Dead headphones problem

[Dan Sherman]

On top of camera are audio plus and minus settings.
Now at first glance it looks like gain in at maximum setting with horizontal dashes.
But hold that plus button down firmly,—and you will see that the setting is at it’s lowest level.
When you push down firmly volume + vertical green indicators appear and you will hear through the headphones.
Let me know how you make out.

[Steve Mcmahon]

On top of camera are audio plus and minus settings.
Now at first glance it looks like gain in at maximum setting with horizontal dashes.
But hold that plus button down firmly,—and you will see that the setting is at it’s lowest level.
When you push down firmly volume + vertical green indicators appear and you will hear through the headphones.

Thanks. Tried it, but the dashes were VERTICAL, not horiz., i.e., the volume was Maximum and I still can’t hear anything thru the headphones. The small monitor speaker playback is okay. I can hear IT. Of course, when I plug in the headphones, the small speaker mutes. Seems like the headphone jack has just, inexplicably, died.

Anyone else had this happenn. Anyone had it repaired in L.A. area?

[Steve Mcmahon]

DVX-100A owners:
FYI Panasonic has NOT changed the faulty internal board that controls, among other things, output from the internal speaker and the rear headphone jack. There is an electronic switch on this board that activates when you plug in headphones, switching audio output to them from the internal speaker. This switch has ‘burned out’ according to Audio Service Center in L.A., a Panasonic-authorized repair facility.

The bad news, well, there’s a $70 CHARGE, from Panasonic! to download the repair procedure! So, Panasonic designs a camera circuit with an OBVIOUS bug, in the DVX-100 (widely reported). They do NOT fix the bug in the DVX-100A – but – they charge their CUSTOMERS for the procedure, identified 3 years-ago. That, friends, is a rip-off. Panasonic should be ashamed of themselves. You also have to pay for the new board (containing the same fault, BTW) and service time. Estimate? Over $350.00 to listen to a pretty poor headphone circuit that is bound to fail again.

Think it’s time to check out the Canon XL2?

[Steve Mcmahon]

Further follow up:
The required circuit board is not $350.00, it’s $579.00 and they are back-ordered. The repair facility has no idea when they could get one. Unbelievable. Panasonic has been no help at all. They’re useless. Anyway, the tech is going to try to hard-wire the internal speaker (I never use it) leads directly to the headphone jack. Most important to monitor sound whilst recording, isn’t it?

[Trfilms]

Hey there. My carmera has just encountered the same problem. Thanks for all the info. Are you still under warranty? I still have a few months to go.
Was your guy able to do the re-wiring?

Thanks.

[Steve Mcmahon]

My carmera has just encountered the same problem. Thanks for all the info. Are you still under warranty? I still have a few months to go.
Was your guy able to do the re-wiring?

Not under warranty. Problem was, once they determined that a NEW complete motherboard was required, they could not obtain the motherboard, which costs $587.00. This was, of course, after they (i.e. ME) had paid $70.00 for the download manual fix plus $75 eveluation fee. Motherboards for DVX-100A are back-ordered and not available “for perhaps months”. They were not able to re-wire because internal speaker is PART of motherboard. So I paid $154.00 for NOTHING. Got my camera back. Bought RadioShack ‘3-Channel Headphone Volume Booster” (#33-1100A). Plugged RCA cable into camera ‘Line Out’ jacks and into (via adapter) 33-1100A. Plugged headphones into that and, once again, can monitor audio whilst shooting. Clumsy. Inelegant. Bothersome, but serviceable. My issue still is – why hasn’t Panasonic fixed this obvious problem? Because they don’t care. And that’s bad.

[Barry Green]

There’s something wrong there. I’ve never heard of this problem on DVXUser.com, where there are thousands and thousands of camera owners. If this was a recurring fault you’d think we would have heard about it by now. I’ve had my DVX for two and a half years, others have had theirs for longer, and there’s never been a hint of an issue with the headphone jack. I can’t accept that this is some ongoing fault that’s never been fixed, that makes no sense.

And no authorized repair facility would charge YOU – the CUSTOMER – to download a repair procedure? No possible way. I’d hazard a guess that the facility you’re dealing with doesn’t know what they’re doing. That explanation makes a lot more sense than the idea that Panasonic “engineered a fault, didn’t fix it, everyone’s camera has it, and everyone’s will fail” — I think it’s a lot more likely that the service center you’re dealing with isn’t a factory-authorized DVX service center, and therefore they really don’t know what they’re doing with the camera.

If this was a common fault, wouldn’t they have downloaded the repair procedure by now? After all, the camera’s been on the market for two and a half years; if they were an authorized DVX service center, surely they’d have run into this by now, right?

Doesn’t add up.

I’d say your service center is at fault.

—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a)

[Barry Green]

I just searched for authorized Panasonic service centers in Los Angeles. There are seven listed; none have a name anything like “Audio Service Center”. I’d recommend you contact one of the DVX100-authorized service centers about your situation.

THE VIDEO CLINIC INC 2307 WILSHIRE BLVD. SANTA MONICA CA 90403 (310) 828-6464
PANASONIC – PBTSC SERVICE 3330 CAHUENGA BLVD WEST LOS ANGELES CA 90068 (323) 436-3507
VTR SERVICE 2700 WEST BURBANK BLVD BURBANK CA 91505 (818) 841-9200
DIGITRON ELECTRONICS 7801 E. TELEGRAPH ROAD MONTEBELLO CA 90640 (323) 887-0777
VIDEO SYSTEMS SERVICE CTR 23322 PERALTA UNIT #4 LAGUNA HILLS CA 92653 (949) 855-1082
GRC ELECTRONICS 1181 PIONEER WAY EL CAJON CA 92020 (619) 464-6446
MEDIA ASSOCIATES, INC. 616 NATIONAL AVENUE MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94043 (650) 968-2444

That’s every authorized DVX100 service center within 307 miles of Los Angeles CA.

—————–
Get the most from your DVX camera. The DVX Book and DVX DVD are now available at https://www.dvxuser.com/articles/dvxbook/ and at Amazon (https://tinyurl.com/54u4a)

[Jan Crittenden livingston]

Hi,

Just caught up with this thread, and it looks like Barry beat me to the answers except for one, and that is,if a facility is an authorized repair facility, they can download directly from the service website in Japan without a single dollar changing hands. It is part of their contractual agreement with us.

Unfortuantely it does sound as though you have hooked up with a vendor that may be authorized for some Panasonic product repair, just not this one.

Best,

Jan

Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems

[Steve Mcmahon]

Just caught up with this thread, and it looks like Barry beat me to the answers except for one, and that is,if a facility is an authorized repair facility, they can download directly from the service website in Japan without a single dollar changing hands. It is part of their contractual agreement with us.

Unfortuantely it does sound as though you have hooked up with a vendor that may be authorized for some Panasonic product repair, just not this one.

The repair facility, Audio Service Center, 7418 Beverly, L.A. 90036, 323-935-1175 is the ONLY service center that was recommended when I called the Panasonic 1-800-211-7262 and entered my zip code.

Also, I have read of the dead headphones problem with the DVX-100A in 6 separate instances. Google it, you’ll see. The $70 charge for the procedure WAS pretty strange to me also, but since the service center had been recommended – BY PANASONIC – so I didn’t know what else to do.

Perhaps Panasonic should ACTUALLY monitor what service facilities it recommends, don’t you think?

—
SM