average lifespan of a digital beta deck?

[Paul Dickin]

Hi
Those head hours look good (less than half mine), but the deck’s been on doing nothing day in day out for years….

[Chris Borjis]

Digibeta decks still hold a pretty good value.
They are just built like a tank and never fail to do the job right.

If I were you I would have to have it repaired since I
use mine a lot.

[Joe Murray]

Which board needs to be replaced? Does your deck sit idle in a dry, cold environment for long periods of time? The reason I ask is that my deck engineer initially diagnosed a problem as a bad control board (several thousand $) and upon doing some more research found a technical service bulletin about DBeta brushes going bad if the deck is not used frequently. A set of barely used brushes fixed the problem and cost a whole lot less than a new board.

I’m sure you’ve probably gotten a good diagnosis of the problem you’re having, but thought it might be useful to post my experience just in case.

Joe Murray
Edit at Joe’s
Charlotte, NC

[Mike Miller]

great point joe! i didn’t know that re the TSB. i’m not sure which board is in question, i talked to a sony tech rep over the phone, described what i was seeing and he guessed it was most likely a bad board. in his estimate, he put in 3 different boards that might be causing the problem, not having seen the deck in person. the boards range from $1,100 to $4,200! my deck is idle, or turned off way more than it is used, so, that further supports the possibility of the brushes you speak of…hmmm?

i think my next step will be to box it up, ship it to sony, pay $135 for a beanch check to get an ACTUAL diagnosis on what is wrong in order to make an informed decision.

thanks again joe (and everyone!) for you responses!
very appreciated…
mike

[Joe Murray]

What problem are you seeing with the deck?

playback isses with tapes you record?

playback issues with tapes recorded elsewhere?

record issues?

channel condition lights – staying green or going orange or red?

Joe Murray
Edit at Joe’s
Charlotte, NC

[Mike Miller]

hey joe…

playback of known good tapes colors look out of whack…

blues going to green and looking all “overly chroma-ed” i have a screen cap, i just have to read how to post it here!…

[Mike Miller]

here’s what’s happening…(there should be no green on the screen)…

[Joe Murray]

That’s completely different than the problem I was having. My deck was recording little digital blocks randomly on the screen.

Joe Murray
Edit at Joe’s
Charlotte, NC

[Mike Miller]

ahhh, interesting. i guess i’ll send it out for a thorough checking. thanks again for taking the time! i checked out some of your stuff, very nice! my sister and brother in law moved down to charlotte a few years ago (from up here in the philly area), great town.

are you just editorial, or, do you handle the shooting as well out of your shop? can’t hurt for me to gather a bit of info, one of my clients is bcbs of north carolina!

i’m the director of broadcast production at an agency just outside philadelphia…

thanks again joe!

mike

[Joe Murray]

[mike miller] “are you just editorial, or, do you handle the shooting as well out of your shop? can’t hurt for me to gather a bit of info, one of my clients is bcbs of north carolina!”

We started out focusing on creative editorial, motion graphics and effects, but have had good success as time goes on by packaging production for clients as well. So many spots these days need effects and design work, and some production companies have a tendency to shortchange post as a cost line item that must be beaten into as small a number as possible. In that model the creative suffers. Would be happy to discuss further if you’d like – please use the contact link on my site and it will come directly to my email.

And thanks for the complement on our work!

Joe Murray
Edit at Joe’s
Charlotte, NC