ZS3 video stops due to low writing speed of SDHC

I had ZS3 since March and used AVCHD video occasionally. I like the quality and sound of that. I put class 6 SDHC 16Gb in it and had no problem in video shooting until yesterday.

Yesterday when I did a video shooting it stopped automatically at 20sec with the screen message saying that "motion picture recording is cancelled due to the limitation of writing speed of memory card". It happened couple of times and then works fine again without interruption. This morning it happend once and then works fine again from the next time on. This is quite annoying and surprising to me. Did anyone with ZS3 experienced this issue? I never thought class 6 SDHC is not fast enough for P&S and this makes me to consider getting class 10 SDHC.

Jinwons said:

I had ZS3 since March and used AVCHD video occasionally. I like the quality and sound of that. I put class 6 SDHC 16Gb in it and had no problem in video shooting until yesterday.

Yesterday when I did a video shooting it stopped automatically at 20sec with the screen message saying that "motion picture recording is cancelled due to the limitation of writing speed of memory card". It happened couple of times and then works fine again without interruption.

Click to expand...

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I've never had such a problem with my TZ7 but I suggest you do the following:

• take all contents (pic, videoclips) out of the card and into your PC.

• format the card in-camera , using the formatting function in the menu , not formatting from the PC or otherwise. Make sure your battery is full before attempting the format operation.

• check if this solves your problem

The rationale for the above steps is that after a number of sessions recording and erasing pictures and videoclips the card file system is bound to become badly fragmented, and this might adversely affect video recording operations, as the data has to be written in real-time to the card, at a very fast bitrate, and if the free space is fragmented the firmware is eventually forced to search for another free bit elsewhere (non-consecutive bits) after filling the current one.

If this happens a lot (I've seen video files consisting of thousands of separate fragments) it's quite possible that the card and/or firmware can't cope with finding a free bit fast enough and you get the error message you mentioned.

Another possibility is that either the card or the camera or both are defective but try my above advice first to see if it works for you.

-
See my Lumix ZS3 (TZ7) pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirepapa/

I recently shot a 12-minute AVCHD video to a 4GB class 4 card on my ZS3 without a hitch. It was freshly formatted in the camera before the shoot. If I know I'm going to shoot a mix of video and photos, or a long video session, I always format the card before the shoot. The class 4 card was a PNY. I also have used class 6 cards from SanDisk in both 4GB and 8GB sizes with no trouble -- but that would be expected.

Rich
Rochester, NY

i got 2 Class (10) Sandisks, 4 and 8 GB
when i am out in mission i fulfill the 8gb from 50-60% to 70%

when im at home and i know im going out somewhere for a new intake of videos and pics i remove all, sometimes format from camera, sometimes just delete all (from camera)

my pc is NOT quite happy, but my camera is

--
Canon G9 + Panasonic Tz10(Red)

Jinwons said:

I had ZS3 since March and used AVCHD video occasionally. I like the quality and sound of that. I put class 6 SDHC 16Gb in it and had no problem in video shooting until yesterday.

Yesterday when I did a video shooting it stopped automatically at 20sec with the screen message saying that "motion picture recording is cancelled due to the limitation of writing speed of memory card". It happened couple of times and then works fine again without interruption. This morning it happend once and then works fine again from the next time on. This is quite annoying and surprising to me. Did anyone with ZS3 experienced this issue? I never thought class 6 SDHC is not fast enough for P&S and this makes me to consider getting class 10 SDHC.

Click to expand...

I have no idea why you think it would be related to the ZS3. Given the error message, it can only be the card.

Try Trensamiro's advice.

Aside from that, note that class ratings mean very little. That label is put on there by the manufacturer and there are no 3rd party validations done to assure that labeling is done honestly. In addition to reliability, this is another reason why it is always suggested that people buy good cards. A good Class 6 card will often easily outperform a cheapo (i.e. Adata) Class 10 card. AVCHD spec calls for a Class 4 card so no, a Class 10 will do nothing for you.

Ach3r0n said:

A good Class 6 card will often easily outperform a cheapo (i.e. Adata) Class 10 card.

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On the other hand, my cheapo Adata Class 6 card tests as a Class 10, so you never know until you test it.

The free version at http://www.flashmemorytoolkit.com has a realistic file write/read test that delivers sensible information about a card. But the speed tests are only valid if using a very fast card reader, best is the SD/SDHC slot built into a notebook computer.

My Adata Class 6 card....



Best advice of course is to always empty the card to the computer, then clean it off with an in-camera format.

Regards........... Guy

Thanks for all the responses and advices,

I didn't mean to say that I suspected ZS3 as the cause of this issue. I also thought that there might be something wrong with the card. Mine is from Trenscend, and I didn't have much issue with their cards with several other cameras I used as well. They are relatively cheaper but not very cheap either. I believe their SDHC cards are shipped after pre-formatting, so it can be used right out of the box.

At this moment, it's not happening again after several tries. It only happened three or four times total. Very weird to me... If it ever happens again, I will take advice of re-formatting it inside the camera or testing the write speed. Thanks.

Absolutely Guy - any company can produce a card that performs well. I was simply giving an example because Adata has a very high failure rate based on consumer feedback as well as a rep for mislabeling their cards. The Class system requires that a card never falls below a certain rate though (sustained write speed) and Flashmemorytoolkit does not provide a way to test this if I recall correctly. There are some other programs that do offer it but they proved to be a bit unstable on Windows 7 so I ditched them pretty quick.

