I am just digitizing some footage from my V1U and it looks fabulous. I shoot in 1080i.

I have been noticing some dropouts (digital pixeling) more than I would expect. Many times it was when the camera was moving suddenly and therefore the footage was not important, but now I am seeing more of it.

I was digitizing some footage of a man ice skating when it happened at the worst possible moment...it was a large wide digital artifact that ruined the shot.

Is this something you HDV guys live with? Or is this unique to my camera? I have shot SD with our 2 Sony DSR-250's for years and have never seen this amount of dropouts (or whatever they are called) and I'm becoming alarmed.

Does anyone have any insights? Is there something I am possibly doing wrong?

On one dropout I noticed last week....I just re-digitized the clip and it wasn't on the tape the second time around. But this latest spot has been redigi'd 4 times now, and it stays in the same spot and has ruined the shot.

Do I have a lemon?

What sort of tape do you use?

I don't have enough hours on my V1 to say if this camera is prone to dropouts. I have shot HUNDREDS of hours of footage on my FX1 and can only say I've seen maybe 5 or 6 dropouts. I use Panasonic Master tapes (the white ones) and sometimes I use the regular Panasonic tapes. I try to avoid mixing brands.

If you are seeing that many, I suspect you either have some bad tape stock or there is something wrong with the camera.

Sony Digital Master HDV 63 mins. PVHDM-63DM

this is VERY disappointing.

I wonder if anyone else has heard of this?

When recording long GOP, where only every 15th frame is real, there is a some risk of a catastrophic dropout. If you're using Final Cut Pro you might try Digital Heaven's DH_Dropout Plugin. I use it on Betacam dropouts and it works quite well.

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/dh_dropout.php

So far I've only shot some test footage in HDV on my V1U and haven't noticed any dropouts. Time will tell.

I have shot about 3 hours on 3 tapes. On the very first tape I shot, using the supplied Sony Master tape that was in the box, I experienced 1 dropout about 5 minutes into the tape, which I think was the first dropout in HDV (I had been using a Sony HC1) I'd ever experienced. It manifested itself as a 'skip' in a long pan I was doing, as if time had just been cut out. I had been using Panasonic masters previously but I didn't have one of those tapes for the first shoot and so used the supplied Sony master tape. Later tapes I used the Panasonic Master tapes DVMQ-63, and haven't experienced a dropout since.

Perhaps it is the Sony tapes, I had never used them before and they are about 3 times the cost of the Panasonic Masters so I'm going to continue to use the Panasonic tapes unless I have problems.

Regards,

-Keith

On *any* brand new camcorder, as soon as it comes out of the box, you'll want to run a head-cleaning cassette for a few seconds before putting in that first tape. This practice solves 95% of all dropout issues associated with new camcorders.

This issue is *not* limited to any one particular make or model of DV or HDV camcorder.

I've shot over 8 hours and the drop-outs are typical for HDV. I use only Sony and JVC DV/HDV tapes. I nevr use Panasonic tapes.

I feel the Sony HDV tape is worth the price.

I've shot over 8 hours and the drop-outs are typical for HDV. I use only Sony and JVC DV/HDV tapes. I nevr use Panasonic tapes.

I feel the Sony HDV tape is worth the price.

I use Sony tapes too. I have never used either Panasonic or JVC tapes, but I find the above statement interesting. Both Panasonic and JVC are divisions of the same parent company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. of Japan. I would guess that both tapes come off the same production line and just get different labels slapped on them, although I couldn't say so for sure.

I have had good results over the years with Sony tapes.

I am just digitizing some footage from my V1U and it looks fabulous. I shoot in 1080i.

I have been noticing some dropouts (digital pixeling) more than I would expect. Many times it was when the camera was moving suddenly and therefore the footage was not important, but now I am seeing more of it.

I was digitizing some footage of a man ice skating when it happened at the worst possible moment...it was a large wide digital artifact that ruined the shot.

Is this something you HDV guys live with? Or is this unique to my camera? I have shot SD with our 2 Sony DSR-250's for years and have never seen this amount of dropouts (or whatever they are called) and I'm becoming alarmed.

