UPDATED - DVX100AP Shipment halt is not true just a rumor

Kevin Peer · February 13th, 2004, 02:17 PM

I'm certainly hoping they take good care of us good customers, Byran!

Ken Tanaka · February 13th, 2004, 02:21 PM

Bryan,
Before starting a lynch Panasonic campaign let's wait to get more information on the problem. If it turns out to be a major defect I'm sure Panasonic will offer some recourse or remediation.

Bryan Roberts · February 13th, 2004, 02:49 PM

Ken - I didn't mean to sound so aggressive. Im not one to immediately fire up a petition or anything: I was merely unsure of how camera vendors like Panasonic or Canon have handled "issues" such as we may have here in the past. Just didn't want to be left out in the cold ;) .

Kevin Peer · February 13th, 2004, 04:51 PM

I spoke with Ted Castillo, Pana west coast tech rep and he said yep there was a hold on shipments of DVX100A cameras due to a quality control check but he had not heard what the problem was. I described the noise problem I was having and he said send it back to the dealer for a replacement as an 'Initial Failure' situation.

Another large bit of news is that I just spoke with Winston at Biz-Max (where I purchased the camera) and he said his Panasonic sales rep had just called and is having him send all unsold DVX100A cameras back to Panasonic for a check over. He said there has also been mention of some kind of sound problem with the camera, if I understood him correctly.

I will be returning my camera for an exchange but there is no specific time frame for getting a 'clean' replacement camera yet..

Good luck and thanks to everyone who posted on this subject!

Ken Tanaka · February 13th, 2004, 07:15 PM

Thank you very much for the update, Kevin.

I spent some time shooting a Gretag MacBeth chart with both the 100 and the 100A today. The results are inconclusive and I want to re-shoot the tests.

I can say that, at least so far, I'm not seeing excessive chroma or luma noise with the 100A. I can also say that the cameras do definitely have subtly different "looks" when identical settings are applied.

More forthcoming.

Bryan Roberts · February 13th, 2004, 08:08 PM

hmmmm..... I wonder how Beach Camera will handle this. This would be the last thing I wanted to be doing with my 1.5 week old dvx.

Stefan Scherperel · February 13th, 2004, 08:16 PM

Man everybody had me freaked out over here, so I turned on my 100a in my lowly lit room and all of a sudden I saw lots of grain. I have this blue keychain so I looked at it and there was blue fuzz all over the place. How could I not have noticed this before, this is auful. Then all of a sudden as I reached for to set the white balance, I noticed something odd. My gain was set to H. I set it back and all was well. Man, I have never been so relieved in all my life. I'm not saying that these other people need to check the gain, but after setting it back to off, there was no noise that I could see, neither in super saturated red shadows or the blue keychain. Maybe a little noise in the blue keychain but nothing to get worked up about, remember this is super low light, only a 60watt lightbulb in my computer room. Maybe I lucked out, I've had my camera for about a month and a half. Later on tonight I will post an uncompressed clip for all to see my dimly lit room. I'll let you guys be the judge.

Bryan Roberts · February 13th, 2004, 11:40 PM

My gain is set to 0. Check my frame grab on the first page of this post. Does it look grainy to you guys?

Regardless, I'm calling Beach to see what they've heard on Sunday.

Ken Tanaka · February 13th, 2004, 11:54 PM

No.

Stefan Scherperel · February 14th, 2004, 04:07 AM

Well, because I'm a nice guy I am posting a link to a 47meg uncompressed .mov file of some very low light clips I shot in my computer room. I only had the light from my monitor and an overhead 60watt light bulb. I shot in the shadows and tried to focus on saturated colors such as blue and red to see if any noise was present. You can see for yourself, http://www.stefweb.net/lowlighttest.mov
I really don't see excessive noise in the video even in the super saturated blue light of my external hard drive and flash mx book. Again judge for yourselves, however I find it hard to believe there is a video quality problem with my 100a, or maybe I just got lucky. Again it is a 47meg file so have patience and it works best if you right click and save it to your desktop.
sorry for the shakey footage, my tripod is out in my freezing cold car right now, and its soooo warm inside!

Tavis Shaver · February 14th, 2004, 04:34 AM

http://www.stefweb.net/lowlighttest.mov linked for the lazy

Yik Kuen · February 14th, 2004, 04:40 AM

Hi guys,

It's quite difficult to judge the graininess if we all have different monitors and/or TVs (if this is the way that we judge the quality).

Different levels or Contrast and Brightness settings on our montor/tv do make some video look noisier.

Bryan,
I find the frame grab quite clean.

John Hooper · February 14th, 2004, 05:48 AM

The PAL version of the 100A has just arrived in the UK, I hope this "quality control" issue does not apply to this version as well?

Stefan Scherperel · February 14th, 2004, 11:56 AM

Hey thanks travis, how do you do the links again?

Stefan Scherperel · February 14th, 2004, 12:04 PM

If you are watching this on a computer screen, the best way to see if there is "grain" is by turning your brightness all the way up. The best way would be to record this footage to your camera in with your nle and watch in your tv. Of coarse if we are looking for grain like this and having such a hard time, that also has to tell you something.

February 13th, 2004, 02:17 PM	#16
Kevin Peer New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Lost Coast, California Posts: 14	I'm certainly hoping they take good care of us good customers, Byran! __________________ Dedicated to the life affirming use of film and video to portray humankind's wisdom traditions, indigenous cultures, and evolving relationship with Earth.

