time code breaks and cleaning heads...

[pbrmoney]

Time Code Breaks & Cleaning heads? Hi,

I'm a semi-new DVX user. I'm curious to know, why do time code breaks occur?

I'm currently in the log and capture phase and instead of capturing the whole tape at once I find myself frequently confronted with breaks. Therefore, I have to capture a single tape in 2-3 "Batches".

Are time code breaks indicative of mis-operation of the camera? Dirty heads?



Secondly, I've had my DVX100B for about one year. Five months of heavy shooting in the outdoors. Is there anyway to send my camera in to get cleaned? Is cleaning the heads a fairly routine maintenance issue habit to get into with these cameras?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[nouou]

Time Code Breaks & Cleaning heads? Hi,

I'm a semi-new DVX user. I'm curious to know, why do time code breaks occur?

I'm currently in the log and capture phase and instead of capturing the whole tape at once I find myself frequently confronted with breaks. Therefore, I have to capture a single tape in 2-3 "Batches".

Are time code breaks indicative of mis-operation of the camera? Dirty heads?



Secondly, I've had my DVX100B for about one year. Five months of heavy shooting in the outdoors. Is there anyway to send my camera in to get cleaned? Is cleaning the heads a fairly routine maintenance issue habit to get into with these cameras?

Thanks for any tips!

Not sure about the time code but I can tell you to start recording to a slave. Search for a thread titled "DVX Plus Slave" and it explains everything about this in that thread.

 

[Alex H.]

I'm currently in the log and capture phase and instead of capturing the whole tape at once I find myself frequently confronted with breaks. Therefore, I have to capture a single tape in 2-3 "Batches".

Are time code breaks indicative of mis-operation of the camera? Dirty heads?

If you record with your TC set to preset, every time the recording stops and restarts, it continues with the last stored TC value. Not normally a problem if you record take after take without reviewing any footage. But if you rewind the tape to watch back what you've shot, chances are that you won't have the tape re-cued to where the camera actually stopped. So the last stored value will be a few frames, even seconds, ahead of the start time when you resume recording. That's a time code break. And if you cue the tape too far, there is a short stretch where there is no time code to speak of. Also a TC break.

There are a couple of ways to avoid TC breaks. First, run only your first take in TC Preset, then switch to TC Regen so that the camera begins recording TC at the value it sees on the tape when it begins recording. Then, if you stop to review, it doesn't matter if you re-cue the tape a few frames early from the last stop. Second, you can black your tapes (record black video/no audio all the way through each tape, without stopping) before you shoot, then shoot in TC Regen.

Now, as for the log and capture phase you're in... why are you capturing the whole tape at once (or trying to)? That sort of defeats "log and capture," and can be a tremendous waste of drive storage. You can cut out a lot of unnecessary footage by actually logging only the usable clips, then batch-capturing.

Secondly, I've had my DVX100B for about one year. Five months of heavy shooting in the outdoors. Is there anyway to send my camera in to get cleaned? Is cleaning the heads a fairly routine maintenance issue habit to get into with these cameras?

Thanks for any tips!

Regular cleanings are not a bad idea, and can be a good preventative measure, but have it done by a professional service center. Cleaning cassettes should be used only sparingly. Some folks say no more than every 100 hours. I say only when absolutely necessary.

If you start seeing the dreaded red X, you can run a fresh, blank tape through in VTR Play mode... run it from start to finish, do not rewind, and throw the tape away.