Tape dropouts -- please help!

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

This suggestion is greatly appreciated and has been acted upon. I've changed the thread title to "Tape dropouts -- please help!" which is a much more accurate description of the issue but still leaves the sense of urgency in place. Thanks again,

Thanks Chris. I was just about to do the same thing.

As for your dropout issue Chad, I have a few observations from personal experience.

When I bought our HD100s back in August my dealer was selling me JVC's DVM60ME and they seemed to work well, but I wasn't doing anything "mission critical" at the time, just camera testing.
Since then I have exclusively used the recommended JVC "ProHD" 63 minute tapes (M-DV63PROHD) and have never had a dropout or clogged head issue with them (I just finished shooting over 70 hours of "ProHD" tape between two feature films.)
However, one time I bought a yellow/red-stripe "Pro" box by accident, (instead of the "ProHD" Yellow/blue-stripe box.) Externally these tapes look exactly the same, have almost the exact same product number (with only the two letters "HD" being different,) but almost immediately I recieved the message "HEAD CLEANING REQUIRED!" This condition was consistent and repeatable, even after running a head cleaning cassette.
Fortunately the recording head was not affected and the signal was still recorded to tape.

CONSISTENCY OF BRAND and MODEL:
Since in my case both of the tapes were JVC and high-end, the moral of the story is that the heads are highly sensitive to "changes" in the type and quality of tape. It has been said before, but consistency in brand and type is the key to avoiding clogged heads. So pick a tape and stick with it through the life of the camera, and don't forget to use the RETurn button on a regular basis. I "check the gate" after each setup is complete just as I would with a film camera.

LUBE:
Alot has been said about wet lube vs. dry lube and the statistics here on dvinfo.net seem to confirm that using any Sony tape in the HD100 is risky, even if you exclusively use it from day 1. There are some success stories, but the "Sony gummed up my heads" stories seem to outnumber them.

HEAD CLEANING:
Please, Please, Please clean your heads when you first open your brand new camera. I wish all camera manufacters included a head cleaning cassette in the box the way Panasonic used to with the DVX100.

QUALITY OF TAPE:
Dropouts are another matter however, as cheap tape will flake at some point and cause a dropout. Maybe not during the record, or even the first or second playback cycle, but you are playing with fire with $3 tapes.
My understanding is that JVC's ProHD tape has extra layers of protective coating to prevent flaking and problems from general wear and tear.

DON'T USE FIRST MINUTE:
The first minute or two of any tape is bound to have the highest rate of failure. That's one additional reason for putting bars & tone at the front of your tape. The 63 minute tapes give you 3 minutes of spare time, so just go for it to be safe. I've set my HEADER REC to start at 00:59:00:00 and record 1 minute of bars and tone so that my recording starts at 01:00:00:00.

The bottom line for me is that I keep a head cleaning cassette in my camera kit at all times, exclusively only use JVC's ProHD tape, and regularly check my recordings with the RET button. So far, so good.

[Jon Jaschob]

Hi Tim,
Can you give us the part number or name of the JVC head cleaner?
THX,
Jon

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Jon Jaschob

Hi Tim,
Can you give us the part number or name of the JVC head cleaner?
THX,
Jon

M-DV12CL

[Jack Walker]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

M-DV12CL

Is there a difference between that head cleaner tape and this JVC head cleaner tape?
MDV2MCL
http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?model...thId=46&page=2

[Prech Marton]

Last wedding i used 6 new tdk tape in SP mode.
2 of them have dropouts for about 1 sec with horizontal banding and ugly audio. What is bad?
I was in service 1 month ago because of the "remove cassette error" and i ask the guys, is the head in good condition?
He says: it's good, i dont need to replace it. It was an official canon service.
I never mix tape brand, always use tdk-s.
And still, the problem is here. I dont believe, my head is bad, because i make a test in LP mode for 30 minute, and i dont see any dropout.
2 of 6 tdk tapes are bad? What do you think?
In wedding situation this is very important for me.

thx,
Marton

[Scott Harper]

Tim, How much do you pay for these tapes and where do you get them? On line or from a shop?

[Scott Harper]

[QUOTE=Tim Dashwood]I have exclusively used the recommended JVC "ProHD" 63 minute tapes (M-DV63PROHD)



Tim,

How much do you pay for these tapes and where do you get them? On line or from a shop?