Serious camera problem...Please help

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DvxLoser

New member
All right guys, I'll get right down to the point. I'm right in the middle of a huge film project that I’ve invested hundreds of dollars in, and my camera just started having a major malfunction. It's pretty simple actually; the camera will only record the right channel of audio (channel 2). Last night it was working fine, giving me both the left and right channel, but now it only will record the right one.

It has this problem when I use my external mic, or the internal camera mic. I have switched all the settings, read the manual, I have literally tried everything I can think of. I am convinced that this problem may be an internal electrical problem (I really hope it's not because I got this camera not 3 months ago). I did not bump it on anything, get it wet, nothing. It worked last night and has sat in the exact same place since then. I'm all out of ideas, can anyone help me?

PS: The camera is the Panasonic DVX-100B.
 
I know you said you checked the settings but check the input level, and check to make sure that when you use the external mic that the camera is set to pick up the mic on both channels. And make sure your left channel isn't on the input the mic isn't plugged into.

If anything I think it'll be the input level.

I know channel one can pick up Input 1, Input 2, and Internal Left; but Channel two can only pick Input 2 and Internal Right. So if you have the left on Input one with the mic in Input 2, it won't pick up anything.
 
Yes, those are some good suggestions but i've literally tryed all of the configurations and none of them fix the problem. I even went back and tryed everything over again after reading your post, and I still get the same thing.

When I am using my external mic I have it plugged into input 2, and I have both switches set to input 2. This is where I have always had them while filming before, and it always worked fine. Now obviously it doesn't, and when I set the switches to the internal mic, I have the same problem...Sound on channel 2, but not on channel 1. This is why I fear the problem is electrical, and internal.

Am I missing something here? I'm completely out of ideas, does anyone know what I can do?
 
It sounds like you've covered all the bases, and it could be an internal elctronic problem.

One more test: switch channel 1 to Line (little switch on the front, I think...I don't have a B model). The sound won't be usable, but it could show whether that channel is completely blown or just the mic stage.

If the line-level still works, you can run the mic through a little preamp and use line-level.

BUT: it is only in very particular circumstances that you need both channels working, so you probably won't need to halt or delay production.

What sort of project is this? For a film, just go with the one channel, and get the camera fixed later on.
 
When I switch input 1 to line mode on the front of the camera, I still only get the same one channel of audio from the internal mic, and with the mic plugged into input 1 I get nothing at all.

Yes, this is a film project. You think I should just shoot the film so that the finished product only has sound coming out of the right speaker? It seems like that might knock the quality of the film quite a bit.
 
Well, if you're recording the same input from the mic onto both channels, then you're essentially dealing with mono sound anyway. So just recording it onto the channel that is working and then duplicating that over to the left channel in post will produce the exact same results. Just keep recording and you should be fine. No need to panic.
 
Ahhhh yes. I never really thought about that, thank you. Ok, so that's one problem down, the film can continue. In terms of the long term though, what should I do about this?
 
Long term? Authorized Panasonic repair place. It's still under warranty (and hopefully you did buy from an authorized dealer, right? ).
 
Somewhere on the Panasonic website they have a list of places. I think you put in your ZIP code and it comes back with the nearest places you can go. (I've never done it...I'm just remembering what I've seen in other posts here. :) )
 
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