Call On All Hv20 Owners - To Test For Dropouts

Loney Childress · December 14th, 2008, 02:14 PM

I've been running into this problem more and more lately. it first showed up when I recorded a half-hour play when the camera was only about a month old. It seems to be happening more and more lately (I've had my HV20 for slightly over a year).

The most annoying thing about the process is I record in 24p most of the time and when this happens it throws off the pull down (I use HDVSplit and After Effect to remove pulldown). This means at some point during a shot I'll get interlace lines and have to find exactly where the glitch happened to split the shot and fix it. Pain in the a@# is all I can say.

I'm going to try the head cleaning idea, it may fix it to an extent even if it doesn't entirely go away.

Allan Black · December 14th, 2008, 03:29 PM

Some people are getting DV tape dropouts, some are not and using the same tape too. I've seen dropouts on replay of recorded material that was recorded...without dropouts.

After 30 years using mag tape in our studios, the reason is... airborne microgrit getting in the DV transport and building up on the tape path. Where you use the camera, how long you leave the transport open changing the tape, leaving tapes out of their cases collecting dust, all contribute to tape dropouts. That long slot adjacent to HV20 tape transport housing collects dust, every time you pop open the transport, micro dust flies up from there, keep it clean.

Loney, before you run your cleaner tape, wipe the dust off the cam body especially around the transport area. Using a Junior Dustbug VERY carefully vacuum inside the open transport, again after the cleaner tape. Even upend the open HV20 and give it a light shake, carefully vacuum again.

Change tapes in dustfree environments, if you're shooting outdoors put a new tape in before you go out or change tapes under a towel. Open the transport for the absolute minimum time, have the new tape out of its case ready to load. IMO don't use DV tapes more than twice, never if they have dropouts the first time. Always use SP speed.

As Canon says (P92) run the cleaner tape frequently. I say, wipe the cam body down and vacuum after every dusty outdoor shoot, and these days that's most of 'em.

Cheers.

December 14th, 2008, 03:29 PM	#47
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,927	Some people are getting DV tape dropouts, some are not and using the same tape too. I've seen dropouts on replay of recorded material that was recorded...without dropouts. After 30 years using mag tape in our studios, the reason is... airborne microgrit getting in the DV transport and building up on the tape path. Where you use the camera, how long you leave the transport open changing the tape, leaving tapes out of their cases collecting dust, all contribute to tape dropouts. That long slot adjacent to HV20 tape transport housing collects dust, every time you pop open the transport, micro dust flies up from there, keep it clean. Loney, before you run your cleaner tape, wipe the dust off the cam body especially around the transport area. Using a Junior Dustbug VERY carefully vacuum inside the open transport, again after the cleaner tape. Even upend the open HV20 and give it a light shake, carefully vacuum again. Change tapes in dustfree environments, if you're shooting outdoors put a new tape in before you go out or change tapes under a towel. Open the transport for the absolute minimum time, have the new tape out of its case ready to load. IMO don't use DV tapes more than twice, never if they have dropouts the first time. Always use SP speed. As Canon says (P92) run the cleaner tape frequently. I say, wipe the cam body down and vacuum after every dusty outdoor shoot, and these days that's most of 'em. Cheers. Last edited by Allan Black; December 14th, 2008 at 08:22 PM. Reason: dust.

December 14th, 2008, 02:14 PM	#46
Loney Childress New Boot Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Pahrump, NV Posts: 24	I've been running into this problem more and more lately. it first showed up when I recorded a half-hour play when the camera was only about a month old. It seems to be happening more and more lately (I've had my HV20 for slightly over a year). The most annoying thing about the process is I record in 24p most of the time and when this happens it throws off the pull down (I use HDVSplit and After Effect to remove pulldown). This means at some point during a shot I'll get interlace lines and have to find exactly where the glitch happened to split the shot and fix it. Pain in the a@# is all I can say. I'm going to try the head cleaning idea, it may fix it to an extent even if it doesn't entirely go away.