Anyone else having problems with severe dropout on Panasonic tapes played in a Sony D300 minirecorder? Camera (700) has lots of miles on it, but had no problems until trying to play them back on the new DVWalkman... and... Walkman is new, so can't be just old and dirty like the camera may be getting... Sent it in for repair anyway (had less than 10 hours), they replaced a drum ($130) and returned it. same intermittent problem persists. What up? Are these "normal" quality DV tapes just breaking down this much for others too? Or is there some Boogie man out there working on Panasonic tapes within Sony's ??

-- Tommy Shaw (tommy@pcpartner.net), September 20, 1999

Answers

I've experienced some tape dropouts on my Sony Walkman as well, both with miniDV and DVCAM tapes. But I'm having another problem that is similar but more serious. After two years of shooting with Sony miniDV 60min Excellence brand tapes on my Sony PD150, I'm experiencing severe audio dropouts. I'm getting the drum replaced and will be switching over to nothing but 40min DVCAM field tapes. The theory is that the 2 years of wear and tear with miniDV tapes has eroded the heads to where they can't handle the less-robust tapes anymore. Any thoughts?

-- Rustin Thompson (rustin@whitenoiseproductions.com), October 10, 2002.