How can I check hours of usage?
 

Is there a way to get the vx2k to tell me what the head hours Are without sending it in to service?

Second question.....
I have read about the wide angle lenses... Has anyone used the bayonet mount Kenco? Do you like it?

thanks,
glenn

Beale's Corner has info about the head hours issue, from what I recall. My buddy has the Kenko Pro wide and tele for the VX2000, but the screw-in type. They are very good adaptors, which come with filter threads on the front; many adaptors do not.

I never heard of Beale' corner. Where is it?

thanks,
glenn

What?? This must be the Holy Grail for all Mini DV film-makers. Go immediately (if not sooner) to:


http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/index.html

And bookmark it. You'll never need to ask a question here again - just use the excellent search engine.

I have a Kenko (with two ks) and like it very much, but it's not a zoom through.

tom.

I just looked there, and the discussion centers on the TRV-900, not the vx-2000. Perhaps this is applicable however:

"The camera stores the running time (hours of drum rotation time) up to 9999 hours 59 minutes in internal, nonvolatile memory. Also stored is the date (year/month/day) of initial user power on, and the date of the most recent condensation event ("dew" indicator). Memory is maintained by an internal +3V lithium battery, not user accessible. Reset may possibly clear this memory (?). You can only read out this data if you have the RM-95 service remote though."

There's info about the RM-95 here: http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/rm95.html

Sounds like more than I would want to get into personally...

HRS Meter PD150
 

Can someone give me a definitive explanation as to what those darn numbers mean on my camera? What's 10H, etc.?

Those are the number of hours the camera has been in use for different operations EXCEPT for "Threading"---that's time 10 the number not hours. IOW, "DRUM...4" means the tape drum has run 40 hours you times the number by 10; for threading you also times by 10 but it's not hours it operations, IE; "Threading...12" meand the cam has performed 120 threading operations.
It's real early for me, I did a very late wedding and have only had 2 cups of coffee so I'm a little foggy yet but that's the jist of it. For more info read the manual or go to urbanfox, they have a good explaination about stuff like that.
Don

VX 2000 hour Meter
 

Hi All,
Been lurking here getting info on what camera to get,
and today I got it. VX 2000 -but I purchased it from E-Bay.
All seems fine with it but I want to check if it is new or
used. How can I access the head hour meter info from
the menu?
I rear the book and can't find how to do it.
Also, anything special to check to make sure it is a USA model?
Thanks-- Jim

Unfortunately the VX-2000 does not have the hour meter menu function like the PD-150 and PDX-10.

At bealcorner there's an article about the trv900 however which says it stores the info internally and it can be read using a device called an "RM-95 Service Remote". There is also a software emulator for the remote. Perhaps the same technique would work with the VX-2000?

http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/service.html

PD-150 Hour Meter
 

Hello everyone,
This my first post so please excuse me if this has been covered.

I'm looking at a used PD-150 Can someone explain what these hour meter numbers mean???

Operation
19x10H
Drum Run
11x10H
Tape Run
5x10H
Threading
39x10

Thanks Dave

The camera has been powered up for 190 hours, the drum has turned for 110 of those hours, the tape has run for 50 hours and the camera has been threaded 390 times.

It is explained in the manual. If you don't have a manual, you can download one from Sony at this URL

http://www.sony.ca/dvcam/manuals/DSR-PD150.pdf

Thank you Mike, I'll check Sony's site.

It seems to me to be a lot of usage. What kind of camera life can one expect?

Camera life is a matter of economics and parts availability.

Somewhere between 500 and 1000 hours the heads will require replacement. I think Sony expects 1200 hours or so.

It sounds like a camera that has been in commercial use for a year? What is the serial number?

Mike Rehmus said:

Somewhere between 500 and 1000 hours the heads will require replacement. I think Sony expects 1200 hours or so.

Mike,
Is this the OPERATION, or DRUM number to which you are referring?



Right now my PD150 is at
OPERATION
75 X 10

DRUM
28 X 10H

TAPE RUN
16 X 10H

THREADING
84 X 10

Consequently, does this mean that the camera will basically fail soon, and if so what are the costs to fix it?
Thanks in Advance.
Justin

Justin,

I don't think you understood the numbers. Unless something breaks, the first thing you should worry about is head wear. You are at 280 head hours Which is about 1/4 of the expected head life according to Sony. I've got 800 head hours on my DSR-20 and over 600 hours on my DSR-300. They both work OK.

Figure a $800 dollar bill to rebuild your tansport and replace the heads when it comes time. That's assuming that you need service within the 7 year after build date flat rate system Sony has.

I have a VX1000 that has a sticky zoom, uses a bit too much battery and probably needs the viewfinder flex circuit replaced before it fails. Armato's quoted $1600 for the repairs. Too much for such an old camera since a new 2000 is only about $600 more. The VX1000 is over 8 years old now.