Bad experience with xl1s?!!!!

[Andrew Kiu]

Bad experience with xl1s?!!!!

Recently I used xl1s film some event, during halfway filming, message appear *Head dirty, Need cleaning*so I eject tape and clean the head, but when I rewind back the tape, all the previous capture footage gone?, I was very frustrated, the time code seen not running accordingly…during rewind and playback, Had anyone experience this problem before?

mysetup: xl1s, ma200 and sony minidv tape

[Jack Smith]

Did you switch tape manufacturers?I believe going from dry lube tape like Panasonic to wet lube like Sony can in fact cause some problems.Stick to 1 manufaturer. As far as your lost footage,you could try the tape in another player.
smitty

[Andrew Kiu]

no. all the time i used sony MINIDV TAPE !, since i bought XL1s, all the time stick to Sony.

[Rob Lohman]

All camera's can get glogged heads, even with just one tape
brand (it will just happen a lot faster if you switch brands), that's
why these cleaning tapes exist. This is just the nature of these
tape system unfortunately. In you want to make sure you don't
get this start recording to a harddiks with a direct-to-disk recording
device like the firestore.

[Andrew Kiu]

Rob, Thank for your advice,

Currently, My budget was very limited, and somtime harddisk will not give you 100% Reliability as some bad cluster will happen...

by the way, Will it solve the problem if using the head cleaner?

[Rob Lohman]

Yes, it should solve your problem. If not then the heads probably
need replacing and you need to send it in to Canon.

Just as a side note: with a direct to harddisk recorder you can STILL
ALSO record to tape, so you automatically have a backup if the
harddisk would fail (not quite likely in the timespan you will be
using it).

[Wayne Maxwell]

Wow! Thanks for the insight. I was about to abandon Canon alltogether. I had the exact same problem; loss of timecode, blank recordings that I knew had something on them, horizontal bars across my recording, constant "remove the tape" messages ect ect.

I was pulling my hair out until I read this. I then realized that my problems did not begin until I swithched tape brands (from sony to maxell).

Since then I have put four different brands through my poor XL1S swapping back and forth constantly. It must hate me. I haven't had a chance to check it out but my plan is to clean the heads thouroughly and then go back to Sony and only Sony media.

I knew you werent supposed switch brands but alas like a child when told not to do something just because his parents said so I did not heed the warning. I paid the price: a half day of shooing gone.

That is a gripe I have with manuals; they tell you not to do something but rarely tell you why. Case in point; the XL1S manual directs you to turn off the image stableizer when shooting on a tripod but it doesn't tell you why. Not knowing why I ignored this. Now that I know why (the stablizer will try to compensate for tilt or panning movements on the tripod, possibly spoiling the shot, for those who didnt know, I didn't!) I turn it off when im on sticks.

If I ever have children (god forbid!) I well never tell them "because I said so" as a reason why. So manual publishers and posters please tell us stubborn people why or why not to do or dont do!! :) Thanks

[Rob Lohman]

Good luck with that Wayne and welcome aboard DVInfo.net!

Follow the cleaning's tape instructions perfectly, too much isn't
good either. But switching tape can definitely glog your heads
fast!

[Tony Hall]

I've actually heard of people having problems after having only used Sony tapes, but I've never heard of anyone having problems with Panasonic tapes. I wouldn't use the Sonys.

[Wayne Maxwell]

Hey thanks guys. I guess the probelm with the Sony tabes would be caused by the liquid lubrication system mentioned above? Anyone have any experience with TDK?

[Karl Heiner]

<<<-- Originally posted by Wayne Maxwell : Hey thanks guys. I guess the probelm with the Sony tabes would be caused by the liquid lubrication system mentioned above? Anyone have any experience with TDK? -->>>

hello wayne,

been using tdk tapes for about 4 years for my sony, now the xl1s, and for my vcr. no problems.

greetings

[Wayne Maxwell]

Hey Karl thanks for the info. Anyone know how to tell which tabes use dry lubrication and which , like Soney, use wet?

[Rob Lohman]

Do a search on dry and wet lubs, it has been discussed a lot
already on this board.

I've only used Sony color collection tapes in my XL1S and never
had a problem. Just stick with the brand that works for you!

[John Hampster]

<<<-- Originally posted by Wayne Maxwell : Wow! Thanks for the insight. I was about to abandon Canon alltogether. I had the exact same problem; loss of timecode, blank recordings that I knew had something on them, horizontal bars across my recording, constant "remove the tape" messages ect ect.


I've been having this problem just recently. I'm using the old XL1 with primarily JVC tapes. I get loss of picture/timecode and the horizontal bars of past footage gone bad. Will a head cleaner/new heads solve this?

I was just out on a shoot this morning and captured almost 2 hours of flawless footage, i got back and checked it all out, everything was fine. Then a few hours later I put in another tape to do some 16:9 recording tests and the footage was a complete mess and totally useless then i went through some other tapes that i had shot and knew worked perfect and they gave me the same problem - blank/horizontal bars, etc.

I'm pretty worried about this because I use my camera constantly for business and I have another important shoot coming up soon. any input is appreciated...

[Rob Lohman]

Has your camera been serviced? If you use (much) the camera
for business it should be checked and serviced by Canon yearly
(is our advice) to make sure everything is in working order.

Why haven't you tried a cleaning tape yet? They exist for a reason
and if you run a business you should have one. So yes, get one
and run it through the camera (follow the cleaning tape's
instructions carefully). It will probably solve your problem, but if
not it will need to be send in to Canon for a service or possible
head assembly replacement.

Do you mix tape brands/types?