Secret Diagnostic menu
- Thread starter kstnate
- Start date
ScreechingHalt
Well-known member
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
As I replied to your other post - just don't play with it. None of us has access to the data or equipment we would need to make intelligent use of this menue.
As I replied to your other post - just don't play with it. None of us has access to the data or equipment we would need to make intelligent use of this menue.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Okay, here is what I know. This may repeat A post I thought I made, but I don't see. I recently got a Panasonic Service Manual for the DVX100 (not easy to get BTW) and although it is written in Pidgin english w virtually no proofreading, I have learned the following- using the above button combination you get access to both a "Diagnostic" and an "Adjust" menu choice in your menu as well as the other choices you always get. The "adjust" menu should be left alone. It is to be used with engineer hardware & software to calibrate your camera, but doing it by the seat of your pants is foolish. Leave it alone.
HOWEVER, I have found teh "Diagnostic" Menu to be very enlightening. It has two parts. the upper part gives you the choice of: Off, Video, Audio, or Both. and sample rate of Slow or Fast. Lets say you choose "Both", and "Fast." back out of the menu, and play a reviously recorded tape. Where the audio meters normally are is now a "Signal Quality meter" if you will. Low levels good. red levels bad. It shows you the signal quality or error rate of the signal you previously recorded. Not quite a confidence head but still very nice feature. You may, I assume, see potential problems with your video head before they manifest themselves in a visible head clog...... We use it every day now that we know it is there to assess the overall health of our cameras. You can look at just video signal (I assume both writing heads shown as separate channels) audio signal or both combined. Sample rate is just how fast the display refreshes itself.
The lower half of the diagnostic page is an event log of shutdowns due to problems. Provided you set your internal clock right, it gives you month day and year, time, and a 4 digit code for errors. Also very helpful, for what else, Diagnostics.
Okay, here is what I know. This may repeat A post I thought I made, but I don't see. I recently got a Panasonic Service Manual for the DVX100 (not easy to get BTW) and although it is written in Pidgin english w virtually no proofreading, I have learned the following- using the above button combination you get access to both a "Diagnostic" and an "Adjust" menu choice in your menu as well as the other choices you always get. The "adjust" menu should be left alone. It is to be used with engineer hardware & software to calibrate your camera, but doing it by the seat of your pants is foolish. Leave it alone.
HOWEVER, I have found teh "Diagnostic" Menu to be very enlightening. It has two parts. the upper part gives you the choice of: Off, Video, Audio, or Both. and sample rate of Slow or Fast. Lets say you choose "Both", and "Fast." back out of the menu, and play a reviously recorded tape. Where the audio meters normally are is now a "Signal Quality meter" if you will. Low levels good. red levels bad. It shows you the signal quality or error rate of the signal you previously recorded. Not quite a confidence head but still very nice feature. You may, I assume, see potential problems with your video head before they manifest themselves in a visible head clog...... We use it every day now that we know it is there to assess the overall health of our cameras. You can look at just video signal (I assume both writing heads shown as separate channels) audio signal or both combined. Sample rate is just how fast the display refreshes itself.
The lower half of the diagnostic page is an event log of shutdowns due to problems. Provided you set your internal clock right, it gives you month day and year, time, and a 4 digit code for errors. Also very helpful, for what else, Diagnostics.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Awesome, thanks Nate!
I just tested it out and indeed, just a few ticks of green during playback which I assume is good.
Now, with regards to the error log. Should this be all zeros if you've never had a problem? Because I have one row of numbers:
000102-000106-0A19
If that means anything to you, let me know. And again thanks for the info.
Awesome, thanks Nate!
I just tested it out and indeed, just a few ticks of green during playback which I assume is good.
Now, with regards to the error log. Should this be all zeros if you've never had a problem? Because I have one row of numbers:
000102-000106-0A19
If that means anything to you, let me know. And again thanks for the info.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Oh, one other question. In the "Adjust - do not touch" menu there's a line that says "DEBUG INF" which is set to OFF but I assume can be turned ON. Does that give any kind of debug info? I'm not touching it, but was curious if it provided any additional info like it's title infers as opposed to modifying a setting.
Oh, one other question. In the "Adjust - do not touch" menu there's a line that says "DEBUG INF" which is set to OFF but I assume can be turned ON. Does that give any kind of debug info? I'm not touching it, but was curious if it provided any additional info like it's title infers as opposed to modifying a setting.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
One line entry is normal, possibly a factory test? Anything beyond that you should worry. yor entry 000102-000106-0A19 means at year 2000 (00) Jan (01) 2nd (02) at 00:01 hours and 06 seconds, you had a "T REEL LOCK" event (0A) during a "Camera Stop" (19) I don't exactly know what that means, but again, all of our cameras have one event line that occured before we had them.
One line entry is normal, possibly a factory test? Anything beyond that you should worry. yor entry 000102-000106-0A19 means at year 2000 (00) Jan (01) 2nd (02) at 00:01 hours and 06 seconds, you had a "T REEL LOCK" event (0A) during a "Camera Stop" (19) I don't exactly know what that means, but again, all of our cameras have one event line that occured before we had them.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
I actually noodled with the Debug Inf since I too thought it seemed the oly innocuous entry in adjust menu. I couldn't get anything to happen good or bad. It seems to default back to off when you are done. So far Tech manual is horridly unhelpful in this regard. WHen I know more I will spread word. BTW lets take a poll on Quality meters and head hours- we have several cams at approx 50 hours and generally bounce from 0 to maybe 5 green ticks at 3 being average. I have one with about 120 hours and average is more like 5-6 green ticks on average. (apparently the 10th one is the last green one so 11 would be bad.
