Hey Everyone,
I wanted to thank all of you shedding light on this particular issue. We were able to make adjustments to our production and testing that look to have successfully resolved this issue.
If you have or receive a unit that has an issue with dust or dead pixels please contact support@vholdr.com directly as this is certainly covered under warranty.
We will be removing posts pertaining to this topic from the forums because this is not an issue that can be solved by the community.
Thanks,
Nate
Nate, you guys have had my camera as of last Thursday, and have emailed asking to know what happened to my RMA that was sent in for just this issue. Any idea what kind of turn around time for RMA equipment? If I would have known that this would take this kind of time, I wouldn't have paid for overnight shipping! On the up side, when I talked to Brandon about the issue, he really knows the product and was a blast to talk to!
Oh sure, you're setting me up! As soon as I ask, it shows up on my door step! You guys rock!
Nate - what are the symptoms of these 2 issues - and are they different?
Karve,
I received mine yesterday and it has white specs on the in the video. Very similar to what you would see if you had a dead pixel in an LCD monitor. Its most noticeable in low light conditions or if you have a darker background.
I contacted support last night via email. I am sure it will get sorted. From what I have read here they seem to be on top of making thing right.
yep I have that as well - so is it Dust inside the lens or something else?
Ah gutted.. Supercharged my delivery to overnight to get it for 3 days riding this holiday weekend and there are dead pixels across the screen when I record. :(
http://ifraggle.com/wp-content... they seem to come on as the lens changes for low light.
Well I contacted support and the rapid response was very impressive and said they would get on an RMA straight away. But being me I still had to go out and play. I noticed using outside as I always will be gave no indication of bad pixels.. So I cancelled the RMA and started to play. :) Awesome device.. If we can just figure out the sound..
I've noticed a bit of this when I got my new ContourHD. For me i only happens when in a bright environment (outside) then going to a dark indoor space. There may be two or three pixels that stay bright for a few seconds. I actually think this is related to the video encoding and not the hardware. Personally it doesn't bother me since I don't use it indoors.
-Bean
Same problem here... But I live in Istanbul - Turkey. I bought it with an expensive price not to wait the product to be in the stock. I paid arround 100 USD only for shipping. (express). And 399 for the ContourHD camera. Because I needed it urgently and didn't care about the price. But when I saw the dead pixels, I was dissapointed. I'm sure you can change my product but since the product is out of your stocks. So I'm affraid if I send it back for a replacement because I'll probably wait for over 1 month to get the new one if I send it back. Then it will be no sense that I bought it with a higher price with a high shipping cost. Costed me 500 US$ and I paid 50 USD for customs. Total cost: 550 USD for this camera without hassitation and got one camera and two dead pixels. So I'm really upset. :( Don't know what to say... I wrote a mail to support and requested their comment about how they can help about my problem and what is this problem about. I wish they had checked each of the cameras with a couple of tests to be sure they have no problems, before they send it to the end user.
Regards..
Addition to the info in my posting above:
Today I made another filming with my cam and now I saw that when I'm filming in HD mode, there are not only two, there are 9 dead pixels on the screen. :( In SD mode I noticed only 2 dead pixels. These two pixels are also there in the HD mode and 7 more...
I sent a mail to "support" and waiting for a reply about what to do now.
Hi uckun,
I'm very sorry to hear about that, we'll find the best way we can to take care of you. We certainly appreciate the effort you went to in order to get a unit, so we'll do our best to make it right.
Thanks,
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
I also have 9 or 10 deadpixels.
hard to see in light conditions but in tunnels and etc. thy are clearly seen.
/frefeh
I just received the HD on Aug 7. I find that I the dust and/or dead pixel problem. I contacted support and Ken replied to unscrew the lens myself and clean it. I'm not comfortable getting out my jewelers screwdrivers and taking the unit apart which I have had for only 4 days. I requested an RMA to send it in (or drop it off, I'm in West Seattle) but maybe Ken is a new employee and thought you could simply unscrew the lens. I also asked about the universal tripod mount after seeing your video about it. He said you didn't have such an item, even though I have since found it at a couple dealers. (It is missing from your accessory page.)
Can I get an RMA to get it repaired? (I need to wait to send it in after the 20th as I will be demonstrating it at our Seattle Vegas Users Group meeting that evening. Or I can cross the bridge and drop it off or UPS it if it would be back by the 20th.)
