.

My heart really does go out to the people who lost data -- and I really do hope a reliable data recovery method can be found. But for those who report losing "faith" in the camera -- I do question the logic of buying one of the most advanced cameras on the market -- and then buying the cheapest possible recording media from an entirely unknown manufacturer that appears to be simply slapping stickers on generic cards bought in either Taiwan or China.

Again, the Sandisk Extreme 3 "30 MB/s EDITION" (the quote is directly from the card) -- seven months of use, often to full capacity -- never one single problem of any kind. Really, not a single problem of any kind in any way relating to any file produced by the HMC.
Click to expand...

Sound advice. I just called B&H and changed a pending order from Delkin to Sandisk Extreme III 30 MB/s cards. The Sandisk cards are a bit more, but certainly not the cost per unit of, say, P2. That said, it seems there's varying degrees of reliability with SDHC cards among brands (something typically not seen with Panasonic and Fuji P2 cards).

Hope this thread continues to be added to in order to inform HMC owners.
 
jmiller14 said:
bazza - I agree, but just to be safe, I'm buying a handful of Panasonic cards today for my shoots this weekend. I'll keep my eyes on this board for any helpful updates, and will be sure to post my own (hopefully successful) resolution. Thanks!
Click to expand...


I had a similar thing happen with a new Panasonic class 6 16GB sdhc card. When I attempted to format it before recording, I got the 'check card' message. Only when I moved the switch on the side of the card back and forth, making sure it was all the way over to one side, did the card work. It has not failed me since. I'm so glad it didn't happen while I was recording!!!!!!!

Jack
 
Just for the record, can everyone experiencing problems state their firmware version?

JBH - interesting comment... if there's a chance of the switch momentarily indicating a write protect, that would be interesting...

As to my use: I have 10 Transcend 16GB class 6, two Panasonic 16GBs,and a PQI 16GB, all flawless in heavy use over 6 months now. A long time ago, I had trouble with two SanDisk class 4 cards...
 
We use 4 Transcends 3x16 and 1x8.... No problems at all... over a TB of video shot.
 
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I had almost the same exact thing happen this weekend at a wedding.

I lost EVERYTHING on the card. I got a CHECK CARD message. Middle of a dance. So I pulled the card out and put in a fresh card. Now, my MBP can't even recognize the card. Can't even run a recover program if the card isn't recognized.

I've lost the entire ceremony and most of the reception. Transcend 16GB Class 6 made in Taiwan. Used once before. Although this is the first time I've used this camera on a paid project.

Everyone here is talking about cards. Let's talk about solutions. What do we do?
 
Did you lock the card when u transfer the info to your com. also u need to protect the chip connection as well. I realised that transcend does come with a plastic cover like the other brand.
happen to me before i load card into recording. Card error reading appear. Hence i use another card for it. Quality Control is the critical point in this situation for manufacturing. I think Transcend should look into the situation. Always shoot a few sec and play back before any recording. Thats the critical point. Solid Media is not 100% secure .
 
I got the check card error once with a new transcend 8gb, in the middle of the jungle, took it out and inserted it back in and formatted it. The footy is all good.
All my ts cards are made in China.

Add : the card was brand new, never used before . I got the error when I pressed record.
Ejected the card and then reinserted it and formatted the card in camera.
It worked. Let the camera record for a few minutes , and the card worked perfectly after that.
 
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AGMedia said:
But for those who report losing "faith" in the camera -- I do question the logic of buying one of the most advanced cameras on the market -- and then buying the cheapest possible recording media from an entirely unknown manufacturer that appears to be simply slapping stickers on generic cards bought in either Taiwan or China.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, I would think that one of the most advanced cameras on the market would have given me some kind of warning sooner - not after having shot over 14gb of a 16gb card. And while I understand your opinion regarding the media that was used, Transcend 16gb Class 6 cards are recommended wholeheartedly by users of this and other boards. Still, once bitten, twice shy - I'm not using these cards anymore.
 
IMO, it's not necessarily the cards. A purely scientific approach would be to test the various variables to find out what the problem is. Is it the card? Is the the camera? Is it a hardware issue? Is it a software issue? Is it only certain types of recording? Everyone seems to be blaming the card. But there's certainly enough evidence to state one fact:

Every card brand has at least someone with a failure.

