Sony NXCAM (HXR-NX5) -- any other users out there?

A

adamwelz

New member
Hi All

please excuse me for posting about a non-EXCAM here, but it seemed like the best forum for my question as there is no dedicated NXCAM forum here yet.

I am one of the first normal mortals to have received a new NXCAM (HXR-NX5U, pre-ordered from B&H and received into my hot little hands on Friday 5 Feb). The cam's serial is 110136.

I've been shooting random bits and pieces for the last week to get a feel for it. Yesterday, while just over a minute into a shot, the frame suddenly froze with the message 'buffer overrun' or 'buffer overload' (I don't remember the exact term) on the screen for a few seconds. The screen then went black with small letters in the middle saying 'clip recovery in progress' or something like that. The camera then remained frozen for a few minutes -- even after I turned the main power switch off. This message remained on the screen until I got fed up and removed the battery to shut it down.

When I restarted the camera, the touchscreen gave me the option to choose to recover the clip, to which I said 'yes' -- but this just cycled back to the same screen three times before finally coming back to the same black screen with the 'recovery in progress' -- which I had to stop again by pulling the battery off after turning the power switch off did nothing.

When I restarted again there was no option to recover the clip again -- and no sign of the clip at all on either the SD card or either the FMU128 unit, to which I was recording simultaneously.

I had a problem a little like this on the first day I had the unit when I tested it by turning the power off while shooting a clip. When I turned it on again it offered me the option to recover the clip, but then the camera just froze with a black screen with 'recovery in progress' or whatever in the middle, which remained for a few minutes, making the camera totally unresponsive, until I pulled the battery off. That time, when I restarted the unit, the clip was present in the menu as if nothing had happened.

I did not think too much of it the first time the cam froze up in 'recovery mode' as I had purposefully disrupted the cam's operation by turning it off while recording a clip (something that it should just have handled easily, in restrospect). But the second time I was just shooting normally -- I'd shot a whole bunch of short clips in the preceding half-hour with no issues.

Obviously, this is freaking me out -- if this 'buffer overrun' and freeze-up ever happens during a proper shoot, I am totally at a loss -- not only did the camera stop recording, but it froze (thus becoming utterly useless) AND I could not recover the clip.

I was shooting in 1080/30p mode on to a SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s class 10 SDHC card (16GB capacity) -- which should be more than fast enough to handle the bitrate of the NXCAM. There was also plenty of space on the SD card and the FMU128 unit. I pre-formatted all memory in the camera as advised in the manual before use.

At this point it's impossible to say what's causing this error -- but it seems to me to be a software glitch, hard as it is to believe that Sony would release a pro product without testing it very thoroughly. Any ideas? Is there something else that might be causing the issue?

Anyone else got an HXR-NX5 yet? Anyone else had similar issues with EXCAMs?

Are there any NXCAM forums on the web (I can't find any)?

Help!!!

Adam Welz

PS I have also posted this question at Creative Cow in the EXCAM forum.
 
I don't have an HXR-NX5, but if I was trying to debug this problem, I'd try a few things:

i) Did you reformat the card (and FMU) after the power-off problem? If not, I'd do that. While it would be nice if the camera gracefully handled power-off situations, I'm not exactly surprised it doesn't; the EX-1 has a similar problem with unexpected power-offs.

ii) Try shooting just with the FMU and then just with the SD card, and see if you can recreate the problem. If you can't, then that would suggest a fault in the way they have implemented the dual recording (that's a big assumption, but it's something to go with!)

iii) If it happens with just the card or the FMU, then perhaps one of those is faulty. If it happens with both, then it's probably the camera.

iv) I would think the SanDisk would be fast enough, but I guess the last thing I'd try is a MemoryStick card to see if that works better....this is Sony's first stab at SDHC cards, so maybe they screwed that up?

v) Oh, I would also try a different SDHC card to see if that makes a difference.

The best hope (and most likely) is that it's actually a faulty SDHC card or the card directory is corrupted.
 
Hi MichM

what I struggle to understand is the 'buffer overrun' message right in the middle of shooting a (short) shot -- no unexpected power-off situation in sight.

Which buffer it was overrunning I don't know, but that such a thing is even possible seems worrying.

Thanks very much for your input -- I will follow responses to this thread and post as soon as a solution emerges.

Best

Adam
 
adamwelz said:
Hi MichM

what I struggle to understand is the 'buffer overrun' message right in the middle of shooting a (short) shot -- no unexpected power-off situation in sight.
Click to expand...

Take this for what it's worth, as I only know enough about this to be dangerous, but the camera doesn't do it's processing of the images on the memory card directly. Instead it does everything in internal memory first (which is faster) and then writes out the data to the external memory as it goes.

Think of it like the buffer gets small chunks of data from the processor, but sends it out in larger chunks to the external memory.

If the card is busy writing, the camera will wait for the card, but it can only wait so long before it runs out of internal memory i.e. it's buffer is full.

