"Stories abound of HD100s failing for various reasons"

[Bill Edmunds]

Just read this in Filmmakermagazine.com. What gives? Is my brand new HD100 going to crap out? What are these "failures"?

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/spr...ems/my_hdv.php

[Mike Marriage]

I have had audio issues with my camera - a crackling sound. It is going back when I get the chance.

I once also had it refuse to record and I had to take the battery off to "reset" it before it would start recording.

[Steve Benner]

I never had anything wrong with my camera.

[K. Forman]

I've got issues that cause solid red frames in PP2, and possibly back focus issues. Hard to tell with my eyes. Either way, it is getting replaced by the dealer.

[Jack Walker]

On this line, since my camera is not shopped yet, I wondered about these things:

1. How long does it take and what does it cost to send in a camera for warranty repair if needed?

2. Is the incidence of the problems so high that an extended warranty is advisable?

3. Is the HD100/HD110 more susceptible to problems than other cameras when traveling? (I am used to the PD150 which seems virtually indestructable.)

4. Will the the .7 century wide angle adapter give good results, or for professional quality work is it necessary to buy the JVC wideangle lens (essentially more than doubling the cost of the camera).

5. Do the glitches and tape drop outs reported in threads here make the HD100/HD110 an unwise choice for live events or not repeatable video situations?

6. Dealers I spoke to all referred to the HD100 as a "filmmaker's" camera. Does this mean that it is best used in set-up shots with relatively short takes, with the video reviewed after each take?

7. Are there any issues traveling with the HD100 internationally as compared to a more consumer looking camera such as the Z1U. Is the the HD100 dependable enough to travel with internationally (Germany, Austria, Russia, Korea, Israel) with a one or two person crew?

Thank you.

[Steve Oakley]

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

1. How long does it take and what does it cost to send in a camera for warranty repair if needed?

shipping costs whatever 8-10lbs costs from you to the nearest service center. go to fedex.com or upsp.com and find out. JVC has been very good at quick turnarounds, 3 days for the A upgrade, and they did another repair for me same day. very good.

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

3. Is the HD100/HD110 more susceptible to problems than other cameras when traveling? (I am used to the PD150 which seems virtually indestructable.)

if you've traveled with a betaSP or HDcam setup, I'd rate it nearly as durable - see me comments about the VF below. otherwise, its a very solidly built camera.

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

4. Will the the .7 century wide angle adapter give good results, or for professional quality work is it necessary to buy the JVC wideangle lens (essentially more than doubling the cost of the camera).

it should be fine... go try it before buying. the real wide angle lens is a great peice of glass which you may well like better than the stock lens, but the stock lens is much better then what you have on your PD150 by a big margin. its not perfect, but its pretty good for the price.

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

5. Do the glitches and tape drop outs reported in threads here make the HD100/HD110 an unwise choice for live events or not repeatable video situations?

any camera that uses tape can have dropouts. your PD150 is just as suseptable as the HD100 or a DSR500 or F900.I've heard horror stories about PD-150's having massive drop outs and eating tapes because of tape path misalignment, which sony can fix. yet you trust that camera to work.

just remember, the one person who has a problem out of 10,000 people will cry all over the place, making others think there is more of a problem than there really is.

tape is tape, its not perfect, niether is film. you're really over estimating the problem. cameras & tapes these days are very reliable. the best thing is to try to stick to using the same brand of tape all the time, which ever brand you prefer. Everyone can tell you a horror story about every tape brand out there, and how they will never use that brand again. it happens. bad tapes happen, dust gets into the transport when chaging tapes, ect. all cameras that use tape can have these problems. I've run about 40hrs of tape through my camera, and so far, its been flawless.

even hard disc recording can fail. nothing is 100%, but its dam close to 99.99%. if .01% is a problem, maybe this is the wrong career for you.

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

6. Dealers I spoke to all referred to the HD100 as a "filmmaker's" camera. Does this mean that it is best used in set-up shots with relatively short takes, with the video reviewed after each take?

horse hokey! its a great news/doc camera because of its should mount style. you can run the camera on your shoulder without ever having to look at the buttons because its very well laid out. its a great run & gun camera, better than palmcorders, thats for sure.

