HXR-NX5U Buffer Overflow Problems

The HXR-NX5U has been in people hands for several weeks, and there's been a few reports of problems, most notably with a Buffer Overflow problem that occurs during recording. Not only does it interrupt the camera - and often hang it for several minutes - but it can also corrupt the card(s) and lose your clips (which makes tape suddenly look good again.)

As with any report on the Internet, it's been difficult to isolate or quantify the issue, but at least two people on the DVInfo.net forum have reported this problem. One user actually had both his camera, and the FMU unit replaced by Sony, and still had the problem. Interestingly, it seems to be occurring only when doing dual recording (to SD cards and the FMU).

Marshall Levy has been in contact with Sony, and is looking to gather information, specifically:
If you have had this problem with the following:
  1. SDHC (HD) only
  2. SDHC (HD) AND FMU128 (HD)
  3. SDHC (HD) AND FMU (SD)
Also note if you're recording in LPCM or Dolby for audio.
If you have experienced this, you should post to the thread below:

DVInfo.net: If you are experiencing the buffering problem, read/post here only



Should you hold off on buying the HXR-NX5U?
At the moment it's hard to say. Definitely more than one person has encountered this problem, though they all seem to be making dual recordings. They also seem to be recording SD to one device and HD to the other. That's totally legal - and actually something Sony promoted with the camera - though from a purely personal point of view it's not something I would be looking to do with the camera.

Ultimately, you probably should wait if you are planning to do dual recording to see how this resolves (is it a memory problem, a camera problem, or a user problem?)

Comments

Anonymous said…
_sing the nx5u today for the first time. I bought 2 cameras and threw an SD card lasying around into w of the slots. Shot for 3 hours at ceremony with no problems. At reception got buffer error during toast. I have been recording to FMU128 and SD card in HD mode at highest setting. After removing SD card there were no problems. The 2nd camera never got the error and didnot have any cards installed. I am in a very busyu season and cannot aford to send these back now. What to do? I am very dissapointed.
May 22, 2010, 9:04:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
There's reportedly going to be a firmware update available this coming week from Sony that users will be able to install yourself. We just have to wait and see about that.

In the mean time, it might be best to NOT record in dual mode until you get the firmware update. It seems to only happen in dual recording mode from all the reports I have seen...
May 22, 2010, 10:12:00 PM
Anonymous said…
That's great news if we can install the update ourselves. Sorry about all the typos. I was typing from my blackberry at the reception and couldn't see too well.
May 22, 2010, 10:35:00 PM
Anonymous said…
Got a link today from Sony for updating the firmware on the NX5U to address the buffer overflow issue. Here's the link:
http://rcpt.yousendit.com/877613423/9f9353ca4883db05f127aeb3ee9edc22
May 24, 2010, 2:59:00 PM
Michael Murie said…
Thanks for passing that along!
May 24, 2010, 3:27:00 PM
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