Serious Magenta Problem JVC GY-HD110u at DVinfo.net

Stephen M. Webb · February 14th, 2008, 02:12 PM

During a recent shoot using the JVC GY-HD110u, everything checked out in the viewfinder, diopter and on an external monitor. However, when I captured the footage in Final Cut, the footage appeared to be completely corrupted. The best way to describe the footage is to say that all of the colors seemed to be misaligned, such that my footage looked like it was processed through a Color Reduce filter and the primary color set to a shade of magenta. The image was also ghosting, offset about 50% to the left of the frame.

Also what's bizzare is that the problem manifests itself on half of two tapes. The first half of the first tape was golden... the second half ruined. The first half of the second tape ruined... the second half was golden. And again, split on the third tape. This hasn't occurred on any tape before nor since. Any ideas?

I've given up on recovering the footage, but I want to make sure it never happens again. I contacted JVC directly and they said they've never heard of anything like it.

You can see a screen capture of it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23710352@N03/2260918280/

Stuart Campbell · February 14th, 2008, 02:30 PM

That's not good! I've never seen anything like that before. I'd be inclined to say it was maybe something occurring off playback? Have you tried playing the tapes in a different machine?

Stephen M. Webb · February 14th, 2008, 02:38 PM

I've tried capturing it from two different decks. I should mention that I don't actually have decks, so I capture directly from the cameras. But, nonetheless, I tried two different cameras and have had no luck with either.

Let me throw these theories out:

•The person operating the camera hadn't worked with this particular camera before and failed to notice that the camera was still switched on when the battery was replaced. Is there a chance that there was a power surge that somehow temporarily messed with the CCD? This could explain the problem spanning tapes.

•The other possibility is bad stock, I suppose. All the tapes were from the same box.

Thanks for your reply, Stuart! I'm new to the forums and it's encouraging to see a quick response. Let me know what you think of these ideas.

Tim Dashwood · February 14th, 2008, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephen M. Webb

I contacted JVC directly and they said they've never heard of anything like it.

You can see a screen capture of it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23710352@N03/2260918280/

We've seen it before.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=89094

It sounds like a problem with either your CCD block or some other electronics inside the camera. Does the problem occur at exactly the same spots in the tape all the time? If so then your footage is likely unrecoverable.

Do you see this on the camera's LCD screen during playback as well?

Joseph A. Benoit · February 15th, 2008, 12:16 AM

Hi Steve
that has happen to me
just one time then it never did it again
it was just a little test shot i was doing shooting in 720/24
that was monhts ago

i called jvc and they said the same thing they said to you

Joe

Stephen M. Webb · February 25th, 2008, 01:58 PM

Tim, thanks for the link to your thread. I do see it on playback, but didn't during recording. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the footage is shot.

Joe, thanks for the post. Makes you wonder what their support call-center database is good for. Anyway, thanks for letting me know that you've contacted them as well.

Stuart Campbell · February 26th, 2008, 03:11 AM

Well that's rather worrying. An admittance of a fault but no proper explanation or offer to repair?

One thing this teaches us all is that when monitoring EtoE (viewfinder and LCD) during recording it will always pay to check rushes where possible.

One thing I've started to consider on a shoot now is making up a video support unit in a little flight case so the rushes can be shuttled through to be checked by a runner so as to avoid this sort of thing. Just a 6" production monitor and BRHD50 unit for example.

The consequences of shooting for a day and finding this sort of problem at the end of the day don't bode well!

Does anyone know if the component out on the HD200 is Playback monitoring or is it all EtoE? It's made me wonder now on my other cameras.

Claude Mangold · February 26th, 2008, 10:47 AM

Stuart, I agree with checking rushes as often as possible, especially if there's no going back later, as is often the case in docu work.

Basically, it's the same idea as yours but with Quicktime. What I find very handy is to record QT on the HDD. This makes it possible to look at the rushes during any pause even on my 12 inch Powerbook and detect any problem plus you can immediately create a back-up. So I as a director make sure that my material is OK (not only magentas or those DDDDDD, but also the dreaded dead pixels which you d'nt see at all on a 6-7 inch Marshall or so)

So my advice to you Steven is: invest in a Fire-Store and bring a laptop along on the set, because one learns that digital cams always have problems (film cams also can develop problems but no chance of catching them on-the-spot !)

Stephen M. Webb · February 26th, 2008, 11:09 AM

Stuart, Claude, thank you both for your input. I'm going to use our MacBook Pro for a HDD capture through FCP. That way I can even check the scopes ahead of time. We're a small company and we invested in 4 of the HD110 cams but are waiting to refill the bank to invest in the Firestores. In the meantime, the most indispensable of our shots gets the special treatment of the HDD recording. It's tenuous and a little scary, but it's the best we can do for now.

I know this is off topic, but I have another string that I was curious if either of you would have any input on.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=115727
Any thoughts?

Jim Lucas · March 19th, 2008, 01:32 PM

I had the exact same thing happen to my 110. It was really intermittent too. sometimes 1 setup would be fine (handheld), then the next one 10 feet away would be all magenta. It also seemed to happen when changing from HDV to DV. Fortunately the camera was already supposed to be sent back to JVC (bad pixels in lcd) and I was only holding the camera until they got new replacements in. The new one I got seems to work fine so far and I love it!

