Help: New HV20 Blocky Square Artifacts at DVinfo.net

Steven Schuldt · January 27th, 2008, 08:59 PM

Hi All,

Got an HV20 a few weeks ago. I'm only interested in shooting 24p and use JESDeInterlacer on Mac OS X for doing inverse telecine. All works great except...

I am seeing blocky square artifacts every few seconds primarily (although not exclusively) along the right edge of the frame. These are clearly visible both upon playback in-camera and after import. At first I had assumed these were because of the tape stock I was using (high end Sony HDV tapes that were about a year old) or because I had tested right from the beginning of a new tape.

I decided to try some new consumer Sony HDV tape stock this morning, but same thing. There are three possibilities: striping is mandatory, I got a bad unit, or the HV20's 24p mode compression is so crappy that huge pixellated blocks boiling across the image is considered acceptable on a $700 HDV camera (not to me, buddy, but maybe to someone). I'm going to try striping a tape next to see if that helps at all. I simply can't use footage like this, it's too distracting and would be a nightmare to try and fix in post. Massively disappointing!

Here are a couple of still images of what I'm seeing - look to right edge of frame and see big square blocks. Then imagine little swarms of these flickering randomly every few seconds:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...el/Blocky1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...el/Blocky2.jpg

Settings are 24p with cinema gamma, auto-shutter, instant auto-focus and image stabilization enabled. Help me out here folks - have I got a bad unit or is this what everyone is dealing with and, if so, is there any way to make it stop?

Don Donatello · January 28th, 2008, 12:10 AM

have you tried tape head cleaner ?

when my HV 20 does this i clean the heads ...

Robert Ducon · January 28th, 2008, 03:07 AM

Yes, looks like MiniDV dirty heads (personally never happened to my HV20). Simple fix, as Don suggested.

If it doesn't, let us and Canon know.

January 27th, 2008, 08:59 PM	#1
Steven Schuldt Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: USA Posts: 90	Help: New HV20 Blocky Square Artifacts Hi All, Got an HV20 a few weeks ago. I'm only interested in shooting 24p and use JESDeInterlacer on Mac OS X for doing inverse telecine. All works great except... I am seeing blocky square artifacts every few seconds primarily (although not exclusively) along the right edge of the frame. These are clearly visible both upon playback in-camera and after import. At first I had assumed these were because of the tape stock I was using (high end Sony HDV tapes that were about a year old) or because I had tested right from the beginning of a new tape. I decided to try some new consumer Sony HDV tape stock this morning, but same thing. There are three possibilities: striping is mandatory, I got a bad unit, or the HV20's 24p mode compression is so crappy that huge pixellated blocks boiling across the image is considered acceptable on a $700 HDV camera (not to me, buddy, but maybe to someone). I'm going to try striping a tape next to see if that helps at all. I simply can't use footage like this, it's too distracting and would be a nightmare to try and fix in post. Massively disappointing! Here are a couple of still images of what I'm seeing - look to right edge of frame and see big square blocks. Then imagine little swarms of these flickering randomly every few seconds: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...el/Blocky1.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...el/Blocky2.jpg Settings are 24p with cinema gamma, auto-shutter, instant auto-focus and image stabilization enabled. Help me out here folks - have I got a bad unit or is this what everyone is dealing with and, if so, is there any way to make it stop?

January 28th, 2008, 03:07 AM	#3
Robert Ducon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Victoria BC Posts: 400	Yes, looks like MiniDV dirty heads (personally never happened to my HV20). Simple fix, as Don suggested. If it doesn't, let us and Canon know. __________________ Mac + Canon HV20

January 28th, 2008, 12:10 AM	#2
Don Donatello Hawaiian Shirt Mogul Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: northern cailfornia Posts: 1,261	have you tried tape head cleaner ? when my HV 20 does this i clean the heads ...