Dreaded white DOT

David Benjamin · June 16th, 2008, 11:26 PM

Since I'm past the first period of my warranty (free parts or free labor... I forget which), and I'm pretty much filming every week or every two weeks, I'm going to wait for a while before getting this fixed. In the meantime, I'm using a friend's HD7 as my "A" camera and have relegated the "white dot" HD7 as the "B" camera, taking care to turn it off whenever possible to limit the prevalence of the dot. With this method, I should only see the dot on maybe 5% of my remaining footage, and I can fix that in Final Cut Pro, so it's not a huge concern. Just an annoyance.

My friend had purchased his HD7 at a Best Buy and had paid for their warranty, and we were GOING to see if we could take advantage of that benefit... except no Best Buy remotely near us has one in stock. All they have is the HD6, which I have zero interest in due to the lack of manual controls/focus ring, and the horrible front placement of the accessory shoe. (I have a mic that would stick so far out on that camera, it would be in the top of every shot!)

Once we have a decent break time in our filming (or maybe once we're done), we'll go the repair route.

Wayne Avanson · June 17th, 2008, 07:04 AM

OK Guys I appreciate the situations, I was in that position myself and had to wait for a break before taking it back.

I'd love to pick up another one for the odd occasion I have need of two but since things are happening on the JVC front at the moment, I'm not sure whether to wait and see if they come up with a true replacement for the HD7 with some proper progressive capture. Since I'm not in a rush, the latter option is more likely.

Keep me up to speed when you get sorted, for, well no apparent reason really, just interested,

all the best

Avey

Sander Spies · June 26th, 2008, 06:27 PM

The strangest thing happened. I'm preparing some demo material to show when returning the camera to point out the problem. But all of a sudden the white dot has changed location! It's now located in the bottom right half of the screen instead of center middle...

Edit: Hm, ok the other dot is back, so I've got 2 dots, they show up depending on the amount of light... I'll try to make a screenshot with both pixels visible.

Wayne Avanson · June 27th, 2008, 12:43 AM

How odd. Mind you, mine was always intermittent. More on than off towards the end but still, not always there. Thing with that is, you can guarantee that when it's the most important, that's when it would appear.

Sander Spies · July 7th, 2008, 07:09 AM

Well, the cam is back to JVC. It'll be back in 2 to 3 weeks. Let's hope the software update/adjustment works!
My (3!) dots on video: http://vimeo.com/1260185

Wayne Avanson · July 7th, 2008, 07:30 AM

Nice One Sander, and take heart, mine is STILL white dot free and working like a little gem
Check out some of my little experiments. And there's quite a few nice people on Vimeo using the same camera.

http://www.vimeo.com/user506080/videos

Your dots behave like my dot did, sometimes larger sometimes smaller depending on the background it's laid against. In fact, I couldn't see the one on the left until right near the end of your clip.

So, let me know when you're dot-free.

Gary Colon · July 13th, 2008, 12:26 AM

Yo, this sucks man!! I got a dot, just one and I noticed it a few months back. I thought it was my LCD screen, then noticed video in other peeps screens had it too, so then I even noticed it on my JVC LCD screen!! Anyways, Ive had mine, pretty much since these babies started selling 2 yrs (??) ago. Anyways, I JUST registered mine tonight, is there anyway into tricking the JVC site and buying an extended 5 yr warranty?? Would they require receipt or anything or just the fact that I registered it last night?? If they required receipt (I could get a reprint from Circuit City)...any possible way of photoshopping and changing the date or something?? Anyways, hope everyone elses gets fixed!! Thanks!!

GC

Wayne Avanson · July 13th, 2008, 02:52 AM

That's bad news dude. Best speak to Circuit City first, they would probably be more sympathetic to printing you a receipt with a new date on. I know that the shop I bought mine from printed out the receipt for me to send off with the camera because I forgot to bring my original one to the shop with me.

This doesn't seem like a widespread problem as there's only four people I know who have experienced it, but it's still something I'm sure that JVC are well aware of.

Gary Colon · July 13th, 2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Avanson

That's bad news dude. Best speak to Circuit City first, they would probably be more sympathetic to printing you a receipt with a new date on. I know that the shop I bought mine from printed out the receipt for me to send off with the camera because I forgot to bring my original one to the shop with me.

