Topic: anybody else get dropouts occasionally with the Canon HV20,30,40?

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Frankly I'm tired of it and am thinking of moving on.  I've gotten about 10 on 25 tapes thus far.

[firmdragon]

have 3 hv20s.  i've had a few dropouts here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary.  try cleaning the heads?

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

I have.  Once when I got the camera and again after about 10 tapes.

[coloartist]

By dropouts, do you mean Vegas starts a new clip during capture, that isn't seemless?

If yes, I have found this happening on my HV30 and XHA1.  I found that when I had this problem, I would capture in Adobe Premier, and then use Vegas. It seemed to work fine from there. I never could understand why.

The reason I went to this strategy was that I could capture the same tape twice and the breaks would be in different spots when I would capture with a different camera.

I don't know if this is a Vegas issue. I was using Windows XP and  Vegas 8.  I just upgraded to Windows 7 and Vegas 9 on my new desktop and haven't captured anything yet, so I don't know if I have the issue still. I still have my old desktop on my network just in case.

Anybody else have this issue? Is this the same issue Mark is having?

[beatkilla]

I have the same problem with vegas making multiple files from sony fx1000.it only happens with the really important shoots.

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

coloartist, yes I am using Vegas to capture. 

Wanted to add I have had a dropout happen when capturing and I went back and played that portion of the tape and there was no dropout. Recaptured and it was fine. But for the most part these dropouts appear on the tape when I play it at that very point. It's not a dropout but a garbled image, a pause and then it resumes. It shows a black dropout on the capture though.


I  also remember from my audio DAT recording days it was recommended that you forward and rewind the tape prior to recording on it.  Maybe I'll try the fast forward/rewind thing to see if it improves.


here's an example of a dropout.  At 1:17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afp029EAk9k

sucks.   

[coloartist]

Yep. That is a bummer. It sure looks great besides that. That is one of the reasons I run two cams whenever I can, I guess.

What tapes are you using?

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

using these...

http://www.tapestockonline.com/pan60minmin.html

But I ran out and need to order more tommorrow.  I will try these...

http://www.tapestockonline.com/pa63mipqus.html

[willndmb]

.it only happens with the really important shoots.

isn't that how it always happens

[coloartist]

I use the Panasonic PQ's. It looks like your link has them at the same price as B and H , but B and H is out of them.

[beatkilla]

Mark,I ran sony premiums thru that camera and i suggest you do as well.b h photo usually has them appx. 2.50 per tape.

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Hmm.  I guess I could give the Sony's a try.  I've read negative stuff about them on HV20.com but also plenty of folks who say that's BS and they are fine.   

[Gordon]

as far as the capturing drops people are experiencing (not on the actual tape) pretty sure this is a wide spread issue with vegas and HD capturing.  never had a issue with sd but have heard about this.  I was told to use

http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm

to capture instead.  did a couple shows with it and they both captured as one file instead of multiple takes.  it's free and works on my windows 7 ultimate machine.

[SClassical]

I only use Sony tapes and if you change brand it is not so good. Best to keep with the brand your camcorder is used to. Sony tapes works for me. I actually use them over and over again until I see problems (which usually arises after about 5 or more usage). I don't really get drop outs most of the time and whenever I do it's mainly because I'm doing multi tasking on my laptop. Best if you not go on line, stop all virus scans, close all programs, clean and defragment your harddrive often, etc...So don't have any programs running while you capture and don't keep changing tapes brands. My main problem is the left and right side of the screen gets a bit fuzzy when someone walks in and out of the screen - that indicates I should not use the tape again.

[beatkilla]

I couldnt get hdv split to run on xp laptop but will try it on vista 64 bit desktop.

[Gordon]

I couldnt get hdv split to run on xp laptop but will try it on vista 64 bit desktop.

hmm.  my buddy that told me about it and is using it exclusively for hv30 captures is running xp.  at least I'm 99% he is.  it says it's supported as well.

[coloartist]

I have had very mixed results with hdvsplit.

[Gordon]

I have had very mixed results with hdvsplit.

good to know.  I've only used a hv30 twice and used it both times flawlessly.  I first captured with vegas 9 and got the breaks.

