HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate
by Eric Hansen
on
Nov 15, 2007 at 12:03:05 am
hey HD cow
i got a Sony HDW-M2000/10 and i'm about to send it in for its yearly maintenance. just wondering if anyone knows what kinda hit i'm looking at taking in the wallet. i have sent in Beta and DVCAM decks for years, but never a deck that costs more than every car i've ever owned put together. does the service cost go up relative to the equipment's price?
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by Bob Zelin on Nov 15, 2007 at 9:04:55 pm
yes -
the maintenance on the HDW-M2000 is expensive. This is what will happen when you get this VTR to Sony -
1) you will not be able to pay your medical insurance
2) you will contract a rare disease, that comes from Japan (you did open up your HDW-M2000 to clean it, right).
3) you won't be able to see any doctors, as your money went to Sony Broadcast Maintenance in Teaneck, NJ, where your money is being spend on a big Sony party. (We got some moron to pay for maintaining the HDW-M2000 - lets PARTY !)
4) you will die
5) your family will inherit the HDW-M2000, and put it on ebay. They will buy the car that you really wanted when you were alive. They will be happy, and you will be dead.
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by Bill Crawford on Nov 16, 2007 at 1:23:08 pm
Hi Eric,
Bob seems to be in a witty mood today ;)
I've run a 2000 for the past 5 years and the maintenance has not been bad at all. I have a project shop, so the deck doesn't run every day - that's been my big benefit. I've probably only put enough hours on it to count for a year of a busy HD post house. It's on the input the tapes to my system, and output the finished piece, and the occasional downconverts for those still the in the dark ages ;) Translated - it's on for half a day of a weeks worth of post work. Gotta love computer editing!
This kind of use - pretty typical of small shops is not the kind of schedule that fits into the traditional "annual maintenance model. It's all about the hours. For some like me - the cycle is much longer.
I'd suggest the following:
1. See about having someone come by rather than ship it. You'll drop 300.00+ to ship it 2 ways right off the bat - assuming you don't use one idiot and a truck. ;)
2. You can do the clean your self pretty easily. Nothing hard there, and the op manual gives you the steps and materials if you are already not familiar with them. It's easier than cleaning camera heads.
3. Assuming that in normal operation you are seeing that the audio and video levels are consistent in / out, and you are not seeing any comets across the recorded image with the channel light flashing yellow or red - you very likely do not need any serious work done by a factory engineer.
4. Last but not least, check the operation hours and compare them to the chart in the Sony manual. If you are close to the head replacement hours, then you might benefit from a factory guy visit. If you are not then don't risk the damage from shipping just for a look see and clean.
The services I've had on mine have all been here at the shop. I've used a freelance engineer and had the Sony guy drop by when he has been in town for one of the big houses here. On these visits the Sony guy uploaded a new version of the software, replaced a few rollers and a belt, did a quick align and was out in an hour. The cost was 550.00 for the parts, update and labor.
Hope that helps. If you have anything specific, drop a note back and I'll help if I can.
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by Bob Zelin on Nov 17, 2007 at 1:08:56 am
If Sony determines that you need new heads (and they will if you have more than 1000 hours on it, weather it needs it or not), you will be spending quite a bit more than $550 for the "repair". If you find a "local guy", make sure that he is not the local "VCR repairman", and actually knows what he is doing with this very expensive VTR.
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by paul Provost on Nov 21, 2007 at 3:57:22 am
in the words of dr. evil "one million dollars!"
just make sure you charge your clients more to cover the maintenance.
and turn your deck off when you're not using it and don't leave a tape parked in it for an hour. your family will get a better price for it with lower op hours!
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by paul Provost on Nov 21, 2007 at 6:17:57 am
dude I just saw on your profile you work at TGR!
screw the deck service - let's ski! (if it plays a tape it's fine. trust me)
snow-snow-snow. gettin a little at copper tonite!
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by paul Provost on Nov 21, 2007 at 6:29:41 am
ps. why are you sending the deck in? having problems? dropouts? networks rejecting tapes?
how many hours have you put on it? when did you get it? get it new?
I would venture you might get hit with a bill of a couple of grand from sony.
it might be nice to have it cleaned if you have a really good sony qualified tech in town (likely since half of CA has moved out there by now)
but unless there is a compelling reason for a full sony service/alignment I would avoid it.
I guess you digitize footage and then just use it for output now and again? nothing like a dub house that is running tapes through it 10-20 hours a day?
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by Eric Hansen on Nov 24, 2007 at 10:00:29 pm
thanks for the advice. i'm sorry it took me so long to check back, i guess i forgot to check the "email entire thread" button.
yeah Paul, get your sticks and lets hit the slopes! stop in the office anytime. we're next to where the Jackson Hole tram USED to be.
the heads have 2000 hours. the sony manual suggests maintenance at 3000 hours, which i thought was very high. we bought it lightly used 2 years ago. the deck has been trouble-free until recently. i've been getting channel condition errors on playback, and drop outs and glitches on captured footage. ironically, it records just fine. these problems seem to be on playback only. i've only had one tape rejected, but i'm pretty sure it wasnt related to this.
the AJA Control Panel shows the HDSDI input from the deck as "1080i29.97". then occasionally it will go brown and say "1080i30" then go back to "1080i29.97" i thought it might be a faulty Blackburst, but i switched it with a borrowed one, and it still showed these errors, and i still got glitches on playback.
since we are in Jackson Hole, WY, there's no techs out here. shipping is the only option. i was speaking to my roommate who also has an M2000 (small town, lots of production) and he said their deck has been nothing but problems and to expect Sony to have it for a few months. i was surprised at this since my dealings with Sony Pro Repair have always been speedy. but he said with the HDCAM stuff, they tend to backorder parts. he suggested getting a replacement deck from Sony during the meantime.
Re: HDCAM yearly maintenance estimate by paul Provost on Nov 25, 2007 at 4:14:47 am
well, channel condition errors are definitely a BAD thing. It really could be as simple as a cleaning, or hopefully an alignment and a few parts. I'm getting my first brand new hdcam tomorrow, so I don't know about them, but digibetas can often go 5000 hrs on the scanner.
or they can go out at 1000 (but every one I've had has gone 3000-4000 plus...
call sony first.
I have an amazing maintenance guy here in LA who only takes new clients by referral so I could put you in touch if you want - he may let you pick his brain for suggestions.
but back to the important stuff. where is the damn snow?!?!
would love to try Jackson Hole someday - i got a place up in summit county, co so it's hard for me to get away from there, but someday...
