On Tue, 30 Apr 2002 00:33:16 +1000, Brett Ramsey wrote:

>Just got a Sony PD100. Went very well first time out with 2 exeptions,
>1 massive tape dropout that made everything look as if it was being
>filmed in some venitian blind effect. And 1 very strange one where I
>had 1 single frame suddenlly go massivelly out of focus without warning
>and with Auto Focus and Steady shot both turned OFF.
>Anybody had any similar experiences?.
>Also what tapes do you recommend using in this camera. Sony of course
>recommend their most expensive but I certainly don't have that sort of
>money. My first tape was a JVC. Mini DV.

DO NOT MIX TAPE BRANDS (the possible cause of the
massive dropout) - choose ONE easily-available
brand and stay with it! At this point, you may need
to use (briefly!) a good head-cleaning tape. Buy
tape from www.taperesources.com or other good
discounter (most tapes are under $5/hr/tape). As
for the focus, I dunno. It seems unlikely the AF
would malfunction for one frame only - I would
suspect yet another dropout...