Camcorder Playback Noise. Help!

ProDad · Post by **ProDad** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:11 am

I hope some kind soul will help diagnose a problem I'm having and save me having to get a new camcorder. I have a Panasonic PV-DV351D. It's about 6 years old and has served me well. Recently, however, I started getting some kind of noise during playback. The noise is present in the captured file just like what I see on the LCD screen on the camera. The image divides evenly into horizontal bars - ten of them to be exact. The odd numbered bars show my image undisturbed. The even numbered bars show a bunch of pixelated garbage. (I have a screen grab I can email someone if that would help. I don't have a URl to post it to.)

The problem only occurs intermittently, but with increasing regularity. It happens more often than not. ONce I tried powering off and unplugging and then powering up and it went away. Now that doesn't help. I tried a DV cleaner tape to no avail.

Any suggestions?
ProDad (Prodad@gmail.com)

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:23 am

If the DV cleaner isn't helping, I would suspect that the tape drive mechanism is wearing out. I have 2 Sony TRV120's because the first one does like yours. The tape is dragging, while being pulled across the heads.

Do the bars and pixelating resemble the area shown on the right? This travels from left to right across the screen, and generally encompasses about ½ the screen.

I went further than using a cleaning tape, I disassembled it, and used a cleaner to clean the components. It worked for awhile, but now it will produce those pixelated bars. Mine also will completely loose the image once in awhile. I correct this by lightly tapping the camera..

I know it's not a recommended method but it worked for me. Please don't attempt that, unless you have another spare camera..

ProDad · Post by **ProDad** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:30 am

The pixelated area doesn't really look like what you've shown. Can you tell me how to post a photo here? A picture is worth a thousand posts.

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:42 pm

When you are posting on the board, look under the Options located to the left. the BBCode is Blue and underline like in my sentence. That is a link to the FAQ on how to use Bulletin Board Codes. To review it while trying to post, open it in a new window or tab (CTL + click).
Basically to add an image, it must be uploaded to a hosting site, like ImageShack, Putfile. I use ImageShack, because it provides the code.

The code for posting an image is "image link goes in here". Simply enclose the hyperlink to your image inside the "" brackets.

ProDad · Post by **ProDad** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:43 pm

Thanks for the info about Image Shack. Here is what my playback video looks like:

Any idea what might cause this??

Post by **Ron P.** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:40 pm

That's basically what mine does, however not as bad as yours yet. I'm no technition, but I would say that the camera needs repaired.

When you use a cleaning tape, it goes across all the surfaces, like the capstan, the play and record heads, removing all the tape gunk. Sometimes they get dirty enough that a tape can not get it all. There's also a mechanism called an Idler. This wears out with time, and causes problems with the tape tracking correctly over the play/record heads, which can lead to these types of problems. The only remedy is to have it replaced.

I'm unclear if this occurs on just one tape or on many? Do you use the higher quality tapes? This type of problem could be due to the tape losing it's magnetism, called "fallout or fall-off", simply the tape is worn out. Anything that has "fallen off" is no longer there, and can not be corrected.

skier-hughes · Post by **skier-hughes** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:32 pm

How many times have you used the cleaning tape.
If only once I'd run it through another couple of times, but for max 10 secs at a time.
Leave the cam in warm dry room between cleans.

Have you used different makes of tape? They use different lubricants, which make the mechanism very dirty.

If it is worn out, then probably cheaper to buy a new one, so excessive cleaning, if it doesn't work is not going to ruin a ruined cam

ProDad · Post by **ProDad** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:41 pm

I tried running the cleaning tape a couple more times with no luck.

I'm using TDK tapes. Not sure what quality level they are. I tried three different ones that I had handy and all had the same result. These tapes have all been used more than once, but I doubt any of them have been used much more than a half-dozen times.

It's not sounding good is it?

This is not a high end camera so I'm guessing that a repair would cost more than a new one of similar quality. I think it cost me about $600 six years ago. I wanted to get a better camera eventually, but I was hoping this one could remain as a B camera.

"Uh, Honey! Isn't next month Father's Day?"

Thanks for your help guys.