Leaving decks on?

[Jerry Hofmann]

Heat… there’s rubber inside there that might fail sooner, and the fact that most pro decks keep account of how long they’ve been in use, so resale might be affected… it’s minor stuff, but it’s there..

Hey, be green too… turn them off when not in use I’d say.

Jerry

[Walter Biscardi]

I keep all equipment off unless it’s being used.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Broadcast and independent productions.

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[Todd Reid]

I have posed this question to many engineers in the past, and everyone gives different answer. However most tell me that the majority of the time if a piece of equipment is going to fail, it is when you turn it on or off. Therefore in a lot of large post environments you will see all machines on. There is a large drawback to this…when a piece of equipment is left on, it “learns” that it should be on, and there is a larger possibility that it will fail once turned off (like for servicing or relocating).

Tape decks, your specific question, I think are a little more robust and should have fewer troubles with this. I don’t know of any problems or harm that leaving power on would cause (other than the slight chance described), but I’m not an engineer.

I have seen this happen a few times with other equipment, when a large company I worked for moved to a new building, SEVERAL of their monitors (which had been powered on for a few years without problems) failed to power back up in the new building. Also I have had a media harddrive fail after many years when I shut down the system to add additional drives, the original one never came back.

So having said all this, I do not keep my personal equipment powered on.
But if you have equipment that has been left on for say more than a year, it is probably best to let it remain on.

just my 2 cents!

[Chris Poisson]

Interesting guys, thanks. The Beta deck is the one I’m most concerned about, as it is key to my Kona-based system, but good stuff, thanks again!

[Mark Maness]

Here’s my two cents…

I’m not sure how long you’ve been in the business. But I’ve been doing this for almost twenty years, now, and I am noticing that I am getting some hearing loss due to the fans running all of the time. So, its your ears… I think I’d turn off what ever you can to save the wear on your ears. Every little bit counts.

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com

[Russell Lasson]

I like the extra noise. It reminds me of sitting in the back of a 747. I find it soothing somehow….

What? Did you say something? Hold on, I’m going to go turn my decks, hard drives, computers, fibre switch, and RAID off so I can hear you. (we keep them all in one room and it’s beast in there.)

My opinion. If you’re not using it, turn it off!

-Russ

[Lee Mceachern]

Hey Wayne,

If you’re anything close to my age…. it ain’t the fans that are causing your hearing loss!

Lee

[Mark Maness]

I’m sure that also has something to do with it… LOL

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
http://www.schazamproductions.com

[Sean Oneil]

In college I was taught that turning decks on and off does the most damage. The ICs being warmed up and cooling off over and over again is what will kill it.

That said, I think this is kind of a dated concern. Probably better to turn it off.

But as far as analog decks like BetaSP, I think that you should make sure they’ve been warmed up before you use it (30min should be plenty) because it could affect the video levels.

[Alan Lacey]

Surface mounted electrolytic capacitors dry out faster too when hot.

I’ve had endless problems with Panasonic vcrs over the years with this, so I always keep the power down when not in use.

Alan in PALland