February 13th, 2004, 02:21 PM	#17
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	Bryan, Before starting a lynch Panasonic campaign let's wait to get more information on the problem. If it turns out to be a major defect I'm sure Panasonic will offer some recourse or remediation. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

February 13th, 2004, 04:51 PM	#19
Kevin Peer New Boot Join Date: May 2003 Location: Lost Coast, California Posts: 14	I spoke with Ted Castillo, Pana west coast tech rep and he said yep there was a hold on shipments of DVX100A cameras due to a quality control check but he had not heard what the problem was. I described the noise problem I was having and he said send it back to the dealer for a replacement as an 'Initial Failure' situation. Another large bit of news is that I just spoke with Winston at Biz-Max (where I purchased the camera) and he said his Panasonic sales rep had just called and is having him send all unsold DVX100A cameras back to Panasonic for a check over. He said there has also been mention of some kind of sound problem with the camera, if I understood him correctly. I will be returning my camera for an exchange but there is no specific time frame for getting a 'clean' replacement camera yet.. Good luck and thanks to everyone who posted on this subject! __________________ Dedicated to the life affirming use of film and video to portray humankind's wisdom traditions, indigenous cultures, and evolving relationship with Earth.

February 13th, 2004, 07:15 PM	#20
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	Thank you very much for the update, Kevin. I spent some time shooting a Gretag MacBeth chart with both the 100 and the 100A today. The results are inconclusive and I want to re-shoot the tests. I can say that, at least so far, I'm not seeing excessive chroma or luma noise with the 100A. I can also say that the cameras do definitely have subtly different "looks" when identical settings are applied. More forthcoming. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

February 13th, 2004, 11:54 PM	#24
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	No. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

February 13th, 2004, 02:49 PM	#18
Bryan Roberts Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 436	Ken - I didn't mean to sound so aggressive. Im not one to immediately fire up a petition or anything: I was merely unsure of how camera vendors like Panasonic or Canon have handled "issues" such as we may have here in the past. Just didn't want to be left out in the cold ;) .

February 13th, 2004, 08:08 PM	#21
Bryan Roberts Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 436	hmmmm..... I wonder how Beach Camera will handle this. This would be the last thing I wanted to be doing with my 1.5 week old dvx.

February 13th, 2004, 08:16 PM	#22
Stefan Scherperel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 209	Man everybody had me freaked out over here, so I turned on my 100a in my lowly lit room and all of a sudden I saw lots of grain. I have this blue keychain so I looked at it and there was blue fuzz all over the place. How could I not have noticed this before, this is auful. Then all of a sudden as I reached for to set the white balance, I noticed something odd. My gain was set to H. I set it back and all was well. Man, I have never been so relieved in all my life. I'm not saying that these other people need to check the gain, but after setting it back to off, there was no noise that I could see, neither in super saturated red shadows or the blue keychain. Maybe a little noise in the blue keychain but nothing to get worked up about, remember this is super low light, only a 60watt lightbulb in my computer room. Maybe I lucked out, I've had my camera for about a month and a half. Later on tonight I will post an uncompressed clip for all to see my dimly lit room. I'll let you guys be the judge.

February 13th, 2004, 11:40 PM	#23
Bryan Roberts Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 436	My gain is set to 0. Check my frame grab on the first page of this post. Does it look grainy to you guys? Regardless, I'm calling Beach to see what they've heard on Sunday.

February 14th, 2004, 04:07 AM	#25
Stefan Scherperel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 209	Well, because I'm a nice guy I am posting a link to a 47meg uncompressed .mov file of some very low light clips I shot in my computer room. I only had the light from my monitor and an overhead 60watt light bulb. I shot in the shadows and tried to focus on saturated colors such as blue and red to see if any noise was present. You can see for yourself, http://www.stefweb.net/lowlighttest.mov I really don't see excessive noise in the video even in the super saturated blue light of my external hard drive and flash mx book. Again judge for yourselves, however I find it hard to believe there is a video quality problem with my 100a, or maybe I just got lucky. Again it is a 47meg file so have patience and it works best if you right click and save it to your desktop. sorry for the shakey footage, my tripod is out in my freezing cold car right now, and its soooo warm inside!

February 14th, 2004, 04:34 AM	#26
Tavis Shaver Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada Posts: 209	http://www.stefweb.net/lowlighttest.mov linked for the lazy

February 14th, 2004, 04:40 AM	#27
Yik Kuen Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Johor Bahru, Malaysia Posts: 135	Hi guys, It's quite difficult to judge the graininess if we all have different monitors and/or TVs (if this is the way that we judge the quality). Different levels or Contrast and Brightness settings on our montor/tv do make some video look noisier. Bryan, I find the frame grab quite clean.

February 14th, 2004, 05:48 AM	#28
John Hooper New Boot Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: United kingdom Posts: 12	The PAL version of the 100A has just arrived in the UK, I hope this "quality control" issue does not apply to this version as well?

February 14th, 2004, 11:56 AM	#29
Stefan Scherperel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 209	Hey thanks travis, how do you do the links again?

February 14th, 2004, 12:04 PM	#30
Stefan Scherperel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Seattle WA Posts: 209	If you are watching this on a computer screen, the best way to see if there is "grain" is by turning your brightness all the way up. The best way would be to record this footage to your camera in with your nle and watch in your tv. Of coarse if we are looking for grain like this and having such a hard time, that also has to tell you something.