[Chas Smith]

From everything I’ve recently read and seen, Raw video on T3i (660D) is possible. Somewhat limited but possible.

https://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5494.0

Video Sample / Side-by-Side Comps== H2.64 vs Raw
https://vimeo.com/70091775

Video sample: T3i ML-FCP
https://vimeo.com/66987885

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[Chas Smith]

Thanks to all for posting. I basically figured out the resize issue and adjusted outside of Vegas before I realized you guys made the suggestion. It was a head-scratcher.

Thanks again!

[Chas Smith]

No luck on getting a clean image… had 4 techs from 3 different post-houses try it on different machines, etc. They came up with different possibilities as to what happened to the tape:

Intermittent Clogged Heads
Heads going bad
Bad Tape
Combination of the above

Good thing I shot a ton of cover and other interviews… so I didn’t
lose too much.

I had a cleaning cassette and used it along with compressed air.
Only had one recent warning and repeated. Thinking it’s time to retire this XHA1 and move on to a file-based system anyhow.

Thanks for asking.

[Chas Smith]

Kewl… will check it out! The first thing though is pricepoint: a tad rich at over $2,000 🙁 Still it’s
a sign of the future.

thx

Chas

[Chas Smith]

Funny you send this link because I was just looking at this on my own. The 4 unit model is what I was talking to the Peerless rep about. I could set it up where one display gets a hard feed from the player and wifi the other 4.

BTW…the TV/DVD combos were Viewsonic N22W01 which were very well made units and designed more for corporate AV use. Bascially a store mgr would use a single remote and hit “Power” …the DVD was already loaded and would auto-play. Worked beautifully. Also have some older Toshiba TV/DVD combos and they’re still working. But I know it’s just a matter of time. Price performance-wise, these have served me well.

Thanks for the link

[Chas Smith]

I’ve been looking at Viewsonic’s wireless media players and they may work out. The big thing is distance from transmission to reception.
Here’s a link:

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/digital-signage/media-players.html

The thing is my set-up won’t allow for cable or Cat5 or internet stream. Right now I’m using 5 TV/DVD combos which have been working well for the past 3 yrs but 3 machines are starting to sputter.
Since the displays have multiple inputs including HDMI & USB, I’m thinking there must be some wireless network streaming device that would do this without too much hassle. I’ve seen some 5.8mhz devices and with WiFi being all the rage… you could even send something from a tablet or Android device in needed. Hence there must be some solution out there.

Thanks,

Chas

[Chas Smith]

Thanks for the follow-up. I’m not sure I’ll do the Canon repair route and just sell the camera “as-is”. After doing some research, it seems the trade-in value for an XHA1 in good working condition is somewhere around $750. Not sure but the head replacement/repair might be close to half of that.

Another thing is that while the XHA1 has its good points… I’ve found it to be lacking in ease of operation from a manual setting and especially keeping focus sharp.. the button layouts just aren’t as tactile as I’d like and when you’re shooting in a low-lit area…it’s just a PITA to feel around for the switch… the focal assist doesn’t always tell the truth either.

Thanks again.

[Chas Smith]

Thanks for the reply & link. I’ve looked at these, not sure if they’re suitable for commercial application as they seem to be made for the home environment.

Have you used these personally? If so, can they hold up to daily use for about 10 to 15 hrs daily usage?

Essentially what I need is a WHDMI transmitter that can take the output of a DVD player or digital media player and send the AV signal wireless to 4 or 5 TV displays, each with a wireless receiver.

I’ve got some Viewsonic 22″ that have built-in DVD players but those are starting to fail after 3 yrs continual use. But each display has many inputs including HDMI and a USB port. Even a composite AV might work provided there’s no interference.

I was looking at the Digital Signage forum but there hasn’t been any activity over there in months…not sure if it’s still active.

Thanks,

Chas

[Chas Smith]

I’ve been really busy trying to get multiple projects finished, so here’s an update on my Canon XHA1 tape issue.

I went to Dallas (about 3 hrs drive from my area) as there are far more technical resources / production facilities with the expertise on this. Went to 2 prodn houses / transfer facilities and tried to playback on different HDV machines. The issue was the same and in the exact same spot on the tapes.

I had 4 engineer / techs who basically came up with the following theories which I’ve already assumed would be the case.

1. Dirty heads — but doesn’t really explain why tape recorded clean after the issue and only intermittently.

2. Bad heads — but again… if they were bad…why intermittently?

3. Bad tape stock — This seems a strong possibility as I’ve since recorded on old stock and new stock and have yet to duplicate the problem.

4. Combination of clogged heads / bad stock — this is just a guess.

The engineers / techs all said that they see more issues with tape but admit they don’t use tape as much except when dealing with legacy products. I guess my age is showing as back in “the day” TV stations would never replace gear until after 7 yrs…and even then they’d often find some application until they absolutely had to replace it.

Sooo… needless to say, I’m shopping for solid-state recording options. Not sure about sending the XHA1 in for repair… I believe I just need to archive all HDV tapes to some non-tape media for retrieval. Perhaps DVD, perhaps removeable drives.. guess I’ll be doing that over the holiday break come Christmas.

I did receive a few comments from other XHA1 users from other forums who have had same issue and some have received bulletins regarding some Sony HDV stock to be faulty and eligible for replacement. Nothing on the MiniDV shot as HDV though.

Others have had the “Remove Tape” msg on their XHA1, HV20 etc. My HV20 did this about 7 months ago and it would be around $300 USD to fix according to some forum comments. It’s not worth in IMHO.

Time to go tapeless is the message. And hopefully faultless… I’m about ready to start using Sam’s Club as my AV supplier for gear LoL… my two betacamSp camcorders worked for years without a hitch…I still have one in the office for decoration and it still works. Too bad our newer gear just doesn’t have the same tolerances…or so it seems.

FWIW,

Chas

[Chas Smith]

Hi Todd:

Thanks for your info… it’s a good chance tape head alignment is at play here. The thing which is sooo puzzling is how it only seems to happen during the “interviews” mostly… I’ve not checked the entire tapes for fear of further damage (to either camera or tapes)…

But what I’ve observed is that I’ll have two back-to-back interviews that have the play-freeze issue and then the next scene is run & gun b-roll that plays back perfectly!! 🙂

But later in the tape there may be another issue repeat on another interview (why just the interviews?)…again…I haven’t looked at the entire tape…for reasons mentioned…just spot checking.

Crazy…crazy..crazy. But I’m thinking if I can get this to playback on anything…capture asap and keep fingers crossed.
That’s my goal.

Thanks again!