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Posted by Mr. Tapeguy on 06/19/06 07:55
Gary Eickmeier wrote:
> 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.
I think they DO have auto tracking Gary - what you're lacking is the
manual tracking adjustment. I suspect this may have something to do
with digital vs. analong.
Dropouts and errors beyond the error-correction ability of your
playback tend to be magnified in digital and even more so in LP which
is one reason among many that most professionals don't use it. I don't
know that it's the direct result of that but I'd be willing to be it
contributes to it.
Craig
http://www.pro-tape.com
Adobe - Apple - Avid - Canon - JVC - Lowel - Panasonic - Sony - Varizoom
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