Got first Buffer Overflow 2 days before first wedding
 

I was feeling good after testing my cams extensively over the past month. Now, just 2 days before my first wedding of the season, I got the Buffer Overflow during last minute testing. The worst part is that I lost the clip and also another clip from earlier. Several other clips were not lost.

I don't know how I can use these cams Saturday under these circumstances. It would be bad enough if a cam went down at a key moment, but if I lost the clip too? It's too big of a risk.

What are others doing if you've had the problem?

I'm going to be calling Sony tomorrow.

Very very upset at this point.

Can you give us some details? Where you using the FMU128 or SD/MS? How long was the clip running before the error?

Buffer Overflow
 

Many on this forum have done a great deal of testing and many have experienced ' buffer overflow '. I have worked with AVCHD format for several years and suggest NOT using FX mode but instead use the FH mode. I won't go into detail here, but if those having problems with the NX5U and ' buffer overflow ' , please prove me wrong. Unless someone using FH mode has a problem, I feel very safe to shoot clips of my own son's upcoming wedding in May using just one camera, the NX5U.. I also welcome any good reason to shoot in FX over FH mode. I am very HAPPY with the NX5U. By the way, I shoot FH 1080/60i both to the FMU128 and Sony Pro Duo 4gb mark 2 chips. I burn the chips to dvds, dump the FMU128 to a hard drive after several recorded events, and feel everything is well backed up and protected. Yes, on long projects I do have to change out the 4gb chips, but I never shoot any clip over 25 mins. and should I need too, I still have the FMU.

I was recording to the FMU128 and MemoryStick ProDuo

Recording HD 1080/60i to both

The error happened just a few seconds into the recording

It was the first time I had tested my wireless audio XLR input. I had the Sennheiser wireless into XLR input 2 and the Sony shotgun into XLR input 1. LPCM

I think one of the most disturbing things is that I not only lost the clip being recorded on BOTH memory devices but I lost another previously recorded clip too. So much for the value of recording to two devices.

I just spoke to a guy at Sony and he seemed to be very aware of the problem but of course doesn't have an answer yet. He said he was going to look for the very latest word and he promised to get back to me later today. The product manager is away at NAB so that is hindering info. Wonderful.

He did say what's been confirmed on this board....that the problem has NOT been reported when recording to only the FMU or the cards. So I think I'm going to roll the dice and use the cams at my wedding tomorrow and only record to the FMU.

If I get anything interesting from Sony, of course I'll post it as soon as I get it.

Please do report back on sony's follow up to you because I'm soon to buy the nx5u and I hope they'll have a solution to the issue with in a month

By the way, Why do you (and many other people) need to record to the cards and fmu? Can't you just duplicate the clips on your editing system anyway? I am not trying to sound like a jerk or anything, I just can't find a reason why people really want to have two copies of the same clip when they could just duplicate it themselves, especially when a known problem exists.
Thanks! -Nick

People like to record to two places because redundancy is ALWAYS good. Just like you want to copy the files to two locations after the event, it is also nice to have it in two locations during the event. In addition, on the NX5U it allows you to record HD to one and SD to the other memory unit.

Given the unique situation here, of course it is looking like it's smart to NOT record to both simultaneously. But Sony must find the problem and fix it and then we can all go back to using the features that we paid for.

I would question why anyone would buy these cams before the problem is fixed. A few weeks ago it was looking like there were only a few sporadic problems but now we know that the Buffer Overflow problem is very widespread and Sony has NO ANSWER. That could change any day but then again, it may be a long time. Who knows.

Thanks alot Jeff, you answered my question! Makes sense to record sd and hd, I could see where that would come in handy

However, from all the readings that I've done so far.

Buffer overflow problems only occured when filming HD on both the FMU and a SD card at the same time.

Unless I am wrong those who have been recording HD on one and SD on the other did not get a buffer overflow prolem. Am I right?

Last week, I've filmed more than 700 short programs (5 to 6 minutes each) over five days with my two NX5U cameras. At this time, I've only record SD on SDHC card and had no problem at all.

The week-end before I've filmed a three hour show on both NX5U. The setup was the same for each camera FMU - HD 720/60i and the other SD on a SDHC card. I also did not have any problems, filming and log transfer to FCP.

As Nick was asking, I did not see also why would anyone shoot HD on both media. Unless someone wanted to shoot 30p on one and 60i on the other. I do not even know if this is possible.

Looking at redundancy, I would not perform this on the camera but on the computer.

If Nick's point is that recording HD to two places isn't NECESSARY, then I agree.

However, if you can record to two places, why not? It is feasible that you could have a failure in one of the two places...or you could misplace a card....or who knows what else could happen. Again, redundancy is always a good thing....at least that's what I've learned.

I am in agreement that redundancy is important.

It is more a question on how you will achieve redundancy.

I want to make sure I get my shots, I then try to minimize burden as possible on the camera. Therefore, for redundancy I try to use an external device HDD recorder, KI pro, Computer.... as I am recording on the selected media.

I do not know how much it is requesting for the camera to write in both places at the same time. As we can see when recording on any of the media the light become greens and red showing writing activities. Buffer overflow occur when writing HD on FMU and SDHC.

Until, the buffer overflow is being fixed I will minimize the risk of loosing an important shot in only recording the format which is absolutely essential for my needs.

An idea!

"Until, the buffer overflow is being fixed I will minimize the risk of loosing an important shot in only recording the format which is absolutely essential for my needs."

You better believe I will not be writing to anything but the FMU at my wedding tomorrow!!

Jeff, all the best to you for tomorrow!

"Jeff, all the best to you for tomorrow!"

Thanks Daniel! I don't think I'll be able to relax tomorrow until I'm home with the footage loaded!

Good luck man, hope you make some good money too

You can never have too many backups, and having an in-camera backup is one of the reasons I bought the NX5.

Also, when working in slightly dangerous situations where someone might want to take your data cards to destroy footage, it's nice to be able to hand over an SD card and still have it on your FMU -- which looks like part of the camera, especially if you cover it with black gaffer tape...

Cheers

Adam