I'm assuming that there's been a problem writing to the card (or FMU) and that's caused it to fill it's internal buffer, and hence the error.
 
I hope you learned your lesson on what not to do with your brand new camera, I learned from what you did and I'm not doing that ( ''the first day I had the unit when I tested it by turning the power off while shooting a clip'') when my nxcam comes in.
 
Considering that both the FMU and a card failed, the problem is in the camera itself. Obviously, it has a built-in buffer, and dumps data to both media. Either the buffer is too small, or there are timing issues, for example if there is only one thread servicing both media, then when one of the media lags behind, the whole thread is lagging, bringing down another media. Seems like a deficiency in design, Sony should use two separate threads to write data onto different media.
 
I have a nxcam shipping today, I am looking for remote control, (less than Sony's 1300.00 unit!). Does the NX5 accept any LANC controller, any recommendations? Thanks
 
Ok guys, it happen to me just hours ago:

I was filming this morning to do a proper test of the NX5E camcorder while recording on both memory card (8Gb Sony Pro Duo Mark 2 that came with the camcorder) and the FMU. I did a few shots and suddenly, a message appeared on the screen: " card A failure" or something similar but it wasn't the "buffer overrun" or anything to do with buffer like adamwelz described above. The thing is that the camcorder was still recording on the FMU while the message was blinking on screen. I decide to stop the recording and as soon as I pressed the button, the camera started to reboot. It took about 30 sec to reboot and it was grant for another few shoots (then the rain starts and I had to leave without further testing). While rebooting it automatically recovered the footage and everything seemed back to normal.

I'm really freaked out now as I have a wedding to film next saturday (6th March) and I cannot rely on the camera now. I will give it another try these days and I will report back here how it goes.

My NX5E serial is: 210172

Here are some shoots I have take yesterday with this camcorder (but I didn't record simultaneously on card and FMU and everything was great):

http://www.vimeo.com/9784737
 
fritzi said:
I was filming this morning to do a proper test of the NX5E camcorder while recording on both memory card (8Gb Sony Pro Duo Mark 2 that came with the camcorder) and the FMU. I did a few shots and suddenly, a message appeared on the screen: " card A failure" or something similar but it wasn't the "buffer overrun" or anything to do with buffer like adamwelz described above. The thing is that the camcorder was still recording on the FMU while the message was blinking on screen. I decide to stop the recording and as soon as I pressed the button, the camera started to reboot. It took about 30 sec to reboot and it was grant for another few shoots (then the rain starts and I had to leave without further testing). While rebooting it automatically recovered the footage and everything seemed back to normal.

I'm really freaked out now as I have a wedding to film next saturday (6th March) and I cannot rely on the camera now. I will give it another try these days and I will report back here how it goes.
Click to expand...

You were recording onto ProDuo and FMU simultaneously? Sounds like it could have been a ProDuo card error, especially since the FMU kept recording. Please keep us posted. I've ordered one of these, so I'm keeping tabs on all the possible issues in the NX5U. I'll have it a good couple months before my first scheduled job, so I plan to put it through its paces and work out all the kinks way ahead of time.
 
Hi Galleddrim,

When this occurred, I was recording onto ProDuo Mark 2 and FMU simultaneously. The footage on the ProDuo couldn't be recovered (I just found out back home) even though after the camcorder rebooted it was saying: Recovering clip in progress. The footage on the FMU was ok. I wish I was keep recording for longer while the error was on the screen and see what would have happen then (would the error on screen disappeared after a while or it would showed up until I stopped recording, as it can be very annoying to have that message flashing on screen while you are recording a church ceremony and try focusing or do other tasks etc). I will give it another test tomorrow and leave the camera recording for a few hours to see how it goes.


I will keep you informed.
 
adamwelz said:
Hi All

please excuse me for posting about a non-EXCAM here, but it seemed like the best forum for my question as there is no dedicated NXCAM forum here yet.

I am one of the first normal mortals to have received a new NXCAM (HXR-NX5U, pre-ordered from B&H and received into my hot little hands on Friday 5 Feb). The cam's serial is 110136.

I've been shooting random bits and pieces for the last week to get a feel for it. Yesterday, while just over a minute into a shot, the frame suddenly froze with the message 'buffer overrun' or 'buffer overload' (I don't remember the exact term) on the screen for a few seconds. The screen then went black with small letters in the middle saying 'clip recovery in progress' or something like that. The camera then remained frozen for a few minutes -- even after I turned the main power switch off. This message remained on the screen until I got fed up and removed the battery to shut it down.

When I restarted the camera, the touchscreen gave me the option to choose to recover the clip, to which I said 'yes' -- but this just cycled back to the same screen three times before finally coming back to the same black screen with the 'recovery in progress' -- which I had to stop again by pulling the battery off after turning the power switch off did nothing.

When I restarted again there was no option to recover the clip again -- and no sign of the clip at all on either the SD card or either the FMU128 unit, to which I was recording simultaneously.

