Cassette/DVD

January 7th, 2009 by smith

  • I'm currently using black and white monitor and have no complaints but have never used color.I have heard that the clarity isn't as good on the color monitor. I also only use VHS recording and I am considering going to the DVD for easy duplication. I have had no problems with the mechanics of the VHS, seems pretty durable. I was wondering if anyone out there has encountered any problems with the DVD systems?:mad::)


  • Mark, wow I am impressed I thought I was the only Ridge Tool employee that checked the forum over the weekend.

    I am also interested to hear some opinions on the dvd system here.

    Josh


  • At one time, color cameras had less resolution than black and white. That is nolonger the case. Not only has the resolution improved, but construction materials have made color more of a necessity. PVC piping is becoming more common. A bad glue job is difficult to diagnose with a B&W camera. A crack next to the glue is impossible to see using B&W. It is also easier to see dies, as well as distinguish roots & cracks from other problems when using color.

    It will be interesting to see what others say about the durability of the DVD, but from the testing we did before launch of the DVD it should actually hold up better than the VCR.


  • i just had my 3rd. customer that doesn't have a vcr:eek:

    not bad in 10 years of camera inspections. 1 had no t.v:eek:

    the times i've had an issue, it's been with the tape. swap tape and i'm good to go. less than 10 times. and have were from a bad batch of tapes.

    can't see myself switching to a dvd until I decide there cool and I get a good deal.

    rick.

    I took the liberty of changing your post to be more factual. :) You don't want to be like the nerdy kid who was the last one to get rid of his 8-track player.

    Mark


  • It will be interesting to see what others say about the durability of the DVD, but from the testing we did before launch of the DVD it should actually hold up better than the VCR.


    Why should the DVD units hold up better than the VCR?


  • i knew it must be fom australia, the pipe and fittings are running backwards:D

    mark, this looks like large diameter pipe, inspected from a manhole or 2 way c/o running upstream.

    i think it's more than the run of the mill $300. inspection with video and location:confused:

    your inspections might need this kind of documentation.

    in the 10 years i've had cameras, only 2 cusomers didn't have a vcr.


    rick.


  • To Mark F. Fleming
    Hi Mark,
    I am in Australia, can you tell me if you use the ntsc or pal liteon dvd recorders for use in my country, I am thinking of getting one to record from my bw tool box monitor, they do not import this small dvd to australia, so it is important for me, they seem to be cheaper in the states than the UK
    Len


  • I am not really in the business to recommend one dvd recorder over another, but specs for a nice portable one from lite-on can be found at the following link: http://www.liteonit.com/global/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=80&limit=1&limitstart=1

    As noted before though, don't lose the remote. It can be difficult to program without.


  • Before we launched the DVD, we did drop testing, temperature testing, testing in mud and a whole slew of environmental testing. The DVD player held up better under these conditions. As to why, I can only assume that the DVD must have less moving parts and that nothing comes in direct contact with the recording media like it does in the VCR.


  • Very nice site.

    Thanks-Mark


  • Ok, guys got your private message.

    As for the quality of the DVD, Ive tried three brands (including the ones you send with the units). All have failed...

    I even tried all three DVD's @ one job I was getting errors @, and got the dreaded error with all three... It is not the DVD.


  • Opps, You know...your right, my mistake.

    Maybe the DVD units are more durable..

    I guess I should have said the VCR units are much more reliable than the DVD units.


  • i just had my 3rd. customer that doesn't have a vcr:eek:

    not bad in 10 years of camera inspections. 1 had no t.v:eek:

    the times i've had an issue, it's been with the tape. swap tape and i'm good to go. less than 10 times. and have were from a bad batch of tapes.

    can't see myself switching to a dvd any time soon.

    rick.


  • Good thing I checked this post, I was going to wait and see what others said first, then I noticed it was directed towards me.

    Australia would use the PAL version.

    As a word of caution, don't always assume that you are going to get a better price in the US. When the dollar weakens, the pricing is better here and vice versa... And even if there is a price difference, the support you can receive from a good local distributor cannot be replaced for just a few dollars of cost savings.

    As for where to purchase, the technology advantage you have from purchasing one from us comes from the integration into our Monitor + DVD system. We make it easy to record onto the DVD with simple push button operation. If using just the DVD alone attached to another monitor, you will need to make sure you do not lose the remote. As a stand alone unit, it is harder to record and finalize without the remote.

    Not that I want to turn down any business, but...

    If you are just going to connect it to your B&W toolbox monitor, your best bet is to purchase over the internet. The Lite-On DVD is a robust model that is sold at a lot of different mass market electronic stores. I believe that you will have your best bet purchasing through a big box electronics retailer out of Europe (I believe I recall that Germany may be your best bet). There is not as much of a exchange bennefit purchasing it in the EU, but anyone you purchased it from in the US would have to purchase from the EU and import it to the US before sending it on to you.

    If you cannot find one on line, we would be happy to sell one to you through a distributor of ours, but realize that it will have a mark-up to account for all of the special handling, shipping, etc., etc... (and that the PAL version is just a more expensive unit to begin with).


  • Thanks Mark for your positive feedback. Rick, your constructive criticism has been taken on board! Interesting, you've found in 10 years only 2 people without VCR's, over here, 100% of our customers have DVD's and/or Internet access and the VCR is in the trash! Over the next 10 years, you'll find only 2 people left with VCR's.

    I think Rick must work for older clients who have not adopted DVD yet as much of what I see is DVD as well.

