I had the strangest thing happen to my brand new Panasonic GS-200 the other night. I was capturing a 44 minute performance that I had just recorded and at 23 minutes into the tape, I got several alternating large horizontal bands that did not record (or play back) correctly. It only lasted for about 30 seconds and the audio went out of sync while it was happening. If I stopped the tape in the middle of it happening, the alternate bands would be solid blue because they took on the blue background of the stopped camera. If I rewound to before 23 minutes and played it through, it bands where the last frozen frame that did record correctly. The rest of the tape was fine.

I have never seen anything like this before. I had a Panasonic PVDV-601 before this and I occasionally got some digital noise but never anything like this. These were 6 or 7 thick bands that either didn’t record or wouldn’t playback. I monitored the entire recording live and didn’t see any problem but I realize I was monitor the live camera and not what was being recorded to tape.

Now I’m afraid to trust this camera anymore. It’s brand new. Does anyone have any idea of what could be wrong? Should I be sending it back to Panasonic as being defective? Could it be a bad tape? (Fujifilm) I’ve owned nothing but Panasonic camcorders since 1989 so I know they make good stuff. Maybe I just got a lemon? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

~jr

John,

This early in the game I would try a head cleaner (even new cams can require a cleaning) and another tape. If after cleaning and a new tape the problem still shows up then send this cam back as quickly as you can.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Tommy,

Sounds like a plan. I’ll clean the heads and hope for the best. I always use fresh tape (I never reuse them) and have been using Fujifilm for several years without problems. I'll post back if it happens again. Thanks,

~jr