Broken Cam - What is a "DMC3"

[aomiles]

Hi guys,
I had an issue with my HV30. It stopped playing back my tapes - it just showed a blank screen. I sent it in even though my warranty was expired and then fixed it for free (Canon rocks). I got it back today and it says:

"It was found that the DMC3 recorder unit was durty and the unit did not function from time to time. The DMC recorder unit was cleaned. Camcorder was tested in record and playback."

What exactly is the "DMC3"? I'm a little confused that they said the recorder was dirty - because tapes that had previously played fine suddenly stopped working. This made me think it was the video heads.

[antman]

Oh yeah , the little DM3, Yes, it's right next to the RS5 and just below the TYY6.
Im sure only canon knows, or someone with a service manuel would be privy to that .

[Janke]

DMC3 is the "recorder unit", i.e. the tape transport mechanism and the drum, and yes, including the video heads.

If just the heads were dirty/clogged, you might have been able to fix this yourself, with a cleaning tape... but if there was something else, then it was wise to send it to Canon.

So, did you try a cleaning tape first?

[antman]

DMC3 is the "recorder unit", i.e. the tape transport mechanism and the drum, and yes, including the video heads.

Do you mind sharing where you found the reference to that specific part # ?. Or are you just going by what the op wrote?

[aomiles]

DMC3 is the "recorder unit", i.e. the tape transport mechanism and the drum, and yes, including the video heads.

If just the heads were dirty/clogged, you might have been able to fix this yourself, with a cleaning tape... but if there was something else, then it was wise to send it to Canon.

So, did you try a cleaning tape first?

Yes, I used the cleaning tape several times before turning it in... nothing worked.
So it seems to now be working with recording and playing back new tapes, but it still won't play my old tapes. I called Canon and they said that since the heads had been adjusted it would no longer play the old tapes and I should get a mini-dv player.

BTW Janke, thanks for great answer. Its always nice when someone has something productive to add to the conversation rather than an obvious and unproductive smart ass comment.

[Ian-T]

It seems that there was nothing you could have done about it yourself since they went as far as adjusting your heads. It's too bad you can't play back old tapes. I figure this must have been some sort of known issue since you were not charged for the repair. Maybe someone can look that up.

[Janke]

Yes, I used the cleaning tape several times before turning it in... nothing worked.
So it seems to now be working with recording and playing back new tapes, but it still won't play my old tapes. I called Canon and they said that since the heads had been adjusted it would no longer play the old tapes and I should get a mini-dv player.

BTW Janke, thanks for great answer. Its always nice when someone has something productive to add to the conversation rather than an obvious and unproductive smart ass comment.



Are all your old tapes unplayable? In that case it appears that the heads were originally out-of-alignment, and a mini-dv player probably won't be able to play them, either!

Yes, I try to help whenever I can. Thanks for the nice words! :hv20-smilie45:

@antman:
The info was found via a link on this forum, pointing to another forum. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but can help when reading/searching on the web...

[aomiles]

Janke,
The tapes were all playable at one time. I watched them after shooting them. They are from a trip to Japan and Micronesia, so I am very concerned about losing them. But I just found out from my wife that she dropped the camera at one point a few months ago. [grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr].
Could that have caused it? She thinks this happened right about the time I started trying to backup my tapes and discovered that they wouldn't play back.

I really hope that I am able to recover them. Unfortunately I will be on a small island in the South Pacific for the next year so I have no access to a mini-dv player.

[CycleWriter]

If the tapes were made with the camera prior to your wife's incident, then they should be playable on your fixed camera or another HV. That they don't tells me either something was wrong with your camera to begin with or the camera was fixed to non-standard specifications.

[ejolson]

The tapes were all playable at one time.

HDV studio decks are designed to play tapes recorded from a variety of camcorders and may play your tapes even if the recordings were misaligned.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/568089-REG/Sony_HVR_M15AU_HVR_M15AU_Desktop_HDV_VTR.html

Try your tapes in a different HDV camcorder first. If that fails, look for an economical way to test your tapes in a studio deck.

[cgbier]

The 15 is too expensive.... look at the HD700 1100 bucks + a focusing screen.