Mode Changing...

[Jiri Bakala]

Originally Posted by Greg Corke

... little bugs

...hmm, you mean MAJOR bugs...right? :-)

Originally Posted by Greg Corke

I wish JVC could just iron out these little niggles then this camera in my opinion is the best all rounder currently on the market, fingers crossed.

I so agree with you, man... Let's hope!

[Bruno DesRosiers]

I dont know if I am experimenting the same issues as you guys but one of my DOP came back with 3 tapes TOTALLY BLUE, we could hear audio from time to time but no images whatsoever. That guy been shooting with the GY since November and never experienced a problem like that. Except for the pesky timecode breaks all the time, but this is probably another thread.

PS: I am just starting to dig up for info with this matter.

[Albert Henson]

Huzzahhhh..... :(

[Council Bradshaw]

I recieved my camera back from the JVC shop in NJ.
Last night I reassemble and did a few test. Everything seems to be working. No more blue screen/mode changing errors. When I sent the camera off I left the tape I had recorded the blue screen onto in the camera. I checked that tape last night and it had footage shot from the JVC workbench as they tested it out. So I know it was looked over and repaired. Just thought that was interesting and reassuring. I have a shoot this morning and I plan on giving it a go with the repaired HD100. Wish me luck.

[Marc Colemont]

Thanks, keep us posted. Can't wait to bring in my camera.

[Peter Stepnoski]

Well, I understand that there has been a substantial amount of response to this problem as well as pertinent feedback on this issue. I have experienced problems with this camera. Most recently, mode changing. My shot was static, in an indoor enviroment that had no consequential variables that could cause malfunction. The difference in my circumstance is that after the mode change and about a minute and a half of footage, the frame becomes pixelated and actually freezes at the last bit of captured footage. Literally there is nearly an hour of the same frame. I don't understand how a single image can be trapped in a compression cycle and repeated for that amount of time. It did this for two tapes, with the exception of five minutes of footage that it actually captured, they had compression errors as well.

One question for the people who have posted here, what kind of power source are you using? Are you using jvc batteries, are you ac direct, are you using idx or anton? If so are you maintaining a stable current through out your shoot? I ask this because with a problem that I had in the past, and issues that i've seen posted on this site as well as others. There have been issues with stablizing power on some third party power sources. I know that unstable current cause a multitude of problems.

[Marc Colemont]

The mode changing problem has nothing to do with the power source you are using.
Next Tuesday my camera goes to service. They say the next day I can pick it up again.

[Marc Colemont]

I've been testing the camera today after I got it back from JVC.
It had a firmware update, the hardware update kit and the CCD CPU's have been re-calibrated:
- Mode Changing problem GONE
- SSE GONE.

My firmware went from --> to:
SYS CPU C1590 V0202 --> V0301
CAM CPU C1591 V0202 --> V0203
VRT CPU C1594 V0114 --> V0116
ENC CPU C1187 V0105 --> V0107
*
PACKAGE C1615 V0201
FPGA2 C1595 V0201
FPGA3 C1596 V0101
FPGA4 C1597 V0104

As a new customer, JVC did take my issues serious from the beginning and fixed it promptly when they had the solution ready. JVC Belgium thanks for the support.

[Jiri Bakala]

Great! Just great! My camera is going to JVC for the same thing today! Hope I'll get the same results!

[William Hohauser]

Just checked some location B-roll for a television pilot I was asked to shoot yesterday and yikes!

I hope the 4 minutes of footage I managed to get has what they want. I'm really lucky this didn't happen to the 2 hours of footage I took at a big corporate event last week.

I was really hoping that the JVC flaky firmware was a thing of the past. I have had several JVC items that had some sort of strange firmware problem over the past 20 years. I also have had some JVC equipment that performed flawlessly. At least this time they are trying to confront the problem.

Off this goes to JVC on Monday.

[Shawn Kessler]

man am i glad im using the DRHD 100. I dont need these headaches in the middle of production :)

[John Vincent]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

Yeah. This is definitely a problem with some cameras and not tape based. It is most likely firmware based.

So anyway, lets be proactive and collect as much info as possible this week as to the conditions surrounding the problem and then I'll direct the technician I've dealt with in the past to this thread. Maybe JVC already has a case file open.

You said it Tim - It's happened to me now, and it frustrating as hell - but this is (hopefully) a nice way to approach the problem. For now.

john

evilgeniusentertainment.com

[John Vincent]

Originally Posted by Nate Weaver

Right. My hunch is that you had the expected "dirty head" shakeout with your new camera, and then made it worse by trying 3 different tape stocks afterwards. I've only gotten the mode changing problem twice: Once when I switched back and forth between two modes on tape within a minute or two (the camera can't switch fast enough and that causes problems), or...another circumstance in which I was losing blocks in the picture already which indicated a high tape error rate (which is usually a head clog problem). The latter happened on my second day with the camera.

Try one more thing for me before you send back...

1-Run the head cleaner for the prescribed time

2-Choose your favorite brand of tape. Play it back (even if it's blank) in the camera for 5-10 minutes

3-Run head cleaner again

3-Play some more on same tape as above.

4-Switch tape to another, but same brand/type. Try recording.

The idea here is to get the head clear of any other lubricant and/or particles. My hunch is that after trying this, you'll see the problem get better or clear up completely. If it merely gets better, repeat the cycle and see if it improves more. I'm thinking it will.

Of course, your heads could just be misaligned and be causing a high error rate also...in which case sending back is the only solution.

Here's the thing - I've this problem and I've barely shot an hour's worth of footage to tape - And I should use head cleaner twice already? Everything I know about using head cleaners told me that they were a thing to be used in moderation. I wouldn't want to be using a $20 3 use head cleaner after every 60 minutes of use.

Heads misaligned? I sure hope not - this tech had been around now for years now, but there are still many reported problems. No, I'm sure firmware is the bugg-a-boo here. As to why, well I'm, just a customer who is not all that happy w/ this problem right now.

john

evilgeniusentertainment.com

[Jiri Bakala]

Just to confirm, John; you have the "A" upgrade, right? If yes, please, let us know what JVC says about this.

[John Vincent]

Jiri -

No, I recieved my camera from EVS shortly before the 'A' upgrade was announced.

Up until recently, I had zero problems with the camera, so I figured if it broke don't fix it.

Now it appears I should send it in - but, call me paranoid, it's not something I look forward to doing.

But, no panic in Detroit yet. Still have great hope for this camera.

john
evilgeniusentertainment.com