Tape Dropouts anyone?
 

I've had two so far with the A1...anyone else getting them? I have been shooting music concerts with two varities of Panasonic tapes which normally worked well with my XL2. Basically anything shot "live" deserves NO dropouts. I mainly use the Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ tape.

Should I consider a Focus HD or should I just run a tape cleaner?

If you're shooting HDV and you're not using the best tape available (for example, Sony Digital Master Tape), you're going to run the risk of more drop-outs. At least that's been my personal experience. Any single drop-out on the tape will cause a disturbance over multiple frames, unlike DV. Again, that's been my experience.

See this thread for more discussion on the topic: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=78248

I'm using the Panasonic AMQ tapes. No dropouts so far.

My first dropout was on an AMQ tape. The second was on a PQ. These are the only tapes I run in my A1.

What's the best tapes to be using in the Canon XH-A1? Sony, Panasonic, Fuji....etc?

I've had maybe 3 drop-outs so far. All were on the original Canon tape that came with it.

Sony Digital Master Tape is the best assurance against drop-outs. It really does make a difference when shooting HDV. I've shot regular tapes and have had drop-out problems. I've shot with Digital Master and have not seen any problems. This demonstrates to me that Sony's claim that Digital Master offers, "fewer errors and less dropouts than consumer DV tape" is likely to be true. It matches my own experience.

{sony offer info deleted}

FWIW, I have yet to have that site work for me without an error after I type in all my info (including invoice # and camera serial #), and my email to the fulfillment co that sony is using has so far gone unanswered, so so far, I am not convinced it's a real offer... have you gotten it to work and received any tapes?

The XH A1 user manual states "do not use wet" type tapes. Isn't the Sony Master Tape "wet". I have used JVC ProHD tape but have had some weird pulse of image problem. I don't know if it is the A1 or the tape. I tried another A1 today and it does the same thing. See my other thread about pulsing.

I dare to say drop-outs are more related to environment quality than tape brand, as long as you use good quality media from trusted sources. Number of dust particles in the air has much more influence here.

No camera in this price range is 100% environmentally protected. Even HVX can suffer. If you drop P2 card and it lands in wrong place or someone steps on it, than it's one big drop-out.

I still use regular MiniDV Sony and Pana tapes until they are out of my stock. No drop-outs so far.

I thought that was wet "head-cleaning" tape, but maybe I'm wrong.

I had several drop outs on a 3 camera shoot with my Canon H1, Canon HV10 and Sony FX1. We shot in 60 hdv, and both of the Canons had 4 drop outs during a one hour concert.
I posted about this on the H1 forum and was advised to use a head cleaning tape on both of the Canons. Also I was using 83 minute Panny mq tapes (i"ve always used those tapes, but 63 min) and several people said that the 83 min tapes are a no no.
Since cleaning the heads and NEVER using 83 min tapes, I ahevn't had a single drop out on either camera.
Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

No dropouts here
 

I've been using Panasonic AY-DVM63MQ and I haven't experience any dropouts.

What kind of head cleaning tape did you use?

Is it safe to use head cleaning tapes on this camera??