Sony Mini Dv problems, wierd? any ideas? « Videomaker Community Forums

beeznutz
Member

I recorded some footage on my vx2000 this weekend and the first minute of each tape is distorted. I have no idea if its the camera, or the tape? Never had this problem before and im quite worried. So if you could shed some light on this topic, i would be greatly apprecaitive.

Now what happened was we were outside shooting, weather was slightly colder. I did however let my camera adjust to the temp without tape for 20 minutes or so. The first 53 seconds on one tape and the first 1.17 on the second tape were distorted. There were minor glitches along the rest of the tape about 2-3 that werent anything worth noting.

Im just confused and hoping my camera isnt going out on me.

thanks for all the answers and support to those who take the time to give it

bob

Posted 6 years ago #
KBVP
Member

If the camera performs fine under normal conditions, I'd say you got some condensation on the tape or head drum. Condensation will cause the tape to stick to the head drum and make for un-even or jerky tape path problems.

Posted 6 years ago #
alohrey
Member

If I were you I would run a couple of tests before attempting to shoot anything of value. I have seen this same sort of issue before only much worse than you described. In the tapes I looked at the first minute or so was all jumbled up like you described, and there were glitches throughout the entire tape every 2 seconds or so. This occured tape after tape after tape. They had to replace the entire tape mechanism on the camera. It started out as a lesser problem, but continuously got worse. I would have it checked out by sony techs if it occurs again. As the previous post suggested, could be condensation, but could be a developing problem as well.

Later
~Adam

Posted 6 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

beeznutz Wrote:
I recorded some footage on my vx2000 this weekend and the first minute of each tape is distorted. I have no idea if its the camera, or the tape?

This same thing actually happened to me last fall. I was shooting on previously recorded tapes with 2 different cameras. A smaller Sony TRV 70 and one of my GL2's. I was covering a high school football game at night and with the Sony on the field and the GL2 up on top of the bleachers. When we started shooting my partner on the field radioed up saying that he had some kind of Â“tape malfunctionÂ” flashing on his screen. I told him to open it up and reload the tape. Same thing! After about 1 minute of shooting it cleared. Then when I started shooting I had the same thing on my GL2. I did the same thing but it didnÂ’t clear until about 1 minute or 2 of filming. When I went to start putting it together in post, I had what was originally recorded for the first minute and then I saw horizontal bars trying to come in which had the football game we were taping. After that first minute the rest of the tape was fine.

The fact that this happened to both cameras told me that it could be because of the outside air temp or something <OR> that there was something wrong with the tapes. Maybe they sat to long or were rewound to tight from the last time or something. As a precaution, I now shoot about 2 minutes of film before I start shooting what IÂ’m planning to shoot. All I know is that I hope it was because of the weather conditions. As it ended up we were shooting b-roll so we didn't miss a play but it did get exctiting there for a minute. The last thing I need would be for this to happen in a wedding. The only thing is that I always use new tapes for them and they are always indoors.

RAM

Posted 6 years ago #
birdcat
Moderator

I don't have a prosumer level camera (just a Handycam HC-40) but I had similar problems that wound up to be very dirty heads (caused by using low quality tape - no more eBay tape for me!) - According to Sony the heads in their lower lines (like mine) are only good for about 100 hours of use (what they said on the phone, would never commit that to email or paper). I wound up using an "official" Sony head cleaning tape and have had to use it multiple time since. Just gotta hold me until I can afford the 3 CCD model.....
Bruce Paul
7Squared Productions
http://www.7squared.com

Posted 6 years ago #
KBVP
Member

This is also what can happen when changing brands of tapes. The coating is a different formula, depending on manufacturer. Technically, they say that there shouldn't be a problem, but this isn't true. The problem occurs when moisture and other contaminants get into the transport. This can cause adhesion of dust and even damage the coating.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Some great posts here!

All I can add is that I had something similiar happen when my Panasonic camera somehow got put in LP mode, then the tape was used in my Sony VX2100. The first part of the new recording was distorted for just about a minute. It took awhile to figure out what the problem was. I was thinking that the Panny had gone bad and screwed up the tape. Nearly had my wife convinced that we needed to replace it with a new FX1 (HD) - but then she figured it out. Darn!

Posted 6 years ago #
Video-maniac
Member

compusolver Wrote:
Nearly had my wife convinced that we needed to replace it with a new FX1 (HD) - but then she figured it out. Darn!

Oh my gosh! 8-O

You just gave me an idea... thanks!

Posted 6 years ago #
JimGratner
Member

alohrey Wrote:
If I were you I would run a couple of tests before attempting to shoot anything of value...

It may just be good luck, but I usually run 30 seconds or a minute of tape before actually shooting and haven't had any problems. Besides cleaning the heads, this is the best suggestion I think.

Posted 6 years ago #