Hi!
We're shooting a short film in HDV 25F and are using the Panasonic AY-DVM83PQ PRO tapes. We're using two brand new A1:s and in ten tapes we have had about ten dropouts or more, spread out on the two cameras. That's far more than acceptable.

Recommendations anyone? The AMQ tapes were out of stock. Anyone else had bad experiences with the 83 min tapes? Should we run cleaning tapes? The cameras have not been used extremely much after being bought and I think we never runned any cleaning tape in any of them.

Edit: dropouts while playing back the tapes, we haven't captured to computer yet.

I believe 83 min tapes are thinner, so more can be packed onto the take-up reels. I also believe they're more prone to dropouts due in part to their thinness.

Bill

Most people stay away from the 83 minute tapes. What I would do is use the head cleaning tape on the cameras and go with a good quality 63 minute.

I use JVC or Panasonic (never Sony tapes on non-Sony cameras) 60 minute tapes, so far, never have had a single drop-out......

We still had frame drops in both cameras after running cleaning tapes. About one drop per cassette.

Were they at the same spot on the tape each time it was played?

In about 14 recordings on Panasonic 63PQ tapes I had one dropout in HDV with the Canon A1. I shot an event last week with a 83PQ tape and had about three dropouts in an hour.

I am not sure Panasonic still makes an 83MQ, although some vendors still have them in stock.

I had this same problem with the 83-minute PQ tapes on my GL2. I didn't even try to use them on the XH-A1 as result.

Try the 63 minute PQ's. You should have better results. I still get the occasional dropout even with the AMQ's though. Just the nature of HDV I guess.

Thats strange. I use the Panny 83 on a pd170 and in the last few months have experienced many dropouts. Before that... it was rare. I wonder if it is the tape? I just sent the cam out and to see what sony says.

Sometimes storage can be an issue. A friend was having dropouts using a SD camera. We cleaned the heads, but it didn't help. One day I noticed that after filling a tape, he was placing it in small storage bag, worn on his belt. He also carried his cell-phone in the same pouch. The ringtone speakers on some phones have powerful magnets, which can erase tape. Now he doesn't carry them together, and the dropout issue has stopped.