February 14th, 2008, 02:12 PM	#1
Stephen M. Webb New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Casselberry, FL Posts: 5	Serious Magenta Problem JVC GY-HD110u During a recent shoot using the JVC GY-HD110u, everything checked out in the viewfinder, diopter and on an external monitor. However, when I captured the footage in Final Cut, the footage appeared to be completely corrupted. The best way to describe the footage is to say that all of the colors seemed to be misaligned, such that my footage looked like it was processed through a Color Reduce filter and the primary color set to a shade of magenta. The image was also ghosting, offset about 50% to the left of the frame. Also what's bizzare is that the problem manifests itself on half of two tapes. The first half of the first tape was golden... the second half ruined. The first half of the second tape ruined... the second half was golden. And again, split on the third tape. This hasn't occurred on any tape before nor since. Any ideas? I've given up on recovering the footage, but I want to make sure it never happens again. I contacted JVC directly and they said they've never heard of anything like it. You can see a screen capture of it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23710352@N03/2260918280/

February 14th, 2008, 02:38 PM	#3
Stephen M. Webb New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Casselberry, FL Posts: 5	No-go on different machines I've tried capturing it from two different decks. I should mention that I don't actually have decks, so I capture directly from the cameras. But, nonetheless, I tried two different cameras and have had no luck with either. Let me throw these theories out: •The person operating the camera hadn't worked with this particular camera before and failed to notice that the camera was still switched on when the battery was replaced. Is there a chance that there was a power surge that somehow temporarily messed with the CCD? This could explain the problem spanning tapes. •The other possibility is bad stock, I suppose. All the tapes were from the same box. Thanks for your reply, Stuart! I'm new to the forums and it's encouraging to see a quick response. Let me know what you think of these ideas.

February 25th, 2008, 01:58 PM	#6
Stephen M. Webb New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Casselberry, FL Posts: 5	dead footage, dead ends Tim, thanks for the link to your thread. I do see it on playback, but didn't during recording. Yeah, I'm pretty sure the footage is shot. Joe, thanks for the post. Makes you wonder what their support call-center database is good for. Anyway, thanks for letting me know that you've contacted them as well.

March 19th, 2008, 01:32 PM	#10
Jim Lucas New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Atlanta GA Posts: 5	Me too I had the exact same thing happen to my 110. It was really intermittent too. sometimes 1 setup would be fine (handheld), then the next one 10 feet away would be all magenta. It also seemed to happen when changing from HDV to DV. Fortunately the camera was already supposed to be sent back to JVC (bad pixels in lcd) and I was only holding the camera until they got new replacements in. The new one I got seems to work fine so far and I love it!

February 14th, 2008, 02:30 PM	#2
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	That's not good! I've never seen anything like that before. I'd be inclined to say it was maybe something occurring off playback? Have you tried playing the tapes in a different machine?

February 15th, 2008, 12:16 AM	#5
Joseph A. Benoit Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Coconut Creek FL Posts: 291	Hi Steve that has happen to me just one time then it never did it again it was just a little test shot i was doing shooting in 720/24 that was monhts ago i called jvc and they said the same thing they said to you Joe

February 26th, 2008, 03:11 AM	#7
Stuart Campbell Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Hannover, Germany Posts: 400	Well that's rather worrying. An admittance of a fault but no proper explanation or offer to repair? One thing this teaches us all is that when monitoring EtoE (viewfinder and LCD) during recording it will always pay to check rushes where possible. One thing I've started to consider on a shoot now is making up a video support unit in a little flight case so the rushes can be shuttled through to be checked by a runner so as to avoid this sort of thing. Just a 6" production monitor and BRHD50 unit for example. The consequences of shooting for a day and finding this sort of problem at the end of the day don't bode well! Does anyone know if the component out on the HD200 is Playback monitoring or is it all EtoE? It's made me wonder now on my other cameras.

February 26th, 2008, 10:47 AM	#8
Claude Mangold Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Berlin and Geneva Posts: 259	Stuart, I agree with checking rushes as often as possible, especially if there's no going back later, as is often the case in docu work. Basically, it's the same idea as yours but with Quicktime. What I find very handy is to record QT on the HDD. This makes it possible to look at the rushes during any pause even on my 12 inch Powerbook and detect any problem plus you can immediately create a back-up. So I as a director make sure that my material is OK (not only magentas or those DDDDDD, but also the dreaded dead pixels which you d'nt see at all on a 6-7 inch Marshall or so) So my advice to you Steven is: invest in a Fire-Store and bring a laptop along on the set, because one learns that digital cams always have problems (film cams also can develop problems but no chance of catching them on-the-spot !)

February 26th, 2008, 11:09 AM	#9
Stephen M. Webb New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Casselberry, FL Posts: 5	Stuart, Claude, thank you both for your input. I'm going to use our MacBook Pro for a HDD capture through FCP. That way I can even check the scopes ahead of time. We're a small company and we invested in 4 of the HD110 cams but are waiting to refill the bank to invest in the Firestores. In the meantime, the most indispensable of our shots gets the special treatment of the HDD recording. It's tenuous and a little scary, but it's the best we can do for now. I know this is off topic, but I have another string that I was curious if either of you would have any input on. http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=115727 Any thoughts?