This doesn't seem like a widespread problem as there's only four people I know who have experienced it, but it's still something I'm sure that JVC are well aware of.

Yea, it just kinda sucks you know. I got this thing when it FIRST came out which was like $1499. I think Im gonna have to get on the inside with someone and see if they cant print me out a new receipt with a new purchase date. Im gonna see if there is no way I can photoshop you know? Somehow lay the receipt on printer paper and reprint. Those Circuit City receipts are CRAPPY, they fade out completely after a few months. I could probably get a faded one out, copy everything onto it lol.

Wayne Avanson · July 13th, 2008, 09:57 AM

Or do your photoshopping and then print it out to look like you just photocopied the real receipt… send photocopies of the warranty and stuff to back it up, like you 'don't trust the post with the real stuff'. HA!

Send them a DVD of clips showing the white dot too, that's what I did and it helped.

Gary Colon · July 13th, 2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Avanson

Or do your photoshopping and then print it out to look like you just photocopied the real receipt… send photocopies of the warranty and stuff to back it up, like you 'don't trust the post with the real stuff'. HA!

Send them a DVD of clips showing the white dot too, that's what I did and it helped.

lol, yea. I gotta figure something out, I dont know. Hopefully I can somehow trick them into fixing my camera for free. Ill keep updating this as things go! Thanks

Sander Spies · July 16th, 2008, 01:26 PM

Be careful though with faking a receipt, it may get you on some sort of blacklist by JVC (technically it's fraud). They can probably also figure out from the camera's firmware/internal memory/whatever when the first recording was made.

Since this is a somewhat known problem, not caused by using the device in a wrong way, they might repair it for free, or at a low cost. All they do is update/recalibrate the sofware (at least that's what I am told).

Ps: mine is back from JVC, I can pick it up tomorrow at the store!

Wayne Avanson · July 16th, 2008, 02:01 PM

good point Sander. I guess being more up front about it would be better.

Let us know how yours is tomorrow. looking forward to another satisfied customer!

Sander Spies · July 18th, 2008, 08:25 PM

A quick update: it looks like the dots are gone! I'm going to test some more tomorrow.

Richard Boyer · July 20th, 2008, 03:16 PM

Sander...

Did you send yours off, or did the dot just go away. I've started noticing it on my camera, sometimes it's there for a full shot, sometimes it's not at all.

Hard to figure out what it is... it definetly appears when I'm wearing a white t-shirt and close to the camera... if I step farther back it goes away instantly. I thought it was a focus issue, but after messing with that, the focus itself didn't appear to cause the issue. I think certain colors are triggering the dot on mine...

Regardless, I'm probably going to send mine off soon, because it's annoying me, alot!

June 26th, 2008, 06:27 PM	#33
Sander Spies New Boot Join Date: May 2008 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands Posts: 15	The strangest thing happened. I'm preparing some demo material to show when returning the camera to point out the problem. But all of a sudden the white dot has changed location! It's now located in the bottom right half of the screen instead of center middle... Edit: Hm, ok the other dot is back, so I've got 2 dots, they show up depending on the amount of light... I'll try to make a screenshot with both pixels visible. Attached Thumbnails

June 16th, 2008, 11:26 PM	#31
David Benjamin New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: West Linn, OR Posts: 7	Since I'm past the first period of my warranty (free parts or free labor... I forget which), and I'm pretty much filming every week or every two weeks, I'm going to wait for a while before getting this fixed. In the meantime, I'm using a friend's HD7 as my "A" camera and have relegated the "white dot" HD7 as the "B" camera, taking care to turn it off whenever possible to limit the prevalence of the dot. With this method, I should only see the dot on maybe 5% of my remaining footage, and I can fix that in Final Cut Pro, so it's not a huge concern. Just an annoyance. My friend had purchased his HD7 at a Best Buy and had paid for their warranty, and we were GOING to see if we could take advantage of that benefit... except no Best Buy remotely near us has one in stock. All they have is the HD6, which I have zero interest in due to the lack of manual controls/focus ring, and the horrible front placement of the accessory shoe. (I have a mic that would stick so far out on that camera, it would be in the top of every shot!) Once we have a decent break time in our filming (or maybe once we're done), we'll go the repair route.

