Pd 170 failed

[Ian Thomas]

Did a wedding yesterday but my 170 failed me, Did all the checks before i set of everything worked fine, Got to the church unpacked my 170 fired it up only to find the sun shining on the church looked pink through the flip out screen and all the colours looked wrong

Thank God i had the XLH1 saved the day, the 170 has only 30hrs on the clock could it be a ccd thats gone bad and if so how much

[Tom Hardwick]

A batch of PD170s did indeed suffer chip block failure - in fact I was asked to do a rescue job in post on a lot of wedding footage so afflicted. Sony admitted the fault was theirs and did not so much a recall but a free repair to any of the cameras sent back displaying this particular fault.

There's no time to lose. Contact Sony asap and go from there.

tom.

[Ian Thomas]

Thanks Tom
The camera is around 4yrs old now will sony still replace the block after this length of time?

[Don Bloom]

contact Sony tell them what happened and the SN of the camera and see if they will cover it. They did for me around the first of the year. My 170 suddenly went magenta and I KNEW it had the dreaded CCD block problem. Called on Monday, sent it out on Tuesday had it back on the following Tuesday. All at no charge.
You don't ask, you don't get.

Don

[Tom Hardwick]

They certainly should do the repair foc Ian - it was a well publicised problem/remedy. Sony's professional side here in the UK are pretty good anyway, so I'd approach them with knowledge and an assumption that you're 'another chip off the block'. Oh whatta pun.

[Ian Thomas]

Thanks Don,Tom

I contacted sony repair and the model number does not fit the ones that had the problem and because the camera has had not much use 30 drum hrs they think that could be the problem,

I bought it on ebay in August and the owner said he had not used it much, sony now want to know were it was bought from i know it was from a camera place down south but i can't remember who so i have emailed the seller to see if he can let me know the camera is like new surely they should repair it free of charge

[Tom Hardwick]

Seems odd to me that you were setting out to shoot a wedding with an XL-H1 and a PD170. Had you switched the latter to 16:9? If so you'd not have been able to cut them together on the same timeline - the Sony would've looked far too soft.

You told Sony the serial Nr, not the model Nr I hope. Saying it's only done 30 hours doesn't mean it's still covered by guarantee, as a new car stored in a garage for 4 years would fare likewise.

Still sounds like chip-block failure to me, a failure Sony owned up to. Maybe the time has expired when they did all the repairs. I'd go for my money back from the seller if I were you.

tom.

[Ian Thomas]

Nothing odd here Tom

The canon was the backup camera the 170 was the main camera why?

Because the service was a candle lit no lights and it was very dark and this is were the 170 blows the hd cameras away

Anyway i did manage it with the canon but with a struggle

No sony won't repair it FOC they want £575 to do it but iam getting it done for half of that price

[Tom Hardwick]

Why? Because I simply assumed you'd film a wedding in 16:9, and the PD170 doesn't do that very well. Or did your couple request a 4:3 film of their day?

[Ian Thomas]

No Tom
they just requested a video of their day, well shot, well edited, so you shoot 16:9 what about aunty mary and uncle tom who have a 4:3 tv everybody will look like giraffes but if its shot 4:3 it will also be ok on WS tv's

Look Tom 16:9 and HD is coming make no mistake but i know you won't agree with this but after speaking to the repair man today who might i add is a fully trained by sony japan he told me that there are still many wedding videographers using these cameras because 9 times out of 10 they are super reliable, you would be amazed how many tape decks fail on the new HD cameras because i asked if it was worth repairing and he said very much so

The Canon is a great camera and the outside shots look great but when the lights go down at this moment in time the 170 takes some beating

[Tom Hardwick]

My only worry is that your happy couple would have simply assumed that the video you shot of their wedding would fit their new flat screen telly, in the same way they assumed it would be in colour, sharp, well edited with good sound. They'd also assume it would be in SD so that every single person they lend it to could play it.

The DVD would play letterboxed into any other 4:3 TV so no giraffes - whatever gave you that idea? It's the DVD player's set-up menu that tells it what shape of telly it's feeding.

I'd agree that the 170 is a mighty fine camera and of course Mr Repair would say it was worth fixing - that's how he eats. But to suggest that tape decks fail on HDV cameras or are somehow less reliable is nonsense - the deck in my Z1 is almost indistinguishable from my 1997 TRV900.

OK, there are still wedding videographers shooting in 4:3 but I bet they don't tell the couple they'll have to watch it pillarboxed on their plasma, or accept a fatter bride. Couples that can employ a Mr Video as well as a tog, stretched limo, band, food for 100 guests, a dress, presents and honeymoon, don't come home to switch on an old 4:3 CRT.

tom.

[Ian Thomas]

well he has a bucket full of tape decks from Z1s that have failed so be aware