Posted by Steve King on 01/11/90 11:45

"Richard Crowley" <rcrowley@xpr7t.net> wrote in message
news:124cgbnor65gk23@corp.supernews.com...
> "Steve King" wrote ...
>> "Richard Crowley" wrote ...
>>> "Richard Crowley" wrote ...
>>>> You can get the same artifacts from DVCAM. I am taking my DSR-300 into
>>>> the shop (today, I hope) to get a very similar problem fixed. It is
>>>> likely a dirty and/or misaligned tape path.
>>>
>>> Problem turns out to be a moving guide that came loose
>>> and dropped out of the tape path. Fortunately, nothing broke
>>> and the missing part fell into the bottom of the case, etc.
>>> It will cost me ~$250 (mostly for complete re-alignment
>>> of the tape path, etc.)
>>
>> It could be worse, I suppose. How severe was the dropout problems
>> without the guide?
>
> There were 4-8 pixel squares of "pixelization" scattered
> throughout the frame (about 1-2 per minute). But the main
> artifact was constant and significant pixelization of the
> whole right side of the frame. But only when the image
> was moving. When that part of the frame was stationary,
> it looked almost normal (because it was averaging whatever
> data it could over a long-term).
>
> The cause was that the tape did not get a complete wrap
> around the head drum, so the bottom of the tape (=right
> side of the frame image) was only partially writing data.
>
>> I even hesitate to use the term dropout, which I have always thought of
>> as an imperfection in the tape.
>
> A dropout can be caused by several things other than
> the tape.
>
>
>> A producer friend of mine told me today that he had an occurance similar
>> to mine, except it happened undetected during a shoot. Kids. Only one
>> good take. The one with the dropout. He said he has switched to Sony's
>> Excellence tape.
>
> To be honest, I have not detected any difference between
> "low-end" and "premium" tape. Ones are ones and zeroes
> are zeroes. I'm sure I would see a difference if I were to
> re-use tapes or use them in some other severe manner.
>
> OTOH, I use Sony DVCAM tape almost exclusively, and
> virgin, one-pass, at that. When we looked at the transport,
> the repair engineer remarked at how clean it was, especially
> for the number of hours on it.
>

Thanks for the info. I use DVCAM tapes in my PD150, but I also have a
VX2000, which does not allow that option. When I first started shooting DV,
I asked an acquaintance who shoots National Geographic and other high-end
docs what tape he was using. He said that he had shot hundreds of rolls of
both DVCAM and "whatever was available at the drug store in Jakarta" and he
and his team hadn't noticed any difference. You pays yer money and takes
your chances, I guess.

Steve King

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