Panasonic PV-GS35: Stuck in Blue Screen problem

[Idz21]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone had a solution for me. I purchased my GS35 in December of '05. Used it for the first time in March '06. I captured my video using the software that came with the camera. The quality looked crappy so I deleted it and went looking for new software.

I go back to try and use my camera with the PC again, and all I get is this blue screen that has a PC in the top left corner, and the battery life gauge in the top right corner. No matter what mode I turn the camera to, the blue screen stays.

I tried the reset trick, but no luck. Panasonic told me that I'll need to send it to a shop in IL to get it fixed. I wanted to run through here to see if anyone experience a similar problem.

[pxpaulx]

I think, unfortunately you've found the wrong type of forum. This is a forum for Digital Cameras, not camcorders, sorry!

[genece]

I do not understand video cams at all but streaming live from a camera to a PC is not great quality to the best of my knowledge.I would think with firewire it should be better.

Does the video cam work if the PC is left out of the picture?

Have you tried a new tape?

[Idz21]

I think, unfortunately you've found the wrong type of forum. This is a forum for Digital Cameras, not camcorders, sorry!
Whoops. Sorry, I'm a moron. If I see Digital Camera I immediately assume it's both. I'm european and we call camcorders, cameras soooo. :eek:

[Idz21]

I do not understand video cams at all but streaming live from a camera to a PC is not great quality to the best of my knowledge.I would think with firewire it should be better.

Does the video cam work if the PC is left out of the picture?

Have you tried a new tape?
I actually taped it straight to a DV tape, and then captured the video to my PC later on.

The video cam doesn't work at all. Whether it's connected to a PC or otherwise. It looks like I'll need to send it back to the manufacturer and have them check it out. 17-20 business days! I was trying to avoid that.

[tim11]

What video editing program are you using?


The video cam doesn't work at all. Whether it's connected to a PC or otherwise.
Does this mean the video cam doesn't work even if using for normal recording and not just when uploading?

[Idz21]

What video editing program are you using?


Does this mean the video cam doesn't work even if using for normal recording and not just when uploading?
I used the software that came with the camera - Motion DV Studio.

That's correct, whenever I turn the camera on, all I see is a blue screen. I'm going to be sending it out for repairs this Saturday morning. I'm hoping they'll just send me a new one - and hopefully not a refurb. :(

[tim11]

I don't have a Panasonic camcorder but obviously yours is still stuck in PC uploading mode. Is there a way in the manual to turn it back into recording mode?

[Idz21]

I don't have a Panasonic camcorder but obviously yours is still stuck in PC uploading mode. Is there a way in the manual to turn it back into recording mode?
Resetting it should have taken care of that. Pressing the reset button should return the camera back to factory settings.

I tried hooking it back up to the PC to try to get it back into that PC mode so I can take it out of it, but no luck. And the weird thing is that PC mode is used to extract pictures from the camera that are stored on the SD disk. (It also has still picture capabilities).

The only thing I did with that is delete the one picture I took messin around to see what it would look like.

[scaredwitless]

The place you want to be is here:
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/ -- the definitive resource and forums for the Panasonic DV cameras.

I own a GS400, which is likely different though similar to your GS35. It sounds like you're trying to transfer video while in the PC mode. As you said that is only for transferring photos. On the GS400 this mode is selectable from a mode dial, and the mode you want to be in in order to transfer video is playback mode. Which is the same mode that you would play the video back on your cameras LCD. Likely you have a way to change to this particular mode. Otherwise I suggest you look in your manual it should be pretty apparent.

Also keep in mind, although these cames have a USB2 and a Firewire port, the USB2 port is really only supported by a select few video editing softwares such as the included software. Other popular softwares such as Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas don't support transferring videos that way, so far as I know. Firewire connections are the most universally supported for video transfer, and in my opinion it is in general superior for this purpose.

So before you send it off for repair I highly recommend you check your manual and/or post over at panasonic3ccduser.com .

[Idz21]

The place you want to be is here:
http://www.pana3ccduser.com/ -- the definitive resource and forums for the Panasonic DV cameras.

I own a GS400, which is likely different though similar to your GS35. It sounds like you're trying to transfer video while in the PC mode. As you said that is only for transferring photos. On the GS400 this mode is selectable from a mode dial, and the mode you want to be in in order to transfer video is playback mode. Which is the same mode that you would play the video back on your cameras LCD. Likely you have a way to change to this particular mode. Otherwise I suggest you look in your manual it should be pretty apparent.

Also keep in mind, although these cames have a USB2 and a Firewire port, the USB2 port is really only supported by a select few video editing softwares such as the included software. Other popular softwares such as Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas don't support transferring videos that way, so far as I know. Firewire connections are the most universally supported for video transfer, and in my opinion it is in general superior for this purpose.

So before you send it off for repair I highly recommend you check your manual and/or post over at panasonic3ccduser.com .
Thanks for the link I'll give them a try.

The problem with my camera is that I never set it to PC mode when connecting to my PC. It's always been in playback mode. Once I got the blue screen I tried a lot of different ways to connect the camera to the PC so as to try to get the camera to snap out of it, but no luck.

I think if anything the camera Reset would have been the thing to do, but even that doesn't do the trick.