OT : video camera problem

wandering journalist wrote on 12/16/2009, 6:00 PM

so... I have a Sony HVR A1U nice little rig in my mind and I've had it for four years now. I have loved it... until September when during a shoot for the Olympic Torch Relay it crapped out on me. Started doing a weird thing where the footage appeared to be on the tape but wouldn't play back... and in the end looks like the footage wasn't really recording properly According to the service tech it was the drum head unit. So, four weeks later and scrambling to buy a small HD camcorder to get me through I picked up my camera. Now yesterday I used the Sony A1U to shoot a big outdoor event again Olympic related and then that night while shooting my kids Christmas concert it crapped out again - same problem. So... finally... my question is... anybody else having these problems with this camera or is it an age thing? Looks like I'm covered under the 90 day warranty from the work done... but I'm getting a little worried about reliability.
Thanks,
Dale.

Comments

farss wrote on 12/16/2009, 6:49 PM

Have you tried cleaning the heads?
Have you been using tapes from different suppliers?
Condensation problem would be another suspect but that'll normally bring up an alarm.

It's only very, very rarely that we've had to replace a head assembly, the heads themselves seem to last forever but the bearings are another matter.

Bob.

wandering journalist wrote on 12/17/2009, 8:24 AM

Thanks Bob - I have certain Rain Man tendencies when it comes to my camera gear so the heads are cleaned on a regular basis. In fact I use a small Cannon for a play back deck so the A1U doesn't even get wear and tear for that. But I guess the weather conditions could play havoc... I shoot under some mucky conditions sometimes - no alarms though. As for tapes, Sony and in a pinch JVC. They'e purchased from Sony Store or Henry's - national photo/video/imaging chain.