Dead Pixel Dilemma
 

I received my first HD110 about 2 weeks ago and fell in love with it right away. Unfortunately, after a few hours of use I noticed that there were many dead pixels (white dots), particularly in slow shutter speeds, even with the gain set to 0db. I contacted JVC and they suggested that I run the Pixel Compensation feature in the service menu. I ran the Pixel Compensation several times (after letting the camera warm up), and while the large dots disappeared, there were still many smaller dots visible. The rep at JVC said that the camera probably had a defective CCD and should be replaced. JVC offered to replace the camera, but since it was only a couple days old, I contacted the dealer and they sent me a new HD110.

Now, I’m on my second, brand-new HD110 and unfortunately I still have a problem with dead pixels. After this camera warms up for 15 minutes I can see the dead pixels when shooting at 1/6, 1/12 and depending on the subject and lighting at 1/24 shutter speeds. At faster shutter speeds the problem disappears, unless I need to use some gain.

So, am I just unlucky and need to get this camera replaced again? Or do all other HD110’s behave the same way? If my camera is behaving normally, what’s the trick to getting rid of these little white dots? Do I need to warm up my camera in a microwave oven and run Pixel Compensation 50 times?

I’ve attached a file that shows the dead pixels. It was shot at 1/6 sec. shutter with the aperture closed and 0db gain. As you open the aperture, the dots become even more visible. To rule out problems with the display, I’ve tested this on several monitors ranging from a 23” LCD to a 42” plasma. The bigger the monitor the worse the problem becomes.

At those slow shutter speeds, the blemishes become more apparent. If you can shoot at 1/48th with 9db gain, without seeing any blemishes, you should be fine.

Thanks for the input Scott. Are you saying that if you shoot at any speed slower that 1/48th you get similar white dots? How about with the gain at 0db?

Is this some sort of accepted standard within the HD110 community?

I ran the pixel mask function a while ago, to get rid of 2 stuck pixels.

I can plug my camera into my tv, crank the gain to +18db without seeing any dots. However, if i drop the shutter speed way down, while leaving the lens cap on, I can see dozens of noisy pixels.

I would never use the camera in this fashion, so I guess I'm OK with it. This doesn't happen at 0db.

Scott, what you explained is what I expected from my HD110. That is, no dots while at 1/48 or faster irrelevant of gain setting. And no dots at 1/24 or slower while gain set to 0db.

Unfortunately, I’m on my second HD110 that has visible dead pixels at slow shutter speeds even at 0db gain. The dots are also visible at normal shutter speeds with the gain turned up. I’ve run Pixel Compensation several times with minimal success.

I guess I just got 2 defective camcorders in a row.

monitoring for pixels
 

edit.. oops - I just read again to find you were using several types of monitors. I had thought that perhaps the monitoring environment might not be properly calibrated. My HD200 does show quite a bit of noise when both gain and shutter are applied - and noticeable amounts if either is applied alone. The masking routine however cleaned it up completely at 0db, 1/48.