Troll: Any Panasonic MX300 owners/users ?
 

Hi there,

I'm have some questions specific to Pana MX300 camcorder. But before that I'm wondering if there are knowledgeable owners/users of this particular camcorder that are active in this forum.

Just to be sure I'll not be asking "in the woods".

Regards,

Florian

Welcome,

I personally have not used the MX300, but I know a videographer who uses, I think the model below -MX100? Which has similar features, to produce videos for various people, and he rates the camera very highly.

It was a neat idea for Panasonic to include a docking station for easy transfer of video and still images.

Apparently the MX300 is being supper seeded by the MX400 or 600 - can't remember the exact model number but something like that (it's that time of the year again, Bring in the new and chuck out the old!).

I would be happy to have a go at any question you have about your camera. I'm sure with the heads around this forum we would be able to conjure up something useful.

All the best,

Ed Smith

I have a MX300 the Australian PAL version of the MX3000

There is a MX350 here in Australia now but not yet the MX500

Morbid, go to the:

www.dvfreak.com/pana_mx5.htm

link. There, click on the mycen--- link. You will find Terrence put together some good notes about the MX300 and MX350.

Also, you can download the MX500A manual from my site. The cam should become available within about 3 weeks (in Australia).

Thanks Frank,

The MX500 looks interesting, thanks for the links I've got some reading to do.

My MX300 is in for repair again (they can't seem to fix it, trouble from new 8months ago) so I might need to get another new Camera maybe a MX500 or an XM2.

What's wrong with your MX300? Did you get Stuart from Pana AU to look at it? He's the man (Sydney). (I've been lucky with mine so far.)

This is some of the letter I sent to Panasonic. Last time I sent it in for repair it came back with a repair docket from some other company in Sydney (not Panasonic) it's under warranty but i figured Panasonic don't fix their own cameras. (I was shocked actually)

I cannot capture large blocks of video without the audio dropping out and the picture going mosaic like in big blocks and freezing for a few frames..

This only happens for less then a second but usually several times when trying to play the tape thru the camera while capturing it or just PREVIEWING it in the cameras viewer. When I rewind the tape and again play the exact area of the tape it USUALLY but not always plays the tape perfectly. So presently I need to recapture the footage over and over again trying to get a half hour of perfect footage. This is such a waste of time having to watch the same footage footage repeatedly waiting for the inevitable glitch in audio and picture. I cant even trust the camera to DV in out of my Computer to do backups.

Sometimes it is much worse then other times having glitches every couple of minutes.

I love the camera size and picture etc and its great to carry around when I don't want to use my XL1s but presently I can't rely on it :o(

It sounds like head problems. You should read:

www.dvfreak.com/tape.htm

If you don't think that's the problem, then your heads need repair.

If you are getting "glitches" while uploading to your computer, then your problem is the internal firewire driver---there is an upgrade for this.

Let me know if these "blocks" are from just dirty heads. If it's the firewire, I'll e-mail you a contact to have it updated.

I evaluated the MX350 some time ago and posted in DV.com my results (hereunder).I was told that MX 300 opicture was simular. Conclusion: featurefull camera with very attractive pictures on small, resolution limited displays..
posted 9/05/2002 07:32 AM PDT
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I was interested in the MX 350 because it's a small 3CCD camcorder. Today I did some tests/comparisons with my Sony VX1000 which I was going to sell, but I didn't (yet).
MX350 is a good and attractive camera with lots of features. Good basic resolution, good color, good sensitivity, good S/N, minor cushion distortion on wide angle,.. everything OK and fully comparable with my VX1000. Only the "fat" edge enhancement (contouring) witheld me from buying. Even on the lowest sharpness settings (advanced settings) the (vertical)edge enhancement did not disappear while the hor res was already somewhat down at that setting. As an image professsional I am allergic to those kinds of old fashioned tricks, even for my hobby/vacation equipment I don't like "plastified" images. Unfortunatly the new Sony TRV 950 has the same shortcomming (wonder if it could be tuned down without lowering the resolution too much) all other Sony's (VX2000, and other types) are clean with a discrete amount of (thin) edge sharpening. When I designed TV's about 40 years ago, with the limited bandwidths for vacuum tube amplifiers, that was what we had to do to get a "sharp"(?)image... this is long time ago. I suppose The Pana consumer cam designers must be at least 80 years old and don't know the world and the technology has changed since then...

dre, thanks, for the evaluation. Terrence has the MX350 and MX300 differences, pros and cons, posted up on his MX page:

www.mycen.com.my/inbox/mx2.html

I'll also post some differences on a new thread tonight, which are worth mentioning. I just have to dig them up!

Morbid the problem you have with your MX300 sounds very very similar to the problem with my MX300 - bought in Melb 13 mths ago.
If you are capturing to PC or even viewing in the filpout screen with a firewire cable connected to your MX300 and you get audio/video glitches try this - disconnect the firewire cable and watch the output on the flip out screen - if it's OK then reconnect the firewire cable. If the glitches return then you have the same problem that I (and many others) have/had. The good news is that it can be fixed 100% (in my case) by a firmware upgrade.

I can send you some stills of the glitch to compare - can we post attachments here?

This is a known problem within Panasonic Australia - Stuart Cooper at Panny Australia knows of the issue and sorted mine out for me...

Right now I haven't enabled image attachments, but if you wish, you can e-mail a few 640x480 jpeg's to me and I'll put them in a directory on the website.

Thanks Chris but I e-mailed 'Morbid' directly and sent him a couple of samples...

If the transfer is interrupted, you need this remedy: EEPROM data must be updated to version 1.50

The MX300A when connected via firewire as "player" to other firewire devices may intermittently glitch in the data stream. The block noise will be random in either 1 x field or 1 x frame. When block noise appears it can be seen on the cameras viewer whilst playing and recording computer or other camera simultaneously.

Software changes can only be done by Panasonic or
Panasonic Dealers who process TATSUJIN alignment tools.

Then again, this problem was rare, and only with a few PAL MX300s.

Thanks all for your help.

I rang the Pana repairers in Sydney on Friday (they are called Turris Electronics) the guy who answered looked up my job and said "Parts have been ordered" apparently they are going to replace the cylinder motor. I told him that I had been investigating on the web to try to find out more info that
maybe able to direct them to the problem and thought that the camera needed a firmware update. I offered to email him exact details and examples of the picture glitch. He said the technician working on the camera "really knows his cameras and it is in good hands, but he will make note of my comments"

(If he really know his cameras then why do I have to send it in for repair for the same problem more then once?)

So I don't know whether they have taken my call offering assistance seriously or not.

I'll post more when I get an update.