AC130: Posted too quickly - SD card meltdown - Mostly my fault.

[ELN614]

I might be to blame on some of it.
What I did: I wanted to record on two card simultaneous. I was using my Maxell cards. about 3 to 4 minutes in I got an error and all recording stopped.

(RANT: this is what I hate about this camera. When there is an error on one of the two cards. everything stops recording. I wish the camera would keep recording on the good card until I manually stop. This defeats the purpose of recording on two cards simultaneously.)

I had to pull the power cord since moving the power switch to 'off' did nothing. After start up the camera asked me if I wanted to repair the clips. (1st mistake) I said "no" I was in a rush. I just skipped it. I had the same error on the second card too. I assume the card or camera has an issue with simultaneous recording. So I turn simultaneous record 'off' and proceed to record everything on one of the cards (2nd mistake) That is what happens when you are being rushed to record something that can't be missed or AND you have no control to stop the event.

I come home and go to copy good footage first then go back and repair clips. Computer only saw one file (my pre-taping test record of color bars) sh!t.
It seems camera doesn't repair AVCHD clips. (after spending minutes trying to) I downloaded AVCCAM Restore and I am not sure if going back to record something on the card was the problem but it refuses to see anything needing to be fixed. The computer sees the card as mostly full so there was hope.
Now I am using PhotoRec to get what I can off the SD card. It is finding video files and "restoring" them.
My final problem (minor at this point) I will have audio gaps because of the spanning issues. (I assume) I plan to put all the files in the correct folders to see if I can import and still span the files. Looks like I will need to rename the video files back to what they were called originally.

wish me luck
ARG!!!!

 

[kwkeirstead]

It's completely ridiculous to have a design that allows dual recording but quits recording when one or the other card fails.

I always record on two SDs and would have a purple cow if I ever experience what you have gone through.

The remedy is two cameras.

This probably is the way to go when recording stage events from fixed locations using one cameraman but if you are moving around then you need two operators to achieve continuity and they more or less have to be focusing on the same action or you can get very strange looking footage.

 

[ELN614]

I need to look into the blackmagic hypershuttle. This is the best cheapest solution vs a second camera. I am not sure if it is controlled by the camera's record button or the device itself. I prefer to hit record on the device and ignore the camera -- so that if the camera stops recording -- the secondary device keeps recording.

I might sell my 130 and pickup a new 130A (should be an inexpensive update - whatever the price difference may be)

 

[Barry_Green]

It's completely ridiculous to have a design that allows dual recording but quits recording when one or the other card fails.

I agree, and in all future cameras after the AC130 they fixed it -- it now continues recording if one card stops.

I think their reasoning for stopping both recordings was -- well, you wanted the same stuff on both cards, right? But if one stops, and the other continued, they wouldn't be the same anymore... I pointed out that what we're using the feature for is safety and protection against a card failure, and after that, they modified the function to work the way you'd expect -- it records on both cards as long as you want, and if one card fails, the other continues recording. But that's on the newer cameras, not on the original AC160/AC130.

 

[kwkeirstead]

OK, good that you pointed them in the right direction.

I can't think of any reason, the way things are with the 130/160, to dual record unless you want to give one SD to the client at the venue.

 

[ELN614]

I agree, and in all future cameras after the AC130 they fixed it -- it now continues recording if one card stops.

I think their reasoning for stopping both recordings was -- well, you wanted the same stuff on both cards, right? But if one stops, and the other continued, they wouldn't be the same anymore... I pointed out that what we're using the feature for is safety and protection against a card failure, and after that, they modified the function to work the way you'd expect -- it records on both cards as long as you want, and if one card fails, the other continues recording. But that's on the newer cameras, not on the original AC160/AC130.