I had a problem a little like this on the first day I had the unit when I tested it by turning the power off while shooting a clip. When I turned it on again it offered me the option to recover the clip, but then the camera just froze with a black screen with 'recovery in progress' or whatever in the middle, which remained for a few minutes, making the camera totally unresponsive, until I pulled the battery off. That time, when I restarted the unit, the clip was present in the menu as if nothing had happened.

I did not think too much of it the first time the cam froze up in 'recovery mode' as I had purposefully disrupted the cam's operation by turning it off while recording a clip (something that it should just have handled easily, in restrospect). But the second time I was just shooting normally -- I'd shot a whole bunch of short clips in the preceding half-hour with no issues.

Obviously, this is freaking me out -- if this 'buffer overrun' and freeze-up ever happens during a proper shoot, I am totally at a loss -- not only did the camera stop recording, but it froze (thus becoming utterly useless) AND I could not recover the clip.

I was shooting in 1080/30p mode on to a SanDisk Extreme 30MB/s class 10 SDHC card (16GB capacity) -- which should be more than fast enough to handle the bitrate of the NXCAM. There was also plenty of space on the SD card and the FMU128 unit. I pre-formatted all memory in the camera as advised in the manual before use.

At this point it's impossible to say what's causing this error -- but it seems to me to be a software glitch, hard as it is to believe that Sony would release a pro product without testing it very thoroughly. Any ideas? Is there something else that might be causing the issue?

Anyone else got an HXR-NX5 yet? Anyone else had similar issues with EXCAMs?

Are there any NXCAM forums on the web (I can't find any)?

Help!!!

Adam Welz

PS I have also posted this question at Creative Cow in the EXCAM forum.
Click to expand...

Hello Adam,
I have the NX5U, and the same memory card as you. I have not had any issues yet, but I have not received my FMU unit yet. Hopefully it is an isolated incident.
 
New to the HXR-NX5E

New to the HXR-NX5E

Hi: I rather wish I'd read these posts before ordering the HXR-NX5E.. Can any more experienced user offer advice on whether to use Sony Sticks or SDHC? How vital is the 128Gb unit [it sounds worth avoiding in the light of adamwelz' post..?
 
Can somebody that has this camera do me a HUGE favor.

I want to see what the Audio Signal-to-Noise Ratio is. Could you could unplug all your mics and set the levels in the middle and record just a 5 second clip and send me the raw MTS file.

I have a Panasonic HMC150 and want to see how it compares. I am thinking about returning the MHC150 (just bought it yesterday) and getting the NX5U instead but need to know how much "audio camera Noise" it generates.

Thanks. You can PM for my e-mail or send a link to the video.
 
I'm a total Sony Fanboy, but from what I've heard the HMC-150 is a better camera. I can't remember the specifics, as it came from a friend who studied the two extensively and ended up going with the 150. There were some card writing issues possibly?
 
Hi Guys,

Couple months ago I purchased an NX5 and was totally satisfied for a while. But for now I ran into too many problems. I think I will sell it soon.

- First of all I hate CMOS (and I do not want to work around it, I was stupid when I decided to go that way). It can be seen almost everywhere on (normal) footages without tripod.
- The 2gb limit (10-12 minutes, depends on the resolution and the frame rate) on any SD card is a pain (it can be solved by joining the mts files, but it is not a 100% solution)
- only 2 channels audio recording, sometimes I need 4
- ProRes ingesting takes forever with long clips (or simple impossible). Sorry I am FCP user.
- no delete last clip short cut function key
- the shot gun mic (plus the internal mic) picks up to much handling noise

What I still love is the resolution on the LCD. Sorry guys if you do not agree.

Is there any camcorder out under 5K which has a full resolution sensor (not up-converting pixels), better LCD than DVX100, 4 audio recording (at least 2 stereo signals) (it is not that important though), CCD is more important, can record long clips in one piece (with no spanned clips at all), has at least 1/3 sensor (2/3 would be nice), I do not need interchangeable lens.

Thanks for any info. I used to use HPX170 which really was a nice camcorder but that time (and I guess now too) p2 card were too expensive and the resolution was not a native 1920x1080.
 
The HMC-150 is CCD I believe. But for the record, CMOS chips are the norm now. If you can see skew in your shot, the shot is not good anyway.
 
Thanks for the answer. The result was on TV as I have never managed to capture it to the computer. I shot it in interlaced and I will try also with progressive it might be better. That biggest problem is that now I lost the data on the SD card. I tried to fix it with the camcorder with no luck at all. I am still trying to fix it though. Originally I wanted to by EX1 but it was too expensive and it has also Cmos chip. I know it is the future, but I still like CCD better.
 
Keep in mind that not all CMOS chips are the same. The EX1 CMOS doesn't skew much IMO. Yes you can make it happen, but not like a DSLR camera. And I haven't checked, but you may find some EX1s for under 5 grand, maybe closer to 4 grand now.
 
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