MiniDV camera cleaning?

[harmsway1976]

what do i need to do to clean a minidv cam? is there a cleaning tape you purchase like with vhs? or is there some other device? and how often do most of you clean yours to ensure optimal performance?

[adam]

Yes there are cleaning tapes that clean the heads but you have to make sure you buy one specifically made for your camera. Check your manufacturer's website or your manual, but don't buy from the manufacturer. You can usually get one much cheaper elsewhere online.

If you ever swap brands of dv tapes then immediately clean it. Different tapes use different chemicals and when you get a mix then crap gets stuck to the tape heads and you will notice pixelation in the viewfinder. If you stick to the same brand of tape then you won't have to clean very often. I just wait til I start seeing the pixelation before cleaning but regular cleaning is a good idea too.

[harmsway1976]

is there a chance that dirty heads could cause the audio to drop out, but not affect the video during playback?

[takeshi]

Is the audio dropping out after transferring the footage to your PC or is it also there if you play it back on the camera?

[harmsway1976]

both. i figured out that was the problem. the camera i was using that i had borrowed needed to be cleaned, but i only had it for 2 days and had close to 15 hours of footage to transfer plus working all day. i got my own camera recently and went back and re-recorded all those tapes and cleaned it after ever few tapes. every single one worked fine in a clean camera.

[davideck]

harmsway1976 - most Mini DV cleaning tapes are quite abrasive; you should only clean your transport if you experience dropouts.

[harmsway1976]

the main reason i cleaned it is because i was using a different brand of tapes than the ones i bought ot record my own stuff. now that i'm done with what i was doing i won't need to clean it for a while.