I just got my PD-170 last Thursday and I love it! So far, it has exceeded my expectations. But... I did have a goofy problem today.

I was shooting 3rd cam at a wedding, and after shooting some b, I checked the timecode to see the total footage length I shot so far, and it was just under 8 minutes. Then, setting up for the processional, I started shooting the band, and I noticed the timecode was at 1 minute. Weird. I knew I was at 8 minutes before. So, I had some time before the processional was starting, and I rewound the tape and found a 1 second break in footage at 7:59:18, and after that, the timecode started over at 00:00:00:00. I did not remove the tape from the camcorder, and I don't think I even turned it off. But, I do remember accidentally hitting a button or two under the handle while moving around.

So, when I got home, I tried to duplicate the problem. I dropped in a tape, and started recording. I turned the camcorder off, and back on and recorded more... no break. I even ejected the tape and put it back in and recorded more... no break. I pressed the "edit" buttons under the handle at different times... nothing.

Any suggestions on what happened?

Thanks,
Dan

It is reletively easy to do what happened to you. Moving the tape via the tape transport controls is the easiest unless you pre-stripe the tape (not recommended) or you use a tape cassette with the chip which will allow you to control the tape more accurately.

The easy way to insure a no-gap tape is to end every shot with a few seconds of additional footage. That way you can play around with the tape and stop it in the middle of the extra recording without having to find the very end.

BTW, bad idea to evaluate the tape during the wedding. If something happens and you need to turn on the ole tape recorder, you cannot unless you want to sacrifice footage. I also had someone review footage on the second camera, stop the tape when they 'felt good' about the footage. Then later, pick the camera up and record new footage over the ceremony.

I make it a habit never to review the tape in those run and gun situations just for that reason.

Why is prestriping your tapes not reccomended?

Because it causes unneeded wear on your transport for very little, if any gain. It was a good idea when using analog recording technology but it just isn't necessary with digital.

I stopped prestripping when I stopped using Hi-8 and went to DV and DVCAM. I've never run into a situation since then where I would have benefited from a prestripped tape.

I've read and I've read the threads pertaining to time code issues and I'm still not sure what is causing my problem. My PD170 is not shooting a continuous time code all of the time. I never remove a tape from the carriage until I'm finished with it, don't review footage that often and if I do I start over with a new tape. I striped all my tapes before my last assignment but now it seems that shore was a huge waste of time and effort.

This issue is very frustrating to me and is causing some major problems during the log and batch capture process. I spent most of the afternoon today "cloning" tapes so I would have one time code, major pain in the butt.

Is your camera time code settings set at Regen or what?

After doing a cam reset on my pd150, I found it was restarting timecode when a new piece of footage was recorded.. after a bit of wear back in, it seemed to pick it back up fine again tho.

First, excuse me for high jacking your thread, Dan. Thanks for posting your TC problem and getting some feedback.

Mike, after spending some time on Alan Barker's site (kudos to Alan for the info) last night reading up on his suggested settings for a PD150, I made some changes to my TC settings that I hope will result in one TC for the duration of the tape.

My current TC/UB SET settings are:
TC FORMAT - NDF (formally set at AUTO)
TC RUN - REC RUN
TC MAKE - REGEN (formally set at PRESET)