Question about DVX's hour meter

Celulloyd

Celulloyd

Member
I recently bought a used DVX-100B that had 24 hours on it. When I looked at it today, it said "30 hours." Does the meter run even when the camera/VCR function is in "pause?"

All I've done with it since I bought it is, using a new tape (Panasonic Master Series), I completely fast forwarded the tape and rewound it before I used it, shot approximately 30 minutes of video, and captured approximately 60 minutes of it into FCP (I'm trying to figure out the best FCP settings). I did leave the camera power on for about an hour even though I wasn't running any tape through it. Does all this add to the hours? Logically, I thought it was just record and play.

Any help?
 
Then I wonder why there are six more hours now than when I bought it?!?!

I guess I'll turn it off unless I'm using it.

Thanks for the input.

Lloyd
 
Jared Meyer said:
Well, no. You're only using the heads if you're recording or playing back a tape. Hours won't accrue on the meter if the camera is in standby.
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Are you sure about that? I'm almost positive that the hour meter starts ticking as soon as the power's on. A week ago my friend and I went out and shot some stuff (I recorded about 15 mins onto tape, but we were in standby a lot). I didn't even do any playback, and when we got back I noticed my camcorder had an extra hour on it.
 
Well, I thought I was sure, but now I'm second guessing myself. :)

Based on the manual (which says that the meter records the total rotational time of the cylinder head) and other things I've seen discussed here, I've always thought that only rec and playback would add time to the counter.

Maybe someone wiser will chime in and settle it once and for all.
 
Tell you what, when my DVX gets here on wednesday, I'll do a little test and see if leaving it on for an hour increeses the meeter at all.
 
Celulloyd said:
I recently bought a used DVX-100B that had 24 hours on it. When I looked at it today, it said "30 hours." Does the meter run even when the camera/VCR function is in "pause?"

All I've done with it since I bought it is, using a new tape (Panasonic Master Series), I completely fast forwarded the tape and rewound it before I used it, shot approximately 30 minutes of video, and captured approximately 60 minutes of it into FCP (I'm trying to figure out the best FCP settings). I did leave the camera power on for about an hour even though I wasn't running any tape through it. Does all this add to the hours? Logically, I thought it was just record and play.

Any help?
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It could be that it was just about to turn to 25 hours when you got it. Then if your shooting was a little closer to an hour and your capture was a bit more than an hour, that could have taken you to 28. Are you sure you didn't do some playback maybe without capturing that you may have forgotten about? It should only accumulate in recording and playback.
 
Dan Vance said:
It could be that it was just about to turn to 25 hours when you got it. Then if your shooting was a little closer to an hour and your capture was a bit more than an hour, that could have taken you to 28. Are you sure you didn't do some playback maybe without capturing that you may have forgotten about? It should only accumulate in recording and playback.
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I might have, but I know that it didn't amount to an additional two hours! I'll keep closer track of it from now on.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm looking at it like miles on a car. The more there are, the harder it's going to be to resell it when the time comes. That's why I'd like to keep it to a minimum.

OUT
 
the hour meter runs when the heads are engaged which will be when the cam is on unless you set it to standby which disengages the heads.
 
OK then, here's a stupid question: how do you put it in standby? Do you mean "pause" in record mode and "stop" in VCR mode? All I know of is the power button (just "on/off") and the "stop" in VCR mode.
 
MENU>OTHER FUNCTIONS>TAPE PROTECT>STBY.

If your camera is staying on longer than 5 minutes when you aren't recording, it should be on standby already. If it is on the POWER OFF set, it will shut off after 5 minutes if no recording/playback is being performed.
 
Oh, ok...I thought he meant some other type of setting. I'll just create a couple presets and then change it to shut off after five minutes.

Thanks!
 
I agree with smelni. If it's on the heads are engaged. I've been told that it's also important NEVER to leave a tape in it at all when I'm not recording.
Also to save your heads I would suggest using a small camcorder to fast forward/rewind and capture/review. Not worth using up $2000 camera's heads when you could be using up $200 camera ones instead.
 
Too...much...to...remember...head...going to...explode! ;)

Having been raised on analog (I feel a song coming on), I keep forgetting that the image is now just made up of binaries. It really shouldn't matter what tape you use (unlike the old days when it made a difference in image quality) to store the information because once it's on the tape, any digital camcorder will be able to read it. The rewind/ff and the "tape sitting on the heads" problems have always been around, though, so thanks for the reminder of using a cheapo and removing the tape.

Gee, I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks...

Thanks!
 
its not a good habit to mix tapes, different tape manufacturers use different lubricants that can effect each other after they are left on the heads(one might use graphite and the other silicone grease, and I think graphite dissolves silicone, cancelling each other out) So just stick to one brand unless you are willing to put a cleaning tape through each time you switch tape brands.
 
Alright- to test this out, this morning I left the camera on, with a tape, for over an hour. The hour meter didn't change. Which is what I'd expected.

Being "on" isn't enough to add time to the meter - it's actual recording and playback. I think most of the people who posted in this thread probably get this. Seemed like there were a couple who might have been confused on this point.



But now I'm curious- so recording and playback obviously involve rotation of the heads, and standby mode does not. What about the five minutes that the camera stays in "pause" before or after you record? Anything over five and it goes to standby or turns off, but do those five minutes while it's paused add to the meter? Someone suggested that the heads are engaged when the camera is turned on- does this mean they're actually rotating and adding time to the hour meter?

Another thing I'm curious about but don't want to test is this - when you rewind or fast-forward, does it it add the actual time it took to rewind or fast-forward, or does it add the time in terms of rotations? Does rewinding a 60 minute tape add 60 minutes to the meter based on the number of rotations of the heads or just the 60 seconds it actually took to rewind it?

It doesn't really make any difference to me but I've seen plenty of people ask about this and I'm curious myself...
 
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Jared Meyer said:
Does rewinding a 60 minute tape add 60 minutes to the meter based on the number of rotations of the heads or just the 60 seconds it actually took to rewind it?

It doesn't really make any difference to me but I've seen plenty of people ask about this and I'm curious myself...
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Wow, that's a good question. I'm curious to know this as well. My gut tends to think it would just add the time it took to rewind the tape...hmmm...
 
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