The two questions then are:
1. how do we as consumers protect ourselves from failure?
2. How do the manufacturers make more reliable gear?
 
I have put the problem to Transcend and even pointed them to this discussion. But no reply after two days!
 
trevorward said:
IMO, it's not necessarily the cards. A purely scientific approach would be to test the various variables to find out what the problem is. Is it the card? Is the the camera? Is it a hardware issue? Is it a software issue? Is it only certain types of recording? Everyone seems to be blaming the card. But there's certainly enough evidence to state one fact:

Every card brand has at least someone with a failure.

The two questions then are:
1. how do we as consumers protect ourselves from failure?
2. How do the manufacturers make more reliable gear?
Click to expand...

I agree a proactive scientific approach can help us discover a common cause to the problem.

for instance. What is the exact card you were using, name, capacity, class?
What version firmware is your camera running (this can be found in the
menu)?
Do you switch cards with the camera powered up or down?
After inserting the card did you shoot and view test footage?
Do the contacts on the card look good, worn, dirty?
How do you store the cards, do you carry them in your pocket when shooting? Do you carry them in the same pocket as your cell phone?

Please add other important information that I didn't think of.
 
How do we protect ourselves...that is the key question. Just like with hard drives failing we know we have to backup and or use redundant drive arrays to give us failure protection. Since there is no inexpensive way to backup the hmc150 while recording, I for one would hope the next generation would have two card slots. But in the meantime I've been looking at the convergent design nano flash with two compact flash cards. Fortunately I already have the mounting hardware and batteries. But the nanoflash alone is $2995, but gives rock solid redundancy on more reliable media with more flexible codec options. So weigh you needs vs. cash and do what you need to do. I've had plenty of bad tapes in my career, and while it wasn't a total loss..."stuff happens." That's why in my wedding contract I stipulate that hardware failures at live events etc limit me to liability of what they paid me...stuff happens!
 
tommulligan said:
I agree a proactive scientific approach can help us discover a common cause to the problem.

for instance. What is the exact card you were using, name, capacity, class?
What version firmware is your camera running (this can be found in the
menu)?
Do you switch cards with the camera powered up or down?
After inserting the card did you shoot and view test footage?
Do the contacts on the card look good, worn, dirty?
How do you store the cards, do you carry them in your pocket when shooting? Do you carry them in the same pocket as your cell phone?

Please add other important information that I didn't think of.
Click to expand...

OK may be worth doing for those who've had the problem;
1. Transcend SDHC 16gb Class 6
2. Firmware version: 1.18-00-0.00
3. Switch cards often with power on (NOT recording) that's OK isn't it?
4. Shoot and view, rarely (I had such faith)
5. Contacts new and clean
6. Keep them in an sd tape box not in pocket.
7. Cell phone - I often put it in the same gadget bag, oops.
8. Made in Taiwan
9. Was using for the very first time (will fully record first in future).
10. Formatted in camera

Bazza
 
tommulligan said:
I agree a proactive scientific approach can help us discover a common cause to the problem.

for instance. What is the exact card you were using, name, capacity, class?
What version firmware is your camera running (this can be found in the
menu)?
Do you switch cards with the camera powered up or down?
After inserting the card did you shoot and view test footage?
Do the contacts on the card look good, worn, dirty?
How do you store the cards, do you carry them in your pocket when shooting? Do you carry them in the same pocket as your cell phone?

Please add other important information that I didn't think of.
Click to expand...

1. Transcend SDHC 16gb Class 6
2. Firmware version: 1.19-00-0.00
3. Almost always change cards on the run with power on.
4. Again, due to run and gun nature of event shooting, very rarely pre-check footage
5. Contacts are clean
6. When not in use, I store the cards in a Pelican SD card case.
7. I keep the case in either a pocket or a shoot sack. My phone is sometimes in the front pocket of the shoot sack.
8. Made in China
9. Card was in rotation on over 15 weddings since May.
10. Always formatted in camera before each use.
 
Everts said:
You guys are living on the egde , I understand the need for this in event videography. But I would never attempt to this.
You dont do this on the pc do you ?
Click to expand...

I thought you could do this as long as the light by the card is not blinking!... I turn off the camera when i have a chance, but half percent of the times i do it on the fly, I just wait for the light to be solid and not a blinking icon on the LCD! :huh:

On the computer i eject the card before removing it!
 
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