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#1 |
Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 466
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Flash Card dropouts just like tape?
Do we still experience periodic drop outs using compact flash? I'm using a Focus FSH-200 compact flash recorder via firewire out of my Canon XH-A1. Doing long theatre shows. I get dropouts randomly. Maybe only one in an hour but it is devastating. Using HDV, the dropout wipes out a huge chunk of video. I don't have a second camera. At this juncture, I under the impresson that there are periodic miss captures of data and the HDV format, just as with tape, crashes hard.
Do tapeless cards suffer dropouts? Canon XH-A1 Focus Enhancements FSH-200 Sandisk Extreme 3, 30MB/sec data speed, 32 gig card (manufacturer recommended card). firewire connection. |
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#2 |
Inner Circle
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 4,100
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I've never had a dropout with any tapeless camera. EVER. And I went tapleless in 2004.
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DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels. |
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#3 |
Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 466
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just to be clear. Tapeless Camera or DTE device connected to a tape camera? There must be a reason that the recording cards like P2 cost so much more than a $175.00 compact flash card. I wonder if this is a factor as well. Also what recording format? HDV or other?
Interesting thing is, forgot to mention that I was running a tape in the camera as a backup. The dropout is NOT on the tape thx for the reply |
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#4 | |
Inner Circle
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 4,100
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Quote:
P2 cards cost a lot off money because Panasonic has a market monopoly. Once that monopoly was over, the costs came down quickly. P2 and SxS command a premium over CF/SDHC because they are faster and "branded" so people believe they are better and more safe for their data. I dropped SxS as soon as SDHC was available and have never looked back. I've been on sticks, dolly, steadicam, fig rig, and straight handheld with the DVX, the EX1, and the 5D. Never an issue. I suggest you have a good look at your firewire cable.That's the most likely culprit.
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DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels. |
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#5 |
Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 466
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thx. All good info.
Have you had the occasion to run a recording over an hour straight? btw, I had this happen on two separate occasions. Used different FW cable. I've used the unit twice and have had dropouts both times. Not exactly confidence building. Not cheap to replace the flash card either. |
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#6 |
Major Player
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Posts: 760
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Since you've swapped cables, I would start suspecting the connectors, either in the Camera or the Recorder.
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#7 |
Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 466
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yeah, but they're tight.
doesn't sound like anyone is suspecting the hardware. I don't expect Focus to admit they might have an issue. Swapping cards is an expensive experiment. I also suspect that most people are using these systems to record on a much shorter basis. Maybe never encountering this issue. However, I'm forced to use a double system (record to tape and card) to make sure I'm safe. Not the reason I bought the FS-200. |
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#8 | |
Inner Circle
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 4,100
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Quote:
__________________
DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels. |
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#9 |
Regular Crew
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Chelsea, Michigan
Posts: 104
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Consider that the card may have problems. Try another lower capacity card that is rated for at least the same speed. I say "lower capacity" because your cost is small to just test out and idea.
Also, I assume you are formatting the card before each shoot rather than merely deleting content. This is important. Dropouts to electronic media are without exception UNACCEPTABLE. It should not be happening. |
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#10 |
Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Burbank CA
Posts: 466
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thx for the reply.
I am pretty baffled by this myself. It happened 3 times during a 2 hour show. If you've seen what a drop out looks like on tape when recording in HDV or other Mpeg format, it's pretty bad. It's one thing to lose a frame in DV but 15 or so (half a second) in Mpeg is horrible if your doing a single camera job. I've since upgraded the firmware on the FSH-200 but have yet to test it again. It's also a great idea about the low capacity card. The 32 gig card I'm using costs 200.00. It is the Sandisk extreme 3 (30 Mbits/sec) as recommended by Focus. The one thing I have noticed is that the problem seems to show itself more often when I just start recording, like 10 seconds into a roll. Doesn't always happen but it's happened twice this way already. Here's one of the worst examples of what's happening. Right at the very end of this clip, watch the guy in front moving toward stage right. He will jump. If you step the movie frame by frame, you can see the drop out happen Last edited by David Morgan; June 14th, 2010 at 09:49 PM. Reason: added video |
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