Maybe the problem is also with your playback deck. Is it the same machine as your camera recorder? Are you playing the tape from the different camera on the first machine you had the problem with. Tension problems and worn parts can give you data errors which look like drop out but are actually not lack of information on the tape which is what dropout was in analog systems. Yes it could also be the tape but more often it is the machines gradually going out of spec, dirt , wear and tear if cleaning does not help.

Resolved!!! Sort of....
 

Long story short, i used another camera to playback my lost footage.
And yes, all the data started transferring....
I even went back to some previous tapes, and restored the lost frames.

Therefore, my camera has issues with playback. Usually in the first minute ..You would think that the recording would be affected also, but it's not the case so far.
Unfortunately, the Canon depot in Toronto has a turnaround of about 15-20 days...

But thanks to all....
It's definately my tape transport. It's as if the heads are slipping on the same spots all the time??

Glad to hear you have success even if it means your playback deck needs repair. It is always tricky to trouble shoot partially working systems.

I've used Panasonic tapes for many years and have had about 2 small drop outs in all that time. Lately, I don't see the tapes anymore because I have a Z5 with MRC-1 and I only use the tape for archive.

My opinion...repeat MY opinion...first, clean the heads, then switch to Sony tape and never go back to Panasonic tape! (also the 1 minute roll, etc mentioned above...)

What I was told (and it makes sense) is that tape is manufactured in 2m wide sheets on a continuous band. It is then sliced into strips. The centre of the sheet has the smoothest and most even coating and this is used for the HD, pro and high performance (and more expensive) tapes. As you move out to the edge the quality drops such that the outside few inches are sold off to the no-name firms. So, the people who claim that some no-name brands are "the same" as the expensive tapes are right but it doesn't have the same quality of coating.

These "strips" are incredibly long and are on rolls, used in a machine whereby the end of the tape is glued onto the casette spool (just the spool, the housing comes later) and the spool pulls the required amount off the large roll of tape. This means that the first few inches/feet are stretched as they pull the tape off the roll, until the roll gets up to speed and the strain lessens. At the required length the motor cuts out and the roll is braked, again causing strain on the tape.
This is why drop-out tends to occur at the beginning and end of a tape.

I hope this makes sense, it's bloody difficult to describe in writing!

Some of the HDV tapes (ie the Sony ones) are a genuinely new and improved formulation for the recording layer.

Andrew

Ran into this with Panasonic PQ tapes and was told that neither Sony nor Panasonic recommend using 83 minute tapes. When I told them that I ran into this problem with 63 minute tapes as well they told me that I could exchange the 4 boxes I had if I sent them an e-mail to the attention of the person I spoke to at Panasonic professional. Three e-mails later I got no response.

Solved the problem by always recording in LP instead of SP.

John

Ummm ... should it be "always recording in SP (short play) instead of LP (long play)" by any chance? :-)

Andrew

No,

If they are both saying that the tape transports on most miniDV cameras (like my Sony VX2000) aren't designed to handle the physically longer (83 minute) tapes, then if you need to record more than 63 minutes and you cannot change tapes, record in LP.

John

Not that I have looked, but I haven't found any professional cameras that support recording in LP mode. Instead we buy this really expensive tape deck that uses the larger media ... for up to 276 min.

Andrew

VX2000, VX2100, PD150, etc all shoot in LP.

I also have a deck as you describe. It is a Sony WV-DR9. Handles miniDV and Large DV tapes.

John