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Posted by Gary Eickmeier on 06/18/06 13:48
I have the Sony VX-2000, considered one of the best Mini-DV camcorders.
The reliability and compatibility with other Sony cameras is terrific.
We can record anything with one of our Sonys, and it will play on all of
the others without question. We shoot mostly at LP speed, because many
of our jobs are long weddings, dance recitals, or graduations. No
problem - usually.
My camera developed a sound dropout problem, in which a frame or two of
audio, but not the video, would be missing, causing a stuttering of the
sound as captured and a visible gap in the timeline audio waveform. It
apparently has something to do with each sweep of the head drum, because
it is frame based, or sometimes multiple frames.
I sent it in to the Sony depot in Connecticut (I forget their name). It
came back incompatible with our other Sony cameras. I sent it back
again, with a careful note and a tape recorded on another, known good
Sony, at both speeds. Told them to align it with that tape so it would
be compatible once again. They did that, seemingly, but now I am getting
this nonsense again. It showed up in spades with an 80 minute tape that
we shot at LP speed so that we could do a 2-hour graduation or four.
Here is the interesting part: Most of the gaps are not audible in the
analog output of the sound track - just when I transfer to the computer
with firewire. I listen to the track on headphones, and it is pretty
solid. I record the track to a separate audio recorder, a minidisc unit,
and it plays fine and transfers back into the computer fine, saving me
somewhat. It is as if that one last bit of digital audio information is
not getting on tape sometimes, but the audio is still there, or most of
it. It just doesn't all make it to the firewire output.
Seems like I need a better tape to head alignment, but no one seems to
know how to do it. A local shop I took it to (Southern Photo Tech) said
they don't have the equipment to work on that camera, and I should be
happy with SP speed anyway.
I want to know if any of you have a handle on this problem, or know a
service center that does, or would be competent to align my heads to
factory specs. The Sony centers are pretty much useless, because you
can't talk to the technicians, they charge a standard price of about
$500 no matter what it needs, and they don't seem to care much about the
quality of their work.
I also wouldn't mind knowing why Mini-DV cameras do not have auto
tracking like most good VHS machines had, where they will track a signal
no matter what camera or machine it was recorded on.
Thanks,
Gary Eickmeier
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