Jinwons said:

Thanks for all the responses and advices,

I didn't mean to say that I suspected ZS3 as the cause of this issue. I also thought that there might be something wrong with the card. Mine is from Trenscend, and I didn't have much issue with their cards with several other cameras I used as well. They are relatively cheaper but not very cheap either. I believe their SDHC cards are shipped after pre-formatting, so it can be used right out of the box.

At this moment, it's not happening again after several tries. It only happened three or four times total. Very weird to me... If it ever happens again, I will take advice of re-formatting it inside the camera or testing the write speed. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Transcend cards are typically pretty good. Again, follow Trensmiro's advice and see hwo it goes. Dump all the data to your PC, format the card in camera and try again.

Ach3r0n said:

.....(sustained write speed) and Flashmemorytoolkit does not provide a way to test this if I recall correctly.

Click to expand...

There is a low level proper sustained write and read speed test in the paid version of Flash Memory Toolkit. I keep that on my little XP netbook "toolbox" that I take on trips. Not tried it on Win7 yet. As a side note, the recovery portion in the paid version worked for me to recover a friend's AVI files properly on a mangled card where no other recovery program would.

Also with cards, I have had cards that would not be recognised in a camera. Put them in a card reader and did a PC format using the "official" format program at http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter/ and then put the card in the camera where it was recognised again, then did an in-camera format to make sure everything was kosher.

Regards.......... Guy

Jinwons said:

At this moment, it's not happening again after several tries. It only happened three or four times total. Very weird to me... If it ever happens again, I will take advice of re-formatting it inside the camera or testing the write speed. Thanks.

Click to expand...

It might be a good idea to format it while you have all the files copied to a computer, instead of waiting. I think the general consensus is right, it's probably just fragmented, and when you have photos that have been stored and erased over time, you may only have problems when the card starts to fill up.

If you're out and about and it happens, you won't be able to format it without losing your photos, so it may be better to do it now, just in case. Actually, I format my cards after I download a set of photos, rather than using the erase function, and I have cards that are many years old and still working fine, so it doesn't seem to do any harm.

Formatting is quick, just be sure to do it from the camera's menu (not when it's in iA mode) and not in a computer. It's on the last page of the tools (wrench icon) menus.
--
Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse

OK, I will take that advice and format my SDHC card soon in ZS3. I also think that there might be some defragment in there, slowing down the writing speed.

So do you reformat your card often in camera after copying, deleting many files? How often do you do that? Mine is 16Gb size and still it has plenty of empty space there, more than 10Gb left. I wonder if there is any difference in card defragment when deleting files from the camera vs. deleting files from the computer.

Jinwons said:

OK, I will take that advice and format my SDHC card soon in ZS3. I also think that there might be some defragment in there, slowing down the writing speed.

So do you reformat your card often in camera after copying, deleting many files? How often do you do that? Mine is 16Gb size and still it has plenty of empty space there, more than 10Gb left. I wonder if there is any difference in card defragment when deleting files from the camera vs. deleting files from the computer.

Click to expand...

I copy all the files to the computer, then format the card after a successful transfer, or at least before I go out using the camera again. If there are only a few photos, I might use the erase function, but usually just format. It's partly from old habits, but I never use the computer to write to, erase, format, or delete files from my camera's media cards. In some earlier media types, computers could mess up the file system or corrupt cards, and they can still format sD cards incorrectly, so I just stick with the camera's functions.

Formatting gives a fresh start and, at least should get rid of any corruption in the file system or files, where erasing may not. Oddly enough, it's usually faster too, and I've never experienced any problems from using formatting instead of erasing.
--
Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse

Jinwons said:

OK, I will take that advice and format my SDHC card soon in ZS3. I also think that there might be some defragment in there, slowing down the writing speed.

So do you reformat your card often in camera after copying, deleting many files? How often do you do that? Mine is 16Gb size and still it has plenty of empty space there, more than 10Gb left. I wonder if there is any difference in card defragment when deleting files from the camera vs. deleting files from the computer.

Click to expand...

.

Like you, I have a Class 6 16 Gb card which stays inside my camera permanently , I never take it out or even touch it, and:

• I never delete files. I transfer all files good or bad to my PC then format the card in-camera so it's fresh for a new session. This gives the maximum speed of operation afterwards and avoids video errors and possible corruption.

• I always use the in-camera functions for format, and would use the in-camera function to delete files, never would do any file operation on the card from the PC such as delete, format, create or erase folders, etc. Doing that might ( and frequently does) result in filesystem corruption .

• You should never defragment the card using PC-based defragmenters or otherwise. Doing it might result in filesystem corruption and might slow operation as well. Format the card instead.

.
-
See my Lumix ZS3 (TZ7) pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mirepapa/

Jinwons said:

I had ZS3 since March and used AVCHD video occasionally. I like the quality and sound of that. I put class 6 SDHC 16Gb in it and had no problem in video shooting until yesterday.

Yesterday when I did a video shooting it stopped automatically at 20sec with the screen message saying that "motion picture recording is cancelled due to the limitation of writing speed of memory card". It happened couple of times and then works fine again without interruption. This morning it happend once and then works fine again from the next time on. This is quite annoying and surprising to me. Did anyone with ZS3 experienced this issue? I never thought class 6 SDHC is not fast enough for P&S and this makes me to consider getting class 10 SDHC.

Click to expand...

I bought a fz200 a couple of weeks ago, mine constantly gives the same message and it id fitted with a class 10 card.

I'm new to this so I don't know what to do, any help appreciated.