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

I have HDVSplit.  I've used it.  But my problem really isn't with capturing but with physical dropouts on the tape itself.  And FYI HDV Split also starts new files just like Vegas when it encounters a stutter.  No different than Vegas.

I just ordered 30 of the PQ's from tapestockonline.  Not a bad deal.  $2.83 each shipped.  If anyone has cheaper deals tell me about them.  This site might not have the cheapest price per tape but with shipping I've found no place that sells for less.

[beatkilla]

 Dropout thread...............http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/long-black-line/479529-three-tapes-three-dropouts.html

You could also get a firestore recorder and record to tape and firestore  simultaneously or similar device so you have tape for archive and files which won't have dropouts and you can skip capture all together.Im depating the Sony mcr1 (mrc1?)

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Wow those firestores are freaking cool!  So you just plug it into the firewire on the cam and it records HD to it?  Sweet!

[beatkilla]

Or bring a small laptop and capture as you record live firewire out,that will give you hdv compression but its live before the tape,or same scenario but install a blackmagic design intensity pro hdmi card and capture uncompressed hd from hdmi out of camera.but to get real uncompressed hd you have to do it live.

[liveween]

I just ordered 30 of the PQ's from tapestockonline.  Not a bad deal.  $2.83 each shipped.  If anyone has cheaper deals tell me about them.  This site might not have the cheapest price per tape but with shipping I've found no place that sells for less.

Hi Mark,

Moving up to the PQ's should reduce the number of dropouts that you are seeing.  I moved from the tapes you were using previously to the PQ's and have seen tremendous improvement.  I would urge you to stay away from Sony and stick with Panasonic (just my opinion).

I cannot recommend TAPE RESOURCES enough - they have the best pricing ($2.20 per tape or $2.05 per tape if you order 50) and the best service in the industry.  I have had exactly one issue with them in the past - their website did not inform me that a product was out of stock at the time that I placed the order.  When it had not shipped out a week later, they refunded my money in full and STILL sent the item ($150 worth) to me at NO CHARGE once it arrived in their warehouse!  I now give them a quick call to ensure that my items are in stock prior to ordering.  They ship the same day that your order is placed.

I recently discovered the Bryco MDV-50 Rack and absolutely adore it.  I use their 25 space racks when I am out with Ween as they fit perfectly in the bottom of my Canon gear bag.


Take care!

- kobi.
liveween.com
WEENTV

[beatkilla]

Firestore good price for sale...NO AFFILIATION.http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/private-classifieds/481697-firestore-fs-4hd-sale.html

[Visionair]

I'm having the same "trouble" with my HV20.
I sometimes need to recapture (Vegas) a tape to avoid the "drop outs".

I've done a lot of reading concering this. In my case it has nothing to do with Vegas.
Those random "drop outs" appear also while playing back on the camcorder itself.

Did some head cleaning and tried different brands of tapes.
It all makes no difference.

However after numerous tests I found that fast (re)winding a tape a couple of times just before the actual shoot does make the difference for me. Since I did the winding no more physical drop outs so far.

Hope this helps for you as well.

[bluntforcetrauma]

I dont want to jinx myself but i am working on a 2.3TB HD movie project.  I use PQ tapes all the time.  ONe thing about capture using Canon is that Canon does not like it when you have other firewire or external Hard drives connected to your computer when capturing. So and again you may already do this, is to make sure you have 125 GB of free HD space on your computer- capture via firewire, then once done then you can transfer footage to external HD. But again nothing else should be plugged into the computer until after full capture.  If your camcorder is recording without dropout then it should be able to capture onto your computer. Now if you see dropouts on the camcorder playback then its tapes, and again Panny PQ are really good--63 minutes.  I would not recommend 83 minute tape as the canon's seem to have timeline trouble with playback.  Also if you can as you are capturing to your computer make your screen size as small as i can go so as to make sure the processor is not working over time.  Again Canon does not capture well to a computer unless you have at least 125 gb of free space, ( capture one tape at a time 63 min tape) make sure no other device is connected to your computer except the camcorder.  Then once finished with capture connect external HD 7200rpm HD and transfer the capture off of your computer, then you are ready to capture via computer again.