    I work as Forensic Investigator (Expert Witness) for Construction Litigation and I can't tell you how many times I have sat in an Attorneys Conference Room while his Secretary called around trying to find a VHS player so he could show me the Plaintiff's tape. Anymore I carry a portable player in the back of my Blackwood so I don't have to wait around.

    Mark


  • One problem with CD-R and DVD-R disks is that they can't take much sun light or heat. Computer users find this out if they burn them and someone stores one near a window or in the car. Even commercial music CDs can be ruined if they are kept in a hot car during the summer. Lesson: When you come home and don't plan to go out soon, remove your CDs and store them in cases indoors. VHS tapes can't take too much sun or heat either. How about setting it up with an RCA jack with composite video output on it? Then customers can connect it up to their own devices. I think it would be nice to have a DVD-R drive on it too. Maybe some of you at Ridgid can look at what they do for recording medical records when using an endoscope. They are the 5 foot long snake doctors can use to see inside of us. By the way one of them would be quite a tool for looking into sink traps, but the $$$ factor would blow plumbers bank accounts.


  • Very cool pipelineimaging, a little taste of the future. I could see this being more standard as systems move to solid state memory (memory cards) instead or recordable media.

    Josh

    You may be interested to know, we have set up our own system to capture image from our seasnake VHS to a hard-drive, 25 fps, 720x576px, PAL. We have never used the VHS recorder, we put all our images onto a hard-drive, from which we place stills onto our own website where our clients can view in a secure location. If clients require video footage on CD or DVD, we download image file to laptop and use a basic video editing program to produce a small movie with text overlay.Stills can be emailed directly from site to client. See our website at www.pipelineimaging.com.au (http://www.pipelineimaging.com.au/) and log in as directed for demo. Note we tried to use a USB video capture device, and we found it too slow and poor image quality, Our system records in DVD quality.


  • You may be interested to know, we have set up our own system to capture image from our seasnake VHS to a hard-drive, 25 fps, 720x576px, PAL. We have never used the VHS recorder, we put all our images onto a hard-drive, from which we place stills onto our own website where our clients can view in a secure location. If clients require video footage on CD or DVD, we download image file to laptop and use a basic video editing program to produce a small movie with text overlay.Stills can be emailed directly from site to client. See our website at www.pipelineimaging.com.au (http://www.pipelineimaging.com.au/) and log in as directed for demo. Note we tried to use a USB video capture device, and we found it too slow and poor image quality, Our system records in DVD quality.
    http://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/images/buttons/forward.gif (http://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/private.php?do=newpm&forward=1&pmid=3573)


  • Mark, the story about old dogs can apply to my old plumber too;)

    Joey


  • I can tell you that the VCR units are much more durable than the DVD units.
    I inspected approx 5000 mainlines with a VCR unit, and only one time did I have a problem with the VCR unit. The one time I did have a problem the VCR unit needed to be replaced.

    We have four DVD units, and everyone of them have given us problems.
    I do approx 17-22 mainline inspections per week, and my DVD unit fails atleast 3-5 times per week. Sometimes it is a write fail, most of the time it is a finalize failure. Im about to stop using the DVD unit as it is costing me time, and money..



    We sent you a private message but haven't heard back from you yet. With this many write and finalize failures, we would like to know more about the disks you are using.

    As for durability, the issues you are having deal with the technology of the recording medium not with how rugged the player actually is. When I posted earlier that these devices were more rugged, we have found that in testing that they held up longer than the VCR players when subjected to various extremes.

    As for recording to DVDs, it is more complicated than recording to VCRs and may at times be more frustrating. When recording to DVDs, it is important to always use a high quality DVD. The bulk DVDR specials you see in the paper do not record with the same consistency. It is also important that the disks going into the burner are clean. The environment we work in is messy, but this recording medium is dealing with light. Dirt and smudges can cause problems. Also, make sure that you do not turn off the unit before finalizing the disk.

    There are extra steps and extra care that need to be taken with this recording medium. It is just one of those drawbacks of DVD recording. Unfortunately as noted in earlier posts, it is the direction that technology is currently taking us.

    We would be happy to continue to discuss this through postings or through private conversations so that we can better understand the problems you are having.


  • Thanks Mark for your positive feedback. Rick, your constructive criticism has been taken on board! Interesting, you've found in 10 years only 2 people without VCR's, over here, 100% of our customers have DVD's and/or Internet access and the VCR is in the trash! Over the next 10 years, you'll find only 2 people left with VCR's.


  • I can tell you that the VCR units are much more durable than the DVD units.
    I inspected approx 5000 mainlines with a VCR unit, and only one time did I have a problem with the VCR unit. The one time I did have a problem the VCR unit needed to be replaced.

    We have four DVD units, and everyone of them have given us problems.
    I do approx 17-22 mainline inspections per week, and my DVD unit fails atleast 3-5 times per week. Sometimes it is a write fail, most of the time it is a finalize failure. Im about to stop using the DVD unit as it is costing me time, and money..

    Im really stuck in a bad spot over this..
    Our customers laugh, and want a discount when we hand them a VHS cassette.
    I cant redo inspections over, and over because the DVD unit fails..


  • To Mark Fleming as well,

    I am currently using a Sony DVDirect to burn DVD from my Tool Case monitors. I have also tried the Go-Videos and Phillips but without much luck. It seems some will play and some will not after finalizing them. However, I also carry Lite-On DVD external drives for the Fujitsu tablets we carry on the trucks.

    While the Sony seems to do a good job I just don't care for Sony products because of their lack of customer service. If I were to switch my duplicating process to Lite-On is their a particular model you would recommend?

    Thanks-Mark







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