Hey PALS, a little troubleshooting help?
When I got my camera it hadn't been used in eight years and was malfunctioning the last time it was used, so I brought it to Kerry at Video Electronics to do a tune up/repair job. However when I got it back from him and used the cam for the first time, the footage had bars across it after a few minutes of use, which I now know means one of the heads was malfunctioning, so I sent it back, he repaired it again, and it's functioned pretty alright the past few months while filming at my indoor space, with a few exceptions:
One time two months ago it did the exact same thing (recorded about 2 min of footage and then glitched heavily) BUT I was using some garbage tape that came with my cap-cam from ebay, and when playing the tape back on the cap-cam it immediately gave me a warning saying the heads were dirty. I used a headcleaner on both cams, threw the tape out, and everything was cool for a few weeks so I just chalked it up to a shit tape.
Then as I stated in my last post in this thread, a few weeks ago it did the same thing, heads dropped out/bars across footage, but I just assumed it was because it was fucking cold outside, like 35 degrees and wet.
But yesterday, it glitched again (hadn't used it since previous cold session mentioned above): same thing as always, fresh tape, first few minutes work, then a head drops out and bars pop up
it was still slightly chilly in the morning, but I dunno, that doesn't seem like the cause in my estimation.
Once I found out it wasn't recording properly, I ran a headcleaner, switched tapes, and then it recorded the rest of the session fine, though it was warmer outside, and I let it record without stopping or shutting it off between tries because I wondered if the switching back and forth has the potential to make it jam easier?
Do I just have shitty tapes, maybe?
A super fickle and/or fucked camera?
Both?
Something else?
These are the only tapes I have used, aside from the one instance mentioned above:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P95FZ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1For what it's worth Kerry said he was dubious of them because despite being Sony Premium or whatever, the label says made in Mexico.
But, like I said, many of them have recorded totally fine? Sigh. Any input would be welcome.
Also, maybe worth mentioning, the sound does not work on my VX: meaning it does not beep despite having that setting turned on and there is also no sound when playing back on the VX, though it does record sound fine as it plays back on the cap cam (and, yes, I know you shouldn't play back on the VX but at this point it's kind of necessary for me to check every once in a while because it's malfunctioned so many times and I have wasted literally hours upon hours recording nothing).
Please help!