Dreaded white DOT
 

Hi Everyone.

A little problem keeps re appearing (occasionally) and I wondered if anyone else had had the same. On some shoots, I get a little white dot, right and high of centre which is like a dead pixel kind of efect. It only happens sometimes, and unfortunately always seems to be when shooting for clients and the camera is on a long time and it's got all warm to the touch. I was wondering if this heat has something to do with it as I can't think of another reason. It has happened both on battery and mains operation.

I'm taking it back to the shop this week for them to have a look, and if they can't figure it out, it's off to JVC for a repair, but obviously I'd love to avoid the hassle.
Apart from that I love this camera, it's ace.

Cheers in advance.

Wayne

PS Cheers for the great book Steve, it's been of enormous help.

This happened to me too. I've had my camera since December and have never noticed it before, but it happened to some (not all) of the footage I filmed yesterday. The position and coloring of the pixel is exactly as you described it. My first thought was that the humidity of the shooting conditions played a role, as I was filming in a bathroom with the shower water running. Later, when I played back the footage on a TV and noticed the pixel, I filmed a few seconds to test it out--and that time the white pixel didn't appear.

Camera warmth is a factor I hadn't considered. I'm going to check my other footage to see if that might have been a cause before. Otherwise the only variable I can think of is the moisture.

So what did the shop determine, Wayne? Did you end up sending it back to JVC?

Hi Benjamin

I haven't had time to take it back yet and I have been using the camera for client's work so I'm afraid if it has to go back to JVC I'll be stuffed. I have two jobs coming up and then after that I might take it down and see. Since I got the camera in October, it has happened three times. all three occasions were warm conditions, only two were prolonged shooting where the camera got really quite hot.

Thanks for letting me know and if there's any news, I'll post it.

Interesting that you got yours in December and I got mine in October. Conceivably a 'bad batch'?

Wayne

Hopefully -- it's only heat.

Also try a System reset!

Dead Pixels... Similar issue
 

I've had my GZHD7 since December of 2007. I've been using it a quite a bit and am very happy with it.

I just got done recording a wedding last week and I noticed about 4 bright white pixels in the bottom center-left part of the screen. I went back to look at some older footage (from December year) and the pixels were there also. Funny I didn't really notice it until now. However, similar to what the OP is saying, it is not consistent. Some footage has the white pixels, others do not. It seems like the more video I record the more likely it is there.

Fortunately I got a 4 year extended warranty when I purchased the camera. I tried e-mailing the JVC site but found out they only cover 3 months labor and 12 months parts. They haven't replied back yet. I may try the system reset to see if it makes a difference.

I've done the system preset and am waiting to see if the white dot appears again. Since it is an intermittent fault I'll just have to wait.

Hopefully, it won't be when I'm using it for a real paid job like last time!!!!

In fact, hopefully, it won't be AT ALL!

I might get the camera hot and run it for a couple of hours to see if it turns up again. I'll try it sometime soon.

Anyone else have problems like this, feel free to let us know here

Wayne

I too just did the system preset, and will pay attention to see if it recurs. In the worst case scenario, however, I figured out a way to remove the dot in Final Cut Pro. (I just duplicated the video field and cropped the upper one to just around the white dot. The way that FCP composites the fields blended it mostly out of existence so it's only barely noticeable when on a solid black background.)

Sounds like a winner as a last resort I think.

I have some shoots to do in the next couple of weeks so I'll be able to keep an eye out for it.

Might just let the camera run now and let it get hot to see if it does it again.

Mind you, Kaushik should know how the camera behaves in the heat better than most, being in India and all…

Wayne

Ran the camera for two and a half hours straight this evening. The white dot wasn't there on the first file but was on the last. So it looks like its a heat thing.

Not good.

Wayne

The dot showed up in the filming I did today too. Not in the first few clips, but in the later ones, when the camera had time to warm up. It sure seems like that's the case, although it's not like the camera's getting TOO hot. My warranty lasts a year so I'm not in a big hurry to take this anywhere just yet (especially if it means I'll be going a while without a camera). I'd like to know what people's experiences are, though, if they DO go to JVC about this.

I'm curious how widespread a problem this is. If there's a good chance that any replacement camera I get has the same problem, then I don't know that I want to deal with the hassle.

Well I have a shoot on Tuesday, then on wednesday it goes back to the shop to be sent to JVC with examples of the white dot on DVD for them to look at.

When assembling the collection of short clips for the DVD, I noticed on one of them that, as the clip faded in from black, the dot wasn't there for the first second or so, then popped into shot loud and proud. Which I thought was odd.
Hadn't noticed that before.

I am assured it will be a ten day turnaround at JVC (Yeah, right!) I'll keep you posted

Wayne

Camera went in to the shop today. I showed the guys there the problem and have sent a DVD of examples with the camera to JVC for them to see too.

Might be a few weeks before I get it back, but as soon as I know anything, I'll post it.

Incidentally, I shot some stuff on friday for a few hours and same yesterday (just shortish clips) and not a white dot anywhere to be seen. hmm…

I wonder, if anyone has the time and inclination, if they would stick their HD7 on record for a few hours and see if they have any white dots at the end of proceedings? Any help/feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers

Wayne

Glad I found this forum and this post! I just got the GZ HD7 camera a week ago and noticed the white dot in some of my test shots. The heat thing could be it, because the dot only showed up after while (it wasn't there in the first few shots I made).
Here's a screenshot I took with VLC. Is the dot at the same location as with your cameras?

Same happened with video also? I am afraid I am using it since last more than one year but never noticed!

Kaushik

Mine is a little more to the right, but about the same distance from the top.

I'll post an example later when I figure out how to do it.