Sony PHU-60 Problems

[Sean Prior]

Can anyone help. We did a shoot the other day with the externall hard drive for he edcam (phu-60). The little USB conncetor socket on the top fell into the hole, so we need to ope the drive to put it back into place.

When I uncrewed the screws at the back the drive would not come apart. I dont want to force it in case i break it. Has anyone opened one of these before?

If i send back to sony….it will take about 3 weeks to get drive back as they will have to send to France.

all i really need is to figure out how to open it but no manual is available.

Thanks
Sean

[Sean Prior]

anyone know how to get it open once you take the screws out?

[Jody Eldred]

Matt:

Sorry to hear of your nightmares with the PHU-60K. I see it was some time ago and hopefully all has been made right.

For what it’s worth, I got one of the very first units, have used it (and 2 others) extensively with zero problems. So it’s not systemic. I don’t have a solution, but Sony did not deliver a problematic product, though there are always units with problems. That’s unavoidable.

Sony has asked me for several years (since before the release of the Z1U) to test various HD cameras BEFORE they are released to see how they work and what needs tweaking. Some of my input has been applied to cameras such as the F350 XDCAM HD, the PDW 700 and F800 XDCAM HD, the EX1 and the EX3. (I was the first person to shoot and edit with a pre-production EX1, working with the Japanese designers.)

I say this to let you know that Sony really does do significant testing on their gear before it’s sold, and they don’t use paying customers for that purpose– though it may feel that way some times. I personally know this as I have been one of their primary crash-test dummies.

I also know that we DPs often pay a price for being early adopters of new technologies (ask any RED owner with a serial number under 500). Sony is very cutting edge, and to remain so requires them to introduce sometime revolutionary products (the EX line comes to mind) aggressively into the marketplace. Because those products are so sophisticated and complex, and are aggressively marketed in the cutthroat business we work in, occasionally the production environment informs Sony of needed changes in ways that pre-testing cannot fully accomplish.

I know these Sony guys well, and they truly care about repeat business. They know that requires them to personally care about their customers. It’s a mammoth organization and of course there will be some who are more compassionate than others. It IS a money-making business, after all. But my experience has been that they are upfront, honest, and truly working to provide excellent, reliable tools for professionals. Yes there are issues from time to time. But they aren’t the number one HD camera company in the world for nothing. They make great products that are reliable and make great images reliably. That’s why guys like James Cameron, George Lucas, Robert Rodriguez and Michael Mann use and own a whole range of their cameras, from EX1s to F900s, F23s and up.

Hope things are working out well for you.

Sincerely,

Jody Eldred
Producer/Director/DP
Los Angeles

[John V.d. putten]

I am experiencing the same problems with the PHU-60, but especially when I’m recording a concert.
The drive can’t handle sound-pressures of 100 dB’s, I hope Sony will come with a solution for this problem. Hoodman’s adapter with SDHC cards is the only way to go at this moment. But you need two adapters and a bunch of cards to swap, after the EX has changed slots.

/code>

[Craig Seeman]

Two 32GB cards give you 64GB which is just a bit more than the hard drive is capable of so I don’t know what you mean about swapping cards.

BTW your post is one good reason why I just don’t think recording to a hard drive in the field is worth the risk. There are many things that can jar a spinning hard drive.