Nightmare on Location JVC and Card Issues

[Mike Bailey]

Was on a corporate job at Disney with client in tow. Two DP's, I had our JVC 750 set up to do green screen interviews and the JVC 700 was out shooting b-roll. Halfway through the day on the first Transcend card (new, 16gig, class 10) My DP stopped the interview and showed me the camera had stopped recording and showed "Media needs to be reformatted." The 6 previous interviews would not play back, my mac said the card was not mountable. The good news is that there was an nanoFlash recording via SDI. So most of the previous interviews were safe. I chalked it up to a bad card--the first bad Transcend card in two years. Halfway through the second day of shooting on green screen, the same thing happened on another new Transcend card! We quickly dropped the camera and replaced it with the JVC 700 and put in a new Transcend. Later in the same day in the same building we did an interview looking out at EPCOT's Planet Earth, my DP "once again" stopped everything because the 700 had just stopped.

I called JVC and the engineer said that it was (no doubt in his mind) a card issue. That some cards even though they are class 10, can be finicky when it comes to their record speed because of the properties of silicon. So if recording 1080 at 35mbps, the camera buffer backs up with data, chokes because the card is recording too slowly and it crashes the whole works.
I asked him if this was an issue because they were Transcend cards, and would I be better if I used the prescribed JVC manufacturers of cards: Panasonic, Toshiba and Sandisk-- He said, pretty much that this phenomena could happen with any card and the only true assurance I could bring to the shoot is to pull the camera out of the bag, put in a new card and record movement (he suggested out the window of the rental on the way to the shoot) and fill up the card. Then you can be reasonably sure that the card is recording at a proper data rate.

I typically treat sd cards like tape stock, my clients are given the number of cards shot at the end of the project and told to treat them like masters--this experience may push me to rely on proven cards and reuse them--as well as having a backup recorder riding along.

To make a point: my crew has shot easily a hundred Transcend class 6 and 10 cards over the last two years without a problem. Two camera, 10 cards, 3 bad ones in 2 days... the Sandisk cards just showed up...

[Bob Richardson]

I sincerely hope it isn't something wrong with the cameras.

If it is the cards, then they're really badly mislabeled, because the JVCs do NOT require Class 10. They only require Class 6, which means (if it is the cards at fault), those cards labelled Class 10 couldn't even keep up with Class 6 speeds.

I have a collection of cards which I can trust and I reuse them. Each card is numbered, and when I copy raw footage to my computer, I include the card number in the folder name. That way, if any files are messed up (and I discover it days later), I know which card it came from, and take that card out of circulation as a precaution. So far, however, I haven't had to.

I have a mixture of 16GB and 32GB cards, Class 6 and Class 10, all from Transcend and SanDisk.

I don't give the cards to clients, rather I suggest to them to have a laptop with sufficient storage room for a day of shooting, or that I can provide a portable USB hard drive which I will bill them for, and they should allow time or personnel for copying of the files as the day progresses. (That's if they want the raw footage in the first place.)

I recall someone in another thread a few months back also mentioning having a problem with Transcend cards, so either Transcend sources from multiple vendors or is sloppy in their labeling, or I've just been very lucky and an impending failure is going to catch me at a very bad time.

Best of luck to you.

[Zulqar Cheema]

I have not had great problems, but found the class 6 better then the class 10

[Mike Bailey]

Thanks Bob,

Luck has been with me as well. Well, at least until Aug 10th. My motives to supply clients with new cards seemed to be sound. It also guaranteed that they wouldn't be subjected to cards that have "been around the block a few times..." and perhaps heading for failure. All great angling to charge the client for the stock etc...

Dumping onsite looks a lot more attractive right now--I aged 7 or so years on that two day shoot.

[Calvin Bellows]

I have only used Transcend Class 6 32GB and 16GB cards in my 700, I just bought 2 Class 10's I have never had an issue with any cards.

[Chris Mendes]

Just had the same problem. I think its the new batch of Transcend class 10 cards. Mine were brand new off Amazon ( not an Amazon seller) so im presuming they are not fakes. Two new cards same issue. Continued the shoot on Sandisk and Lexar cards no problem. I sent the cards to LC tech for recovery no luck. Run about ten cards ( my Older Transcend and Delkin class 6 and Sandisk class 10) thru the camera since and no prob.

[Mike Bailey]

Thank Chris,
A friend in the business just forwarded the posting below. Transcend is recalling a batch of 16gig class 10 cards and I have a dozen of the defective cards! I'll get them replaced, but already have switched over to Sandisk.
Transcend Class 10 SDHC Media Recall? CheesyCam

[Chris Mendes]

I just got a recall notice from Amazon about the Transcend cards.There is a recall on all class 10 cards
Serial numbers 446136 0001 to 446136 9999 and 446121 0001 to 446121 9999.
It was the cards. Welcome to Transcend website - Service Center

[John Mitchell]

IMO Use Transcend at your own risk. I use Patriot cards (32Gig Class10) and they use a higher quality plastic shell and they work. I also test any new card with a complete run before using it on a shoot.

I've had one transcend card fall apart on me and another die on a shoot (fortunately a multicam job and not an important card). I've had the record slide fall out on one.

Use Patriot, Sandisk or another well known brand card. It is false economy to use cheap cards.

Unlike tape, IT based media does have a tendency to make one paranoid....I also tend to transfer a full media card ASAP to avoid issues.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

I've used Transcend now for about 4 years and never a failure...however I did have an 8GB that certainly worked OK but for some funny reason it took longer for the camera to do a format!!

That was a Class 10 so I switched back to Class 6 and so far have never had any issues...I have just one supplier and apart from trusting him I STILL check with the factory in Taiwan on their website to make sure that they are not "copies" Wonder why the Class 6 seem better????

Probably it's a good idea to check whatever brand of card you use to make sure it's not a poor imitation..I have seen bogus Sandisk cards too!!!

Apart ffrom weddings and commercial shoots I do Realty Rental Condition videos so all cards start off with those jobs as if they did fail, I can simply just reshoot! The advice of running a card thru the camera a few times before assigning it to a critical shoot is always a good idea!!!

Chris