[Steve Mcmahon]

THANK you. SO simple. Excellent.

So I guess we all don’t need to buy a 100B.

—
SM

[Steve Mcmahon]

Speaking of the bay area, we are looking for an Operator with a DVX100A for a one-day shoot in the Bay Area, probably Fri., 11/25/05. We want to mount the camera on a Jimmy Jib, so we would need someone with a remote start/stop and zoom control, i.e. Stealthzoom, VariZoom or equivalent. We will supply the jib and operator and long enough mini-to-mini cable to reach the camera on the 18′ jib arm. Cam Op would be responsible for exposure (probably Auto-Focus) and location maintenance of camera, working closely w/jib operator.

Also, we would like to ‘jam-sync’ this camera with another DVX100A (free-run time-code) for editing purposes. Is there a cable for doing this? Or is it simply a matter of starting the free-run TC on both camras simultaneously? Any thoughts much appreciated.

One-day job will pay a the going rate for DVX100A and Op.

Thanks

[Steve Mcmahon]

Mr. Livingston, Of course I went to the Panasonic website. EVERYTHING there points you to the 1-800-211-PANA number. If there was a ‘piece-of-paper’ w/a service phone number, I missed it. I had just gotten off the road (11 days-straight), with scheduled shoots and no headphones. Not a pleasant condition. Whatever.

The salient issue here is the DVX100A itself and the dead headphones problem. Google it. You’ll see it. Fact is, there’s an electronic switch, from internal spkr. to headphones, on the motherboard, that’s problematic. Panasonic seems to be ignoring it.

Why?

Think you need to get THAT issue reconciled BEFORE you start reproving service centers and your customers.

—
SM

[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

[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.

[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?

[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]

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?