I have used TDK's that I buy from Costco in my SD and Canon HV20 without any problems and no drop outs. Well, seems like the HD1000 does not like them and I am noticing many packet losses/drop outs. Any suggestions on what tapes to use?

I used many of those TDKs from Costco and never had a problem. Remember that new cams take an hour or two of tape to "burnish" the heads and work perfectly, from what I've read. Of course, that could be total BS.

But after about three years of nothing but the TDKs I switched to Sony Premiums (about $2 each in bulk); after about 200 of them I have yet to have a single dropout.

Ok, bought some of the Sony DVM63HD tapes. Captured with HDVSplit and in 11 minutes of footage had 115 packet loses. I can not believe that this is normal. I have also heard about the burning in of the heads. The camera now has about 3 hours of use. Any suggestions?

Wow, that really sounds unusual. I've never heard of anyone experiencing anything like this with a new cam, a decent PC and good software.

Have you tried playing back on a different cam? Or capturing with a different software tool? Might help narrow down where the problem is.

All these packet losses/dropouts are visible in the tape during playback?

Finally, what are your system specs? I'm wondering if maybe you have a bottleneck in the PC...

I have no idea what is going on. When I looked at the footage on the camera's LCD I did not see anything strange. My PC is a Gateway w/AMD Athlon64X2 4200, 3GB memory, ATI X1300, main drive is a IDE but videos go onto an SATA drive. Never had any problems with footage from my HV20. I have a feeling it might be my PC causing the problems. For some reason Premiere is now playing back video very choppy.

Try defragging the hard drive(s).

Also, try a different firewire cable. Sometimes I wonder if what a lot of people think are dropouts on tape are actually just dropouts on a marginal firewire cable/connection.

To test if there is a problem with the tape deck in the HD1000, try capturing some live video (with no tape in the camera) and see if you still get dropouts.

OK, tried a different cable and used Vegas Pro 7e to capture. Vegas did not show any frame drops, but did see one or two on the screen while I was watching. Tried HDVSplit with the different cable and still showed packet losses. It could be the camera/tape, but think something is amiss with my PC. I am tempted to reinstall Premiere or even do a complete reinstall of Windows and everything else.

Off topic, but is it ok to capture with Vegas, then edit the same captured clips with Premiere and Vegas?

I use these tapes for my hd1000u, xh-a1, and hv20 with no dropouts in over 100 tapes. I shoot in hdv.

http://www.tapeonline.com/MiniDV/Sony_DVM60PRL.aspx

OK, tried a different cable and used Vegas Pro 7e to capture. Vegas did not show any frame drops, but did see one or two on the screen while I was watching. Tried HDVSplit with the different cable and still showed packet losses. It could be the camera/tape, but think something is amiss with my PC. I am tempted to reinstall Premiere or even do a complete reinstall of Windows and everything else.

Off topic, but is it ok to capture with Vegas, then edit the same captured clips with Premiere and Vegas?

Which drive did you capture from Vegas to? Was it perhaps setup to default capture to the IDE drive? If so, the SATA likely needs defragging (or is on the way out).

Also, it would be a good idea to see if you get the same sort of results capturing a live feed from the camera with HDVSplit. If you do get similar results capturing a live video stream, chances are the tapes and tape mechanism are just fine. I don't know if HDVSplit can capture a live stream though (I've never used it).

Off topic, but is it ok to capture with Vegas, then edit the same captured clips with Premiere and Vegas?
Do you mean switching back and forth between programs using the same clips? I suppose, but remember you're not actually doing anything to the clips themselves, just making lists of instructions, so any changes you do in one NLE won't be reflected in the other.

I think it would also depend on what version you have of each. The current versions of each both edit m2t natively and both will work with Cineform. But they'd need to be the same. You couldn't for example, capture using a Cineform preset in Premiere and then try to use the same source file in Vegas without using Cineform. I think.

Ok, in regards to the choppiness playback with Premiere. My main drive is an IDE and have a removable SATA drive bay for my videos. When running the file from a SATA drive it plays choppy. Moved the file to the main drive and disabled the SATA drive, it plays fine. So there must be some bottleneck with the SATA drive. Any suggestions?

