What would you do?

[Gary J. Walker]

I have two A-1's after shooting 8 weddings and receptions, I've noticed that about 1 out of 4 of my tapes (pana 63-MQ's) on only one of my cameras have one drop out per hour (one and a half seconds gone, like a quick pause then record) Question, put up with it, clean heads again, clean heads and switch to Sony tapes, or ???...Gary (PS FYI I'm in Arizona and the last two weddings had about 45 min. outside, temp was 115 in the sun and no problems with the cameras). Gary

[Jay Legere]

Hi Gary,

I am new to the forum and will recieve my camera on Tuesday so I don't have personal experience with this problem. However, I did read this thread which may be of help.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=98066

OOPS!

It appears as though you started this thread too:)

[Cary Lee]

Originally Posted by Gary J. Walker

I have two A-1's after shooting 8 weddings and receptions, I've noticed that about 1 out of 4 of my tapes (pana 63-MQ's) on only one of my cameras have one drop out per hour (one and a half seconds gone, like a quick pause then record) Question, put up with it, clean heads again, clean heads and switch to Sony tapes, or ???...Gary (PS FYI I'm in Arizona and the last two weddings had about 45 min. outside, temp was 115 in the sun and no problems with the cameras). Gary

Sony tapes is wet vs panys are dry. Use your cleaner every 3 hours...plus that small drop is nothing to a big deal. It just means you have to edit it out in post. Unless you are showing the wedding side by side...no one knows until you give your client the final copy. That high of heat my be a problem..you might prep your tapes before the shoot. Meaning..fast forward them then return it before you shoot...Which you should be doing that anyways since there may be kinks in the tape from the factory.

[Tom Hickman]

I purchased a new Canon HX A1 on June 29 and at first it worked fine and I did not have any glitches in the tapes. Now I get a glitch about every 4 min and it's video and audio, definatly someting in the tape transport. I use Sony Mini DV and shot 4 by 3 Standard def. for now until I can get a second HD camcorder, might not be another Canon. I did shot HD using Sony HD master grade tapes and did not get a glitch. I have bought a Focus fire store because I don't trust the camera now and I called Canon and they will only repair the camera not replace it. The company Fotoconnection where I bought it (don't do business with them) will not take it back. I will try using a tape head cleaner does anybody else have this problem?? I'v been shooting for 21 years and never had this kind of problem with my Sony cameras. A bran new camera should not have a glitch problem an should not need a tape head cleaner run in it to make it work it should just work and work well for years to come. Any advice would be appreciated Thanks.

Originally Posted by Gary J. Walker

I have two A-1's after shooting 8 weddings and receptions, I've noticed that about 1 out of 4 of my tapes (pana 63-MQ's) on only one of my cameras have one drop out per hour (one and a half seconds gone, like a quick pause then record) Question, put up with it, clean heads again, clean heads and switch to Sony tapes, or ???...Gary (PS FYI I'm in Arizona and the last two weddings had about 45 min. outside, temp was 115 in the sun and no problems with the cameras). Gary

[Winfried Dobbe]

Well, Canon recommends to run a cleaning tape for a few seconds after unpacking the camera from the box, to remove any contamination from manufacturing/transport.

I received my A1 around the same date as you and haven't had a single drop-out so far (using Panasonic DVM63-AMQ).

[Don Palomaki]

If some tapes play OK and other do not not, the issue is most likely with the tape uniformity/quality, not the camcorder. Tape quality can vary from lot to lot, and even among tapes within a lot depending on from what part of the original sheet the tape was cut. HDV format much more sensitive to tape quality issues than SD.

Apparent tape issues may result also from use of the camcorder in dusty environments that allow introduction of foreign particles in the transport and on the tape. This can introduce transient tape head clogs that may self-clear.

No doubt a bit like trying to manage dust in B&W darkroom work when working to produce large prints from small negatives.

[Pavel Sedlak]

My friend take one hudred tapes with Sony FX1 and have 3 drops on this amount, I have 3drops on the same tapes, but per tape.

It's not HDV issue (but canon).

I must use the most expensive tapes (Sony HDV master) for recording without "gop-drops". In this class of camcorder it is very nice from Canon...

[Tom Hickman]

OK I have run the tape head cleaner and will use the camera for a week and re evaluate the situation with the glitches and see if the tape head cleaner fixed the problem, I hope the fix is this simple. Thanks for the responce. I have spoken to other videographers with the same camera and using sony tapes and they have no problem at all so if there is a problem with the camera it is ont with all cameras only some, lets just hope it's the tape head cleaner that fixes the problem because if I have this problem and you don't who's to say you won't in the future??.