Originally Posted by Jack Walker

7. Are there any issues traveling with the HD100 internationally as compared to a more consumer looking camera such as the Z1U. Is the the HD100 dependable enough to travel with internationally (Germany, Austria, Russia, Korea, Israel) with a one or two person crew?

a camera is reliable as you treat it for the most part. I have found the VF a bit fragile, I bent it. I took the thing apart, very carefully bent this metal bracket back, and the whole thing went back together and is fine. I'd expect the camera to be quite reilable as long its its not dropped or slammed around or rained on without protection - I've shot the camera in the rain no problem. You do have to treat the VF and LCD with respect, but thats true with any camera that has similar. one thing I really like about the sony 600/700/900 is the flip up viewfinder bracket. that can really make carrying the camera around far less prone to VF damage when you have the camera on a shoulder strap.

perosonally, if you are goning to be in remote areas or where getting parts are hard, I've buy a spare VF and LCF bracket assembly along with a full set of jewlers screwdriversX2 ( because they break too!). I used to travel with a spare sony broadcast VF - why ? because twice I've had them fail in 1o years, and was a big hero by opening my bag of tricks and pulling out another VF. both failures happened right in the middle of NYC - I was up and running in a matter of minutes and the shoots went on as if nothing happened. even in NYC, it would of taken an hour or two to get a new one - perhaps from a rental house. so the wise plan for the worst, and hope for the best. chances are, if you are reasonably careful, nothing will happen, but if it does, then a few critical spare parts can be a life saver.


Steve Oakley

[Jack Walker]

Steve Oakley,

Thank you for your detailed answers. Very, very helpful!

[Jonathan Nelson]

I find happy hd100 users all the time. I think there will always be problems with any mass produced product but the great thing is that we will always have jvc on our side (well for at least a year). If something is wrong with our unit then JVC will fix/replace it.

If hd100s were crapping out left and right then I would think JVC would find some kind of uprade to fix the problem. JVC would be out of business if it didn't confront such a massive problem. They might as well kiss their return customers good bye and hope that they keep their mouths shut. It would be in their best interests to keep everyone happy and so far, they have done a great job IMO.

I have confidence that everything will be taken care of, and if not then I guess I learned a very expensive lesson.

[Scott Jaco]

Originally Posted by Bill Edmunds

Just read this in Filmmakermagazine.com. What gives? Is my brand new HD100 going to crap out? What are these "failures"?

I was just on that website and could not find anything negative about the HD100. Please post a link.

Speaking of links, what is up with this other thread you wrote bashing the HD100?
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=54862

I honestly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion but it seems like you really want to tear this camera apart.
I don't understand where this is all coming from.

[Bill Edmunds]

Originally Posted by Scott Jaco

I was just on that website and could not find anything negative about the HD100. Please post a link.

Right side of the page.
http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/spr...ems/my_hdv.php

[Scott Jaco]

I see it now. Thanks.

I guess my feelings about the subject are simple. I've never had any real problems with my HD100. I knew before buying this camera that I would be a bit of a guinea pig. I needed a camera now, and I knew everything was going to HD. I also went to the Cypres factory to get the "A" upgrade just to play it safe.

I trust the brand name and their customer support so if anything does go wrong, I can get it fixed.

Scott

[K. Forman]

It just seems to me, that in the few years I've been on this board, I have read about different bugs in cameras. Like the GL1/GL2 "Remove Tape" issue. But the amount of people seems larger with the HD100, especially since the cam has only been out a short time. This very well could be initial design errors or whatever. Either way, it needs to be resolved. Not saying it's Pinto bad, but a problem none the less.

[Greg Boston]

Just to add some objectivity in this thread. My Sony F350 is back at the factory in NJ right now, having developed a weird horizontal line through the image with the shutter on. So yes, any brand can have issues. Very true with new designs. I know some people who won't buy a given car model for a couple years after a major body design change.

-gb-

[Steve Oakley]

this guy is using some lose adjective's. I'll simply ask this - show me the links, show me the proof. I think this guy is on a tangent, nothing more. Its also a point to note - its not the "A" model. JVC has also provided great service. I'm sure you can find HVX200 and XL2 problems too.

I know some one who was going around saying the HD100 wasn't built very well because a student snapped off the lens mount lever on the body trying to tighten it until the lens until it clicked!. that lever is one beefy part, so some one applying enough force to break it off should of had a clue maybe they we're doing some thing right. it was gross operator incompetence, yet some one is running around saying the camera isn't well built. so take this stuff witha grain of salt... sure this person made of had a problem, but I would hardly call that an epidemic of a problem... wanna take about tape stock ? I like panasonic PQ pro tapes, never had a problem with 50+pcs of them, yet there are places on the web were people say this tapes are total disasters. they assume that because it happened to them, its happening in mass to everyone, wrong assumption. bad news travels better and faster than good news.


Steve Oakley

[K. Forman]

There are several of us in this thread- http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hd100+problems
Most of us have the A model, one guy has 3 with this problem.

One here, but he was also using Panny tapes-
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hd100+problems

Two guys with tapes getting eaten here-
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...hd100+problems

You want more? Do your own search. Like I said, it seems like a lot, and it may just be the new product bugs working out. But it is a huge pain in the rear as well.

And I don't count people who overcrank a knob, drop it in a pool, or knock it off the table or tripod. This is an out of the box problem, not an imagined one, not a user error.