I actually noodled with the Debug Inf since I too thought it seemed the oly innocuous entry in adjust menu. I couldn't get anything to happen good or bad. It seems to default back to off when you are done. So far Tech manual is horridly unhelpful in this regard. WHen I know more I will spread word. BTW lets take a poll on Quality meters and head hours- we have several cams at approx 50 hours and generally bounce from 0 to maybe 5 green ticks at 3 being average. I have one with about 120 hours and average is more like 5-6 green ticks on average. (apparently the 10th one is the last green one so 11 would be bad.
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
"One line entry is normal"
That's good to know, thanks for the decode too!
"take a poll on Quality meters"
Mine was bouncing between 1-3 on both bars, the top one seemed to average 2, and the bottom one just 1.
I just have 10 hours on mine, so I'm just a baby
"One line entry is normal"
That's good to know, thanks for the decode too!
"take a poll on Quality meters"
Mine was bouncing between 1-3 on both bars, the top one seemed to average 2, and the bottom one just 1.
I just have 10 hours on mine, so I'm just a baby
ScreechingHalt
Well-known member
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Nate, does the tech manual give disassembly instructions? I have not had much luck in locating one of the manuals. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to rig up interchangeable lenses on this puppy.
It would definitely be a Frankenstein monster since it has been cleverly designed to utilize the housings for buttons etc. I would have to leave all existing wiring connected and manually align the imaging unit with an external mounting ring. This may be completely ridiculous to even consider, depending upon how the unit is built.
Nate, does the tech manual give disassembly instructions? I have not had much luck in locating one of the manuals. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to rig up interchangeable lenses on this puppy.
It would definitely be a Frankenstein monster since it has been cleverly designed to utilize the housings for buttons etc. I would have to leave all existing wiring connected and manually align the imaging unit with an external mounting ring. This may be completely ridiculous to even consider, depending upon how the unit is built.
ScreechingHalt
Well-known member
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Thanks for thinking about it Nate (disassembly), but don't burn alot of CPU cycles over it. The more I consider it the less likely it is to be workable for a whole bunch of reasons that I won't outline here.
The most likely approach is the Mini-35 knock-off that I am going to test. Another Frankenstein monster, but it requires no change to the camera and might even work with the anamorphic lens. I will post the results of the experiment when completed.
Thanks again.
Thanks for thinking about it Nate (disassembly), but don't burn alot of CPU cycles over it. The more I consider it the less likely it is to be workable for a whole bunch of reasons that I won't outline here.
The most likely approach is the Mini-35 knock-off that I am going to test. Another Frankenstein monster, but it requires no change to the camera and might even work with the anamorphic lens. I will post the results of the experiment when completed.
Thanks again.
ScreechingHalt
Well-known member
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
Yes, the plan is to mount a diopter on the DVX, allowing very high magnification and close focus at full zoom (filling the frame with a 35mm film sized image). Then point that through the anamorphic adapter. The next piece in line is the "screen" upon which the image is projected, then the 35mm lens.
I am pretty sure it will "work", whether it is worth doing or not is another question. (What will the quality be like?)
Yes, the plan is to mount a diopter on the DVX, allowing very high magnification and close focus at full zoom (filling the frame with a 35mm film sized image). Then point that through the anamorphic adapter. The next piece in line is the "screen" upon which the image is projected, then the 35mm lens.
I am pretty sure it will "work", whether it is worth doing or not is another question. (What will the quality be like?)
G
Guest
Guest
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
regarding the quality metre poll:
I have 80 hrs and between 3 and 8 bars on both channels.
Does the Panasonic Service Manual state when to do something (how many bars) and what to do (like run a cleaning tape) if there are too many red bars?
8)
regarding the quality metre poll:
I have 80 hrs and between 3 and 8 bars on both channels.
Does the Panasonic Service Manual state when to do something (how many bars) and what to do (like run a cleaning tape) if there are too many red bars?
8)
Re: Secret Diagnostic menu
All it says in pidgin english essentially is green good, red bad. As long as all your bars are green you are apparently within tolerance. When you hit the end of a bit of recorded tape it will spike to red (no signal) so you can see where red is. I imagine as the camera gets older and has more and more runs on the cleaning tape, eventually the heads wear out- supposedly around 1000 hours- so just keep an eye on it, if you notice a spike in levels in a periodic check, use a cleaning tape and see if that improved it. Otherise, I think gradual increase in green bars is a natural result of normal head wear. BTW the manual suggests cleaning of head, capstan and rollers around every 100 hours.
All it says in pidgin english essentially is green good, red bad. As long as all your bars are green you are apparently within tolerance. When you hit the end of a bit of recorded tape it will spike to red (no signal) so you can see where red is. I imagine as the camera gets older and has more and more runs on the cleaning tape, eventually the heads wear out- supposedly around 1000 hours- so just keep an eye on it, if you notice a spike in levels in a periodic check, use a cleaning tape and see if that improved it. Otherise, I think gradual increase in green bars is a natural result of normal head wear. BTW the manual suggests cleaning of head, capstan and rollers around every 100 hours.