Thank you for fast replacement! Sent it Monday - received new unit Thursday.
Thanks again for fast service.
My first ContourHD had a few dead pixels on it, and it was promptly RMA'd. I shipped it back, and got the new in just a few days. However, this second ContourHD had even more dead pixels than the first one.
It's a great camera that takes high-quality video for the price, and customer service is top-notch. I just hope that the third time is a charm, and I get one free of dead pixels.
I received my 3rd ContourHD today, and I'm sad to see that even this one is plagued by the dead pixel issue. However, as with previous posts, these dead pixels aren't easily seen if at all in bright conditions.
Indoor go-karting, as well as car/motorcycle track days are my primary uses for it, and since I'll be recording more daylight videos than indoor/low light videos, I will go ahead and keep this one rather than RMA it yet again.
To the folks at VholdR, thank you for all your help.
After much anticipation i recieved my HD cam tonight... and the first thing i noticed were the dead pixels.. all 9 of them. Ill contact support and RMA it... I don't know the percentage of defective units but I hope they tighten up on their quality control, perhaps prescreen each unit.
VholdR RMA'd my cam super quick, and it's perfect now! THANKS GUYS FOR THE GREAT SUPPORT!
I have received my third Contour-HD this past weekend, after sending in the first two because of the dead pixels (that's three camera's in less than 10 weeks). Once again I've received one that has dead pixels.
Since I've paid a considerable amount of money to get extra batteries, micro-SD cards and the vented helmet mount, I'm not in the position to simply return it for a refund. Sending it directly to Vholdr from the Netherlands is quite expensive, and therefore also not an option. Looks like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The one thing I would like to know is in what range of serial numbers this issue has been resolved. My local shop keeps sending me Contour-HD cams with serial numbers that are from before the first one that I received (which already had nine dead pixels), so I'm pretty eager to find out if I'm simply getting junk returned by other customers instead of a new camera from after the production issues have been resolved.
I like the camera
wilko, I would definitely suggest you work directly with our support team. You may not have to send it in directly, it may just be a matter of them working it through with your retailer (who may have a bad batch). please email support@vholdr.com.
Thanks,
---
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
My older cams serial started with the number 92..
My 4th cam received 9/29 starts with 93 and sports internal s/w v 1.29
---
What does a dead pixel look like? Please check my video under my name as in the lower left is a strange shape that I can not get rid of by cleaning the lens etc. Is that dead pixels?
---
is it the shadowy arc that your on about? if so thats not a dead pixel, is it on every video you do or was it only when you mounted the camera in that position?
---
A dead pixel is easy to find... turn on the cam to record and slowly cover the lens with your hand. When there is no light the playback will be black EXCEPT for some little specks that are lit up... these are the dead pixels.. I'll u/l a vid for you to see.
---
---
here are two jpegs ... look at bottom of screen for white dots... ( lost some rez in convert from pics to vid )
btw, run full screen so logo doesn't cover pixels
---
Hi Yes it is that shadowy arc, I have only run the camera on it's right side. I will try other angles etc and see how it goes. Thanks guys for the quick replys. I will let you know how I get on.
Glen
NZ
---
No, not the shadowed arc... thats light coming in from the one side of my hand...
If you play ( its really 2 jpgs ) in full screen, look at the bottom of screen for small dots of lights... those dots are the defective pixels.
If your seeing something like the arc with the light totally out, there's a different defect in the cmos chip... but still a defect.
Hi Tommac13
Yes I understand the dead pixel, I was meaning the arc on my lens etc. Anyway I mucked around with it, no matter what angle I run the camera, or what setting I turn the lens etc... it stays there. So am thicking it's dust inside the lens.
I got a reply from surport etc... they wont do anything because I have done the mic mod... hmmm shame as the lens is a completely separate part in it's on right. Guess any excuse eh!
as you've had it apart you may have inadvertantly touched the lens so it may be worth popping the lens cover off and cleaning it with some proper cleaning stuff for camera lenses, make sure you use a proper lens cloth, they are worth every penny in the long run :-)
Well cleaned the lens etc, but it's inside the unit it's self. Not keen to take that apart! Thanks for your help guys.