Hi there,

I own a XM2 (GL2) PAL and a VX2100 PAL. I usually use Sony Excellence tapes only and very rare the cheap premium tapes for some not so important "mass footage".

My cam is from May 2004. I used it not that often, maybe for 20-30 hours total. I recorded one time on a Panasonic tape because it was an urgent case three weeks ago. I use the Sony cleaning tape very rare but used it for 2x10 seks in the last 3 weeks.

Yesterday I recorded 45 min on a single time used (recorded on XM2 once before) Sony premium tape. The REC was on for sure and nothing showed up for any proplem. When controlling today the footage the first 10 minutes of the tape still showed the former footage - the Sony did not record anything new at all! After that there is one minute of a mixture of the old and the new footage - it is mixed in thick bars - one bar old, one bar new, one bar old, one bar new footage (like the photo in manual for dirty heads). After that the Sony recorded 35 minutes without any problem the new footage. I did not stop the camera between so they change happened just on its own.

Now, I cleaned the head for another 10 sec. and now I can even record on the parts of the tape which yesterday were not recorded on... :(

So, my questions are - and I please need your serious advise:

- is this a sign of simple dirt on the heads? Why didn't I notice anything before?

- is this a sign of a occuring problem with the heads? Should I give it to inspection (would be a problem because of important dates coming)?

- did anybody ever told about such a problem before? I tried search but probably my search values are not appropriate...

Any advise is welcome,
thanks a lot
Markus

Or could this be anything of a lost track in the first 10 minutes?

You probably fouled the heads with the change in tape. Perhaps you have now gotten the heads clean with the combination of the cleaning tape and regular use.

It just points up how dangerous it is to switch tape brands. I refuse to do it for any reason for just that reason.

I'd put a new tape in the camera and let it record for an hour. Then evaluate the recording. If it is good, I'd not worry and continue to use the camera. If it is not, I'd send the camera in for cleaning, telling in detail, the actions that you think caused the problem and what you have done since then to the camera.

The only time I've had problems with a previously used tape is when I attempted to record DVCam over a DV recording. That didn't work too well in some spots.

Tape is so cheap I don't use it more than once anymore. It is certainly less expensive than taking the chance of losing some important footage.

You probably fouled the heads with the change in tape. Perhaps you have now gotten the heads clean with the combination of the cleaning tape and regular use.

It just points up how dangerous it is to switch tape brands. I refuse to do it for any reason for just that reason.

I'd put a new tape in the camera and let it record for an hour. Then evaluate the recording. If it is good, I'd not worry and continue to use the camera. If it is not, I'd send the camera in for cleaning, telling in detail, the actions that you think caused the problem and what you have done since then to the camera.

The only time I've had problems with a previously used tape is when I attempted to record DVCam over a DV recording. That didn't work too well in some spots.

Tape is so cheap I don't use it more than once anymore. It is certainly less expensive than taking the chance of losing some important footage.
I've encountered the same issue a couple of times on tapes I use for spot news. Generally for roduction I only use a tape once, but I keep four or five tapes in the case for shooting spot news for local stations. Even though I usually shoot the stories back to back, a lot of times the editor will rewind the tape so the same area gets multiple passes. When I've seen this proble, particularly the banding, the issue has always been the tape itself not the camera. Insert the tape in the nearest trash receptacle and the problem should go away :).

@Bud,

thank you very much for your input! Yes, this particular band is already history and the problem did not occour in my last shots. One (me) is very fast unsettled about "heavy" errors of the camera ;)

Thanks a lot, you both!
Markus