June 17th, 2008, 07:04 AM	#32
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	OK Guys I appreciate the situations, I was in that position myself and had to wait for a break before taking it back. I'd love to pick up another one for the odd occasion I have need of two but since things are happening on the JVC front at the moment, I'm not sure whether to wait and see if they come up with a true replacement for the HD7 with some proper progressive capture. Since I'm not in a rush, the latter option is more likely. Keep me up to speed when you get sorted, for, well no apparent reason really, just interested, all the best Avey

June 27th, 2008, 12:43 AM	#34
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	How odd. Mind you, mine was always intermittent. More on than off towards the end but still, not always there. Thing with that is, you can guarantee that when it's the most important, that's when it would appear.

July 7th, 2008, 07:09 AM	#35
Sander Spies New Boot Join Date: May 2008 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands Posts: 15	Well, the cam is back to JVC. It'll be back in 2 to 3 weeks. Let's hope the software update/adjustment works! My (3!) dots on video: http://vimeo.com/1260185

July 7th, 2008, 07:30 AM	#36
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	Nice One Sander, and take heart, mine is STILL white dot free and working like a little gem Check out some of my little experiments. And there's quite a few nice people on Vimeo using the same camera. http://www.vimeo.com/user506080/videos Your dots behave like my dot did, sometimes larger sometimes smaller depending on the background it's laid against. In fact, I couldn't see the one on the left until right near the end of your clip. So, let me know when you're dot-free.

July 13th, 2008, 12:26 AM	#37
Gary Colon Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bronson, Florida Posts: 35	Yo, this sucks man!! I got a dot, just one and I noticed it a few months back. I thought it was my LCD screen, then noticed video in other peeps screens had it too, so then I even noticed it on my JVC LCD screen!! Anyways, Ive had mine, pretty much since these babies started selling 2 yrs (??) ago. Anyways, I JUST registered mine tonight, is there anyway into tricking the JVC site and buying an extended 5 yr warranty?? Would they require receipt or anything or just the fact that I registered it last night?? If they required receipt (I could get a reprint from Circuit City)...any possible way of photoshopping and changing the date or something?? Anyways, hope everyone elses gets fixed!! Thanks!! GC

July 13th, 2008, 02:52 AM	#38
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	That's bad news dude. Best speak to Circuit City first, they would probably be more sympathetic to printing you a receipt with a new date on. I know that the shop I bought mine from printed out the receipt for me to send off with the camera because I forgot to bring my original one to the shop with me. This doesn't seem like a widespread problem as there's only four people I know who have experienced it, but it's still something I'm sure that JVC are well aware of.

July 13th, 2008, 09:57 AM	#40
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	Or do your photoshopping and then print it out to look like you just photocopied the real receipt… send photocopies of the warranty and stuff to back it up, like you 'don't trust the post with the real stuff'. HA! Send them a DVD of clips showing the white dot too, that's what I did and it helped.

July 16th, 2008, 01:26 PM	#42
Sander Spies New Boot Join Date: May 2008 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands Posts: 15	Be careful though with faking a receipt, it may get you on some sort of blacklist by JVC (technically it's fraud). They can probably also figure out from the camera's firmware/internal memory/whatever when the first recording was made. Since this is a somewhat known problem, not caused by using the device in a wrong way, they might repair it for free, or at a low cost. All they do is update/recalibrate the sofware (at least that's what I am told). Ps: mine is back from JVC, I can pick it up tomorrow at the store!

July 16th, 2008, 02:01 PM	#43
Wayne Avanson Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lancashire UK Posts: 496	good point Sander. I guess being more up front about it would be better. Let us know how yours is tomorrow. looking forward to another satisfied customer!

July 18th, 2008, 08:25 PM	#44
Sander Spies New Boot Join Date: May 2008 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands Posts: 15	A quick update: it looks like the dots are gone! I'm going to test some more tomorrow.

July 20th, 2008, 03:16 PM	#45
Richard Boyer Tourist Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Fenton, MO Posts: 3	Sander... Did you send yours off, or did the dot just go away. I've started noticing it on my camera, sometimes it's there for a full shot, sometimes it's not at all. Hard to figure out what it is... it definetly appears when I'm wearing a white t-shirt and close to the camera... if I step farther back it goes away instantly. I thought it was a focus issue, but after messing with that, the focus itself didn't appear to cause the issue. I think certain colors are triggering the dot on mine... Regardless, I'm probably going to send mine off soon, because it's annoying me, alot!