Sony HVR-HD1000E
 HD OK
|
These are the main HD camera's currently used in YSTV. There were at one time four of these, only two of these now function but none record to tape.
They record at 1440x1080i50 (anamorphic) onto HDV tape for capture, and do live video out over HDMI or Composite. They have a good set of functions, setup by a touch screen and controlled during use by buttons and a fly-by-wire ring. We currently use them in preference to all our other cameras for pretty much everything.
The original three cameras - and the associated tripod, lamp, wired remote control, and bag - were donated with money from the Alumni Fund.
Power
These camera's are picky in that they need 8.7V through a propriety connector. There is an adapter cable-tied to each camera to allow the use of 4-pin XLR to provide power. However, care must be taken to avoid plugging a 12V supply into the camera's. Doing this turns the camera into a 'tape muncher', among other problems.
In February 2014, new power standards were introduced to combat this issue. The camera power supplies have been modified such that 8.4V and 12V are provided on different pins, hopefully preventing any more accidents.
Current condition
Due to the use of incompatible power supplies (see above), the two working HVRs are currently 'tape munchers'. A formerly fully working HVR ceased functioning for reasons unknown on 25/11/13, leaving YSTV with no method to record from a HVR.
Both cameras can be used for live shows, both in HD and SD. During their use at Woodstock 2009 the video out and umbilical were dangling directly from the composite socket for some of the show. The weight of the umbilical and the movement of the camera damaged the composite sockets of two of the cameras. These were re-soldered to the circuit board in the Easter vacation of 2010, but have since been damaged again. The S-Video connection has since been used on both cameras in SD setups. As of March 2014, one camera no longer outputs colour via S-video, and the other's connector is failing.
HD requires the use of battery converters to work with BNC cabling.
Repair notes
Composite socket
In order to resolder the composite socket it is necessary to take off the side of the camera which has the speaker in - i.e. the side which rests against your face in shoulder-mounted operation. This requires removing four large screws on the large panel, the shoulder rest, two screws under the shoulder rest, one screw near the front of the camera on its base, one small one slightly on the right-hand side of the top of the lens, and one small one on the left hand side underneath the lens.
