Hi,

I'm in a fix. I'm right in the middle of a huge project, and suddenly, when I try to log and capture video from my XHA1... there's no playback! I just get a blue screen. I see picture when I FF or REW but not on normal playback speed. This is for ALL my tapes... tapes that were working fine just yesterday.
I am on an extreme deadline for this project... any comments would be appreciated...

Oh, and I did use a Panasonic Head Cleaner recently. (Actually it was the first time I used a head cleaner in over a year, and two or three days later is when this problem occurred... coincidence?)

Hi Sean,

Run the head cleaner through again. That should clear it up.

Okay,

My XHA1 is back to normal now, like some kind of miracle.

For anyone else who might have this problem on occasion, here is all I did to fix it.

I put in a fresh tape, put it back in record mode and recorded for a few minutes. When I went back to play that or any other tape... it played fine again.

My only non-tech explanation is that the heads realigned themselves in record mode.

I'll still send it in for servicing after this job, but there's a quick fix for anyone who might need it.

I've got the same problem. I'm a bit stressed about some footage I shot that I haven't seen yet. I really hope it was recorded cause it was a live performance.

Anyway, this evening I'll be trying the head cleaning tape. I'll keep you posted how it goes.

BTW: does anyone knows what the cause of this error is?

No luck :-(
I've been using the Sony DVM60PR3 cassettes without problems for over a year. So I don't think it's the tapes I use.
I used a Sony DVM4CLD cleaning tape and ran it for 10 seconds as the instructions say but no go.
I'm now recording on a new tape and hope it'll fix like it did for Sean.

Has anyone else had this problem?

PS: hooking up the camera to a FULL HD TV or my Macbook Pro has the same problem (blue screen)

I had a similar problem recently...
Does this still count if it happened only once?
It was blue screen for first 55 seconds of the tape...
I usually run bars for first 30 seconds then start recording the stuff.
If first 50 seconds contained any non-repeatable moments (like weddings...), I could have been screwed BIG time... but it was spa commercial shooting and nothing important was recorded on that period time, but it freaked me out....
Oh, and nothings shows when I ff or rw... timecode freezes during 00 to 52 seconds... very strange...
And yes, I did head cleaning a couple times...
Now it's fine now, but I am just worried if it would happen again in the future....

JJ

At a recent photo show a Canon rep told me to never run standard DV tapes in the HD Canon Cameras. He also told me that Canon cameras don't like Sony tapes and to only run the higher density High Def tapes. I run the Panasonic AYDVM63PQ 63/42 Minute Professional Quality Mini-DV Digital Tape.

Hmm, I read so much here on DV Info about tapes and the one conclusion that most pro's say is: it doesn't matter which tapes you use, as long as you stick to one brand and type.

All said that HDV tapes are exactly the same as the DV tapes, just another wrapping and higher price.

Anyway, I'll be going to the store with my camera and hope the fix won't break my bank account.

This experience makes me that more looking out for a tapeless solution. I mean, tapes have been around for a couple of decades and they still give problems.

Darn it. Problem is with one tape - Pana DVM63PQ. 1st 1/2 of the tape captured just fine last week. Used the 2nd 1/2 of the same tape for a new job Fri. night and Saturday. Now nothing but blue screen on play - see the images on FF & RW. Cleaned heads, recorded to a fresh tape, all that good stuff.

Time code messup? Operator idiocy? Bad tape?

Canon XH-A1 is super-touchy about tape. I know that. Biggest negative this unit has, but this is the worst problem I've had yet.

I had trouble with the AMQ tapes, switched to Sony PHDV Digital Mastering tapes (at twice the price) and have not had a single dropout in probably around 50 hours of tapes, no trouble at all.

Robin, if you took the tape out of the camera and put it back in, it broke the time code. Don't remove a tape or play it back and forth or diddle with it at all until you are finished recording and remove it altogether. There is a function that lets you safely review the last few seconds of the take but never remove a tape and reinsert it...we had a tape like that that when played back in our edit decks would only show frames when fast forwarded! Strange things happen.... / Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team