with a hard disc drive based camcorder. Vibration (and altitudes over 9,800 feet) causing the camcorder to not record are known issues. Flash memory and miniDV tape do not have these issues.
The different loads would cause different vibration.
The "buffer" in the "buffer overload" is a small RAM area where the camcorder tries to store video before writing it to the the hard drive. The hard drive heads would remain parked because the vibration was too great from them to release. The buffer would fill and with no relief, would overflow.
SR5's handbook:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=HDRSR5
Refer to pages 5, 88, 102 (among other entries).
SR11's handbook:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=HDRSR11
Refer to pages 93, 108 (among others.
There may be more detail in the operating guides.
The "workaround" is to turn off the drop sensor - but the risk is that the hard drive platters may get scruffed - essentially, a hard drive crash. Then you are out a camcorder hard drive that is not covered under warranty.
In your situation, a shock mount would be required... or use of MiniDV tape or flash memory based camcorders with no hard drive) that do not have the vibration (or altitude) issues that hard drive cams have... The shockmount would be suspending the camcorder from big rubber bands - bungee cords, I guess, and isolate the camcorder from the truck vibration. This assumes that it is the actual truck vibration and not the noise the truck makes that is causing the hard drives to park...
Hay all!
This is my first post.
I had an HDR-SR5 last year, and used it as a "dashcam" on a truck (big rig) while driving. I would record everything, and get the good clips, then put it on youtube.
I was getting a "buffer overflow" message while recording, and in some cases, I would not be able to get more than 2-3 seconds of recording. I finally gave up on the thing, and sent it back to Sony's repair center, but they returned it to me with a note saying "nothing is wrong". Typical, but I gave up on the thing after about a year, and upgraded to the SR-11. I got the same thing as far as the buffer overflow messages, and I decided that even after putting black tape over the microphone, it was caused by the vibrations and shaking of the truck going over various bumps.
The amount of recording failures would depend on the type of loads I hauled. If I hauled double trailers with medium weight, I would get maybe 3-4 failures/night. If I hauled a single trailer fully loaded with the max weight, I would get maximum shaking and bumpiness, thus, in some cases I would get the failures more than 20-30 times/night.
I sent back the SR-11, and have decided to try again, and this time I'm going to use a 16GB memory stick duo, and hopefully that will work because if the hard-drive is getting all that vibrating, maybe it will not happen with the memory stick.
Anyone here using their SR-xx for anything different & unique (especially on vehicles/aircraft) & having the same problem?
When recording to a memory stick, will I be able to transfer videos to the hard-disk from the memory stick?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Erik.
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