GL2 tape/battery problem?
 

My friend has gotten this weird problem on his GL2. I am afraid to try to recreate it, so maybe somebody else has experienced this... there seems to be a weird glitch with his battery and tape. He uses just regular Panasonic tape and the usual BP945, whenever the tape is IN the camcorder, and he switches battery while its in it, it gets dropouts and blocky glitches when he playbacks and records. Weird....

Can you be more specific in describing the problem? I'm not understanding when the problem is occurring or when he is changing the battery.

He says..

"The tape itself will record fine after you remove it and go forward a bit. But if it sits in while the batteries are changing, then whatever you shoot from then on w.o removing first, gets this pink pixelated junk and the audio is ruined."

When you turn the camera off, or change batteries, the tape will come off the video heads. The tape will be repositioned on the heads when you power up the camera again and place it in record/pause. However, the video heads (and audio heads) will never be in exactly the same location on the tape. This slight mis-positioning of the tape to the heads, will cause a glitch (pixelization, noise, distortion) on the tape during playback.

The way to avoid this is to manually reverse search to the last scene when you power up the camera again. Some people like to black their tapes in an attempt to avoid the glitch. Blacking does not always avoid a glitch and can still cause a problem with timecode.

You can search blacking tapes, and timecode if you do not understand these terms. Both topics have been extensively discussed in the past.

Before recording again, use the handy "rec search minus" button on the GL2 to pick up the previous frames of video before the battery was changed. Problem solved.

Thanks Lads
 

David, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I can't remember reading what Chris suggests, within the User Manual. Thanks Chris. It makes so much sense. I've often changed batteries mid shoot. And I can't put my hand on my heart and say I've done this "after" switching off the cammie - bad boy!! Of course I'm very certain that I would turn off the cammie . . have I done it everytime ? Not sure I have! . . . hmmm...

Grazie

Hmm..so based on your guys advice, would it be best to, if changing batteries or tapes, remove all batteries/tapes to avoid any problems? Like if you're changing battery, remove the tape, if you're changing the tape, remove the battery, vice versa and etc?

Taking a tape out doesn't solve anything. Follow the advice Chris and I suggest (Chris uses better terminology), use the "rec search minus" button to move the tape into a previously recorded scene and avoid a glitch. If you're unfamiliar with the "rec search minus" button, review it's operation in your owners manual and post back if you have questions.

Is he turn the camcorder OFF before he changes the battery (recommended), or just swapping the battery while in record pause mode?

I agree you should remove the battery AFTER you turn off the power to the cam.....problems might arise otherwise.

I'm not sure if I understand the problem correctly, but it sounds as if David's friend gets glitching from that point onwards. Any time you stop recording and start again without blacking, or even sometimes with blacking, there will be a momentary glitch or dropout. However, this shouldn't continue for the rest of the tape... Seems like something else is at work here.

Does the problem persist for a while, until he ejects and reinserts the tape? Or is it just momentary?