(LIKES THIS POST, QUOTED ABOVE)
I think this is going to spur me to dump the 130 and get a 130a. There are a few things that have me scratching my head with 'what were they thinking'
Like the idiot light on the back of the camera to tell you you're in HD. Seriously???? if you look in your viewfinder and can't tell it's in HD --- you shouldn't be in this industry. return your camera immediately.
they sorta fixed the time date stamp location. When it first came out it was nearly dead center.
Still unsure why they wrapped the tally light plastic around the back corner but failed to wrap the actual illuminating part around the corner so you can see it from the side too.
Plus why did they use the same plastic cap to cover Firewire and HDMI ports. you will never use both at the same time so why force you to uncover both at the same time.
Was it (and this goes for most cameras on the market) was it too expensive to add an additional cold shoe (aka hot shoe) on the body of the camera?
Still one feature I am wanting in all these cameras -- internal rechargeable battery to last a minute or so -- to allow you to stop record, at your convenience, if you lose power (using wall outlet)/or insert your plug back in, OR allow you to swap your battery out, while recording. Plus, camera will auto stop record & save before shutdown, once that internal battery is nearly depleted.

In conclusion, I really wish Panasonic would create a focus group during something like NAB to get ideas from users to help improve their product. (maybe they already do this and I am unware of it)

 

[Ed Kishel]

I agree, and in all future cameras after the AC130 they fixed it -- it now continues recording if one card stops.

I'd have to disagree. I don't think that all cameras made after the original AC130 provide true safety recordings that guard against one card failing. I have the AC90a and AC130a, and decided to do a test. Since I (hopefully) don't have any sketchy SD cards to test, I tried this:

First the AC90a...
I took two identical SD cards and formatted them in camera, then removed one so that only slot A had a card in it. I hit record, and filled it up until only 5 min of recording time was left. I then put back in the other card into slot B, and set the camera to backup recording. Slot A had 5 min left and slot B had over an hour avail. My guess was that, if operating correctly- the camera would continue recording on slot B after A was filled up/stopped.

And that's exactly what it did. Slot A stopped after 5 min, but the recording went on un-interrupted on B! So my guess (hope) is that if one card stops because of an error, the other will continue without issue. I believe it will. Happy!

Then the AC130a...
Same exact setup as before, but the recording did stop on B. Not happy! No safety with the AC130a. This is where there seems to be a distinction that Panasonic makes between "backup" vs "simultaneous". In fact the menu in the AC90a calls it backup whereas the AC130a calls it simultaneous. And to be fair to Panasonic, those are accurate to each camera.

Backup=safety recording
Simultaneous=a second recording

 

[Ed Kishel]

I can't think of any reason, the way things are with the 130/160, to dual record unless you want to give one SD to the client at the venue.

I can think of one, and it saved me. Once, a glitch showed up in some footage shot on my 130a- where parts of the image turned into scrambled pixels. It only occurred for a fraction of a second, but the clip was unusable. The client complained, and after a brief cardial infarction- I remembered that I still had the 2nd SD card that was recording simultaneously. I checked that one and there was no scrambled pixels in its footage.

I believe that the 1st card had an error, but it wasn't serious enough to cause a failure/shutdown. So I always shoot on 2 cards, even though I know that the 130a will stop recording completely if full failure occurs in one of the card slots.

 

[ELN614]

Looks like I need to use a secondary device connected to HDMI or HD-SDI port if I really want to sleep well every night.

 

[ankawa]

I also have a AC90, I'm glad you made this test!

I'd have to disagree. I don't think that all cameras made after the original AC130 provide true safety recordings that guard against one card failing. I have the AC90a and AC130a, and decided to do a test. Since I (hopefully) don't have any sketchy SD cards to test, I tried this:

First the AC90a...
I took two identical SD cards and formatted them in camera, then removed one so that only slot A had a card in it. I hit record, and filled it up until only 5 min of recording time was left. I then put back in the other card into slot B, and set the camera to backup recording. Slot A had 5 min left and slot B had over an hour avail. My guess was that, if operating correctly- the camera would continue recording on slot B after A was filled up/stopped.