Does anyone have any insights? Is there something I am possibly doing wrong?

On one dropout I noticed last week....I just re-digitized the clip and it wasn't on the tape the second time around. But this latest spot has been redigi'd 4 times now, and it stays in the same spot and has ruined the shot.

Do I have a lemon?

Sometimes new heads need to be run in a bit. Some units don't seem to have this issue and others do. This is not related to just Sony cams, but any cams. The other thing is that if you rewind the tape to the point you first saw the dropout, and on a 2nd play it's gone, it was never a dropout.

I shot over 50 tapes over 2006, and experienced drop outs on every tape, on every shoot. I just take it and live with it.. one reason to shoot a safety for every take.

Z1U and FX1.

Something's amiss, Robert. You should not be experiencing that high a number of dropouts.

As for the original poster...you said the (latest) problem occurred when shooting an ice skater. How cold was the camera? I have had small Sony camcorders start to glitch in various ways in cold weather (below 30 deg F). The colder the camera, the worse the operation.

I have been shooting with a Z1 for over a year and only ever had one drop-out.

I've barely shot 10 hours of footage with the V1 and already had 3 or 4 drop-outs. On the expensive Pro tapes, too.

Interestingly the only time I've had droputs was with the Sony HDV tape. Once I went back to regular Sony mini-DV tapes all was fine. Go figure.

I shoot on Maxell tape the cheapest I can find and have had no problems. I have only shot a few hours from my V1 but have had my hc1 for over a year with no problem. I can only think of one dropout on my hc1 and that was the first tape I ran thru it. I am probably just lucky. I will continue to use the cheep tape unless there is a problem. I just looked and I have over 400 hours of dv on Mexell tape.

Question: are the dropouts visible before capturing and rendering or after? And what is the speed of your processor? Do they occur when there is sudden, rapid motion?

OK...I am now very frustrated.

I thought perhaps my problems were based in the fact that I have been using the camera outside in cold conditions...and perhaps the CMOS could not handle them.

BUT now as I am digitizing my footage from indoor shoots...the same issue...

Dropouts...every few minutes or more....some long 5-10 frame dropouts...real shot killers.

What do I do? This cannot be s.o.p. for HDV....I must have a bad batch of tapes...or a lemon....what is the best way to clean heads? A cleaning tape?

Eric, this is the argument for using better tape. Use Sony/Maxell, as they come off the same factory line. JVC, Fuji, and Panasonic all come off the same line. Not that they're bad tape, but someone in this thread says they've had problems with the Pansonic tape.
Anyway, it's not the cold, unless you've got a bad cam. We've left A1's sitting out all night, same with the FX7 in sub zero weather, running without any issue. I typically have an A1 in minus 20 temps, no issues.
Cleaning is just a matter of a head cleaner, and you do want to run the head cleaner every 20-30 hours or so, not to mention running it immediately after buying/opening the box.
HTH

I use only Sony PHDVM - 63DM

Have used tapes from 2 different boxes.

I am NOT happy.

Can you post a screen cap? Are you seeing the problem during tape playback, or only during capture/after capture?

I have the screen captures...but I don't know how to post them on this website? (sorry...I'm a newb)

I dont' see a BROWSE button on the bottom of my posting screen....as the FAQ suggests?

The dropouts (as I am calling them), appear on the camera viewfinder...so they seem to be on the tape...no matter if I fast forward, or rewind and play back at the same spot...they are still there.

They seem more frequent when the camera is moving rapidly....

Drop outs or pixelation during rapid motion of the camera or the subject suggests that the processor is not keeping up. Try the same tapes in a different HD camera, and if they are ok, get a new camera.

If you try to record to a firewire hard drive system from Sony, Citidisk or Firestore at the same time this would help eliminate any dropouts that you will get on tape.

Is that what your dropouts look like? - see video cap from V1U attached.

I got 2 of those on the first Sony HDV tape used on a brand new V1U.

Did not clean the heads beforehand.

The dropouts seem to be mild comparing to Z1U's, which lasted for about a second - V1U's were only 1 frame long.