Did you defragment your SATA drive? Is it connected to the computer via USB, Firewire, or eSATA?

Did you defragment your SATA drive? Is it connected to the computer via USB, Firewire, or eSATA?

Yes, move some files off of it (it is 250GB) to make more room and defragmented it. It is attached with a removalble drive bay and a SATA cable to the mother board. Next step is to try a different SATA drive in the bay.

Yes. If the drive is connected via eSATA and is defragged, try another drive and see if you still have trouble. Actually, I'd try a different cable to the drive first. The good news is your camera and tapes are probably just fine.

Tried another drive and still choppy. This is getting frustrating. Might just go get a new drive and start over.

OK, now I am really confused. My PC has two IDE ATA/100 drives, one main with the OS and programs, and another for backups. Then I use a SATA hot sway drive bay. So far the two SATA drives in that bay have giving me choppy playback with Premiere. I tried the file on the main drive and no problem. I just tried it on the 2nd IDE ATA/100 drive and no problem. I thougth SATA drives were faster? I am so confused now on what I need to do.

Something isn't right with the SATA setup. Could be as simple as a flaky cable (often is). Can you hook up the SATA drives to the motherboard internally?

SATA drives, themselves, aren't faster than IDE drives. The SATA interface allows for a higher peak data transfer rate. In real world performance, it's doesn't make a difference for most things. I won't go into a ton of detail. Either interface (IDE or SATA) is plenty way fast enough for real time DV or HDV data transfer.

OK, installed a new IDE drive and redid XP and the programs. Used HDVSplit to import the last tape where I had packet losses. This time NONE!! Seems like my old OS must have had some problems. I am no longer going to use the SATA removable drive bay. Just going to run two 500GB IDE drives, one for the OS and programs, and the other for just videos. Will just use the SATA drives externally for backups. Thanks for all the help.

Also I guess the tapes were not an issue. But I think for this camera I will stick with the Sony DVM63 HD tapes.

Good to hear you have a working solution for capturing now. I don't use the Sony HDV tapes. As long as lower cost tapes work fine, I look at it like this: Perhaps the high price tapes will reduce head wear, but when they cost around $5 more than many alternatives, after a couple hundred tapes you've saved in the neighborhood of $1000, and that can pay for a lot of repair (or go toward a new camera). I just got a Canon XH-A1 and I'm going to try Maxell's "Pro" MiniDV tapes in it. They claim to use a superior lubricant that results in less head wear and clogging than with standard tapes, and B&H sells them for less than $5/ea.

Update: Ok, an interesting observation. Had a car show to tape and did not have any of the Sony DVM63 HD tapes left (have used 6 so far with no problems). So I took a chance and used the Costco TDKs in the HD1000. Used my Canon HV20 to import 30 minutes of footage, and no dropouts :) So might just go back to using those tapes instead of the Sonys as long as I don't notice any more dropouts.

For the last dozen or so tapes (the TDKs) no problems, but Costco no longer carries the TDK tapes and now has Sony. So my question is, is it ok to switch over from the TDK tapes to Sony? I have read that TDK uses a dry lubricate while Sony uses a wet. Is that true and would it present any problems switching?

No problems. Just run the cleaning cassette for 10 sec before switching.

...seems like the HD1000 does not like them and I am noticing many packet losses/drop outs. Any suggestions on what tapes to use?

I use the SONY PHDVM-63DM master tapes exclusively. I often suspect I'm paying more just for hype but I have heard of some people having serious issues with lower grade tape.

...As long as lower cost tapes work fine...when they cost around $5 more than many alternatives, after a couple hundred tapes you've saved in the neighborhood of $1000, and that can pay for a lot of repair (or go toward a new camera)...
Even though the cheaper tapes could save you enough to replace the camera, they cannot replace the footage you may lose if you have a tape or head failure in a live shoot. But maybe my risk threshold is unreasonably low.

I use maxell tapes I get on sale at walgreens wehn tey are around $3 each ($6 per 2)

I never had a problem in sd or hdv. but I use them once.. ie write to them once... maybe preview once..... capture to disk once..

I am not reading writing reading writing... I hear of intance of people using a tape over and over and over and wonder why it starts dropping out.......