Problems with HVR-dr60
 

Hi there,

Just used my DR60 for the first time. I have had a few problems and was wondering if i am doing something wrong. I am using it with the z1 and have had no problem conecting it or getting it to record when pressing record on the camera. However while watching the unit i noticed that the red record light on it went out for no apparent reason and different times during the day. (I was shooting a wedding). The counter on the little blue screen stopped running as well. The z1 was still recording.When I checked the dr60 on the computer today one of the clips where i noticed it stopping, is short by about 20 minutes. That is to say that the clip on the tape is about 35 minutes but on the hard disc lasts no more than 15. I am assuming that this footage is lost? Have i set it up wrong? Does anyone have any thoughts?

Hi Stephen.
I have not experiensed this on my unit. The DR60 splits clips bigger than 4GB, due to the FAT format on the disc, in the same folder. So your long recording could be several clips. If you have a bad Firewire connection, or you swich off the DR60 before it is finished recording, I belive this could happen.
There is also a problem when you reach 99 clips, that can loose seconds.I beleeve this is described in the last part of the PDF manual on the CD.
Im not sure this will help, but I would like to hear if you can find the cause of the problem.

Hi Arnt,

None of my clips were more than 4gb. When checking the folders on the hard drive all of the folders contain two clips. The first is the 14sec buffer clip i believe, and the second is the recorded clip. Assuming that I was recording a clip that lasts about an hour I would expect there to be three clips in the folder along with the buffer clip. All of my folders contain a maxium of two clips. Even those which should contain more. I recorded 219 clips over the day and I do have 219 folders. When i search the harddrive for video clips I find 438 files. I think the 99 clips only happens when 99 clips appear in the one folder. Also I notice in the instruction that you can use the status check on the sony V1 do you know if this can be enabled for the z1 as I could not see the blus screen when it was mounted on hotshoe and then mounted on the tripod. The only indication I had that it was recording was the red light.

Thanks

As far as I know feedback from the DR60 only works with the V1, the cam would need to have the communication protocol built in. Hopefully Sony have set a standard that others can use as well.

I have also notice that after i formated the hard drive screen displayed 100dvf and 270min recording time. the time code on the screen read 00.00.00.00. After recording or approx ten seconds the screen reads as follows. 100dvf 269min and a timecode of 00.39.37.08. Does anyone know what this time code refers to. Is this the position of the tape that you ould find the clip? Surely it should say 00.00.00.00 and end on 00.00.10.00? Again any thoughts would be appreciated or ndeed if anyone out there has the hard drive maybe they could do the same test while recording in dv mode. I would be very interested to hear any results. Thanks

Hi Stephen
On my unit the display reads 00.00:00.00 when it is not recording. As soon as I start to record with Z1, the timecode follows the tape timecode as displayed on the camera LCD. When I stop recording,the DR60 display goes to 0 again. But this is somewhat funny; if I have recorded to .05.00, and starts to record again with the record button on the DR60, it starts to record in a new folder with timecode .05.01. And then starts to record with my camera, it will record to a another new folder from 05.01 again. You got 2 clips with different clip-name and the same timecode. Funny stuff. But then again, why should you mix recordings. Nice to know anyway.

Arnt,

I wonder could you do a test for me. Could you set up the z1 with a tape at the start, ie time code 00.00.00.00 and link it to the dr60. Then let it record to both tape and hard drive. Let it run for 30 or 40 mins and see if the dr 60 is still recording. I cannot get mine to record for more than 12 minutes. That is the maximum clip i have recorded is 12 minutes. I have sat and watched as my camera continues to record and the light dissapears on the dr 60. I wonder if the problem is with my camera sending a signal to the dr60 to stop recording?

Hi Stephen.
Just recorded 30 min without stop. I had 3 clips in my folder and put them on the timline. Exactly 30 min aaand 14 sec (buffer). The same with my A1. Have you tried to record the same amount of time, only using the record button on the DR60?
Another problem are that the clips are not seamless. Sony wrote in the manual that they had a fix for that, but I have not had time too look into that yet. If someone have tested this fix, pls write about it.

yes i have tried to record using just the button on the DR60. This records as normal with no stopping. It is only when i use the button on the camera to start the dr60 that it shows up this problem. I hae contacted sony and am awaiting a reply.

It seems that there is a problem with the unit being used in DV mode. I was contacted by prime support who told me that they had 8 units in for testing showing the same problem. I was shooting in DV and recording un the DR60. It seems that if you shoot in HDV and downconvert via ilink to DV there should not be a problem. It's always nice to know that i am not going crazy. All i have to do now is test this out.......

Big problems with the HVR-DR60
 

So I've been using my HVR-DR60 for quite some time now in the field. I have it paired with the V1U and have loved it (mostly).
Here are my gripes, some of which I imagine could/SHOULD be fixed with a firmware update (Hello SONY..please read this!)

1) The most glaring problem - For some reason, the wonderfully useful FOCUS ASSIST/ZOOM EXTENDER are DISABLED when the HVR_DR60 is on. Why, why, why!!!?!?!?

2) As most already can attest, the "Computer/Power Off/Video" 3 way switch is a major design flaw. Did sony's engineers even try to use this thing for a few minutes before sending it out?

3) The 6pin to 4 pin firewire/iLink cable that comes with the drive is very flimsy and using an alternate cable doesn't seem to work (why? Is there a voltage issue?)

4) there isn't one. I love this thing beside those 3 problems. Well, yea, Price is high. But it's a Sony! That's to be expected.

The Video/Off/Computer switch
 

I finally figured out that the best way to turn it OFF from either computer or video setting is to NOT press the green button while sliding the switch. Just slide it to the center without touching the green button, and it will stop in the middle "OFF" position. At least, that's been working lately.

I too have version 04 and I experience the same problem, after a few minutes the bluddy thing just stops recording and I have to manually start it up again.
This happend continuesly also on another occasion, I pause every so often and the recorder worked fine. Is there a FIX !!!

Further more, the cable is very flimsy and is a suspect at this point.

Is any one reading this ???

Hi there.

I eventually found out that the problem lies in the downconvert from the camera. If you shoot HDV on the camera and downconvert DV to the recorder it does not work correctly. I now shoot hdv and store as hdv. If you mix both it fails. Once I changed over to this I have never had a problem.

Stephen