PD-150 Audio dropouts
 

My PD-150 has been having sound gaps - audo dropouts - when I play the tape back in the camera, watching on the flipout screen, and loading into my EMAC G-4 into Final Fut Pro.
At first I thought it could be head problems, but I took it to a local Sony Service rep who checked it and said the mechanical end - heads and transport system - is fine.
He played the very same tape back on a playback deck and the sound was fine. So it is recording perfectly.
Then we put the same tape back in the camera and the sound was cutting in and out.
I repeated this several times, shooting on mini-DV tapes and DVCAM tapes with the same results.
This happens on both channels of audio with seperate mics plugged into the XLR jacks.

Interestingly, last night i experimentented shooting on mini-DV at 32k sound - as opposed to the 48k - and it played back and loaded into the computer just fine.

It seems intermittent.

The Sony Technician thinks it is in the playback system - not in the heads at all.

I'm trying to isolate this.

I bought the PD-150 secondhand from a photographer who used the camera just for shooting in mini-DV and played back through his TRV-900 to not wear down the camera.

I am prepping for a very big project - an independent film - that I plan to shoot in DVCAM and 48k sound for maximum quality.

Has anybody else experienced this and can point me - and the technician - in a specific direction?

MIKE CARROLL
Sacramento, CA

May I ask. Are you the Pro skateboarder Mike Carroll? Does the sound drop out when you playback in FCP after importing from the camera or just from the analog audio outs of the 150?

No, I'm not the skateboarder, but I do want to get one of his boards. I'm a bit older than he is.
The audio dropouts first appeared when I was shooting and playing back in DVCAM and 48K audio. [Is that 32 bit?]
I did load some footage after that and the audio gaps did show up in Final Cut Pro.
However, when the very same footage was played back on a seperate DVCAM player, the audio was perfectly clean.
Just yesterday I did the tests in mini-DV and 32K audio and played them back into a monitor using the cables for video-ch.1-ch.2 and this seemed fine. I have yet to do a similar test in DVCAM.
I have consulted with the Sony tech and he said to keep testing, the more I can find out, the easier it will be for him to narrow in on a place to look.
Thanks for the note.

Mike,

I have the same problem with my VX2000 that you talk about with the PD150. What did you resolve in the end? You might be able to help me, as it is almost September. You are 4 months ahead of me. You already have helped. I won't send my camera to Sony! Any news? Did you resolve things?
Thanks alot,

Marcello (heycutty@yahoo.com)