HD100 blown firewire port
 

I just sent off my HD100(A) to JVC in Georgia because of a blown firewire port and was told the repair would cost $1886.93. That's more than half the value of the camera. I'm planning on selling the camera and I need advice. It has a 17x lens (a superior lens to the stock lens) and I'm wondering if I should sell the lens separately. I have no idea how much value the camera has, given the expense of fixing the blown firewire port. I can't afford to gamble paying for the repair and then sell the camera for not much more than the repair cost. Do you think there's a market for a camera with a blown port? Any ideas?

Thanks.

At this moment $1700 is about how much a used camera is worth, with stock 16x lens. I doubt you'll get over 2K for 100 model. So the option would be just to get another camera (used) with working FW port, instead of fixing the board.

When I told JVC to send back the camera, I got another estimate from them that was suddenly $1100 (which makes me wonder about the original estimate - the part was listed at $1500!). Still too much to make any sense. I guess I'll just see how much I can get with the blown port. If the offers are too low, I'll just keep it as a second camera.

So they dropped it $600.

It is sad to see a reputable company doing business this way.

Did they offer you a special deal on a clear-coat protective spray? Maybe just an additional thousand dollars?

Perhaps the firewire "situation" on this camera was part of the revenue generation plan on this release.

I have 2 cameras both had blown ports. I got one fixed it cost about $1,300 with the changing times in video I cant justify fixing the other one. You may want to try this place.
Our Services
I know it sounds too good to be true but they said they could do it for a $400.

Randy

yeah the part itself is somewhere around 300-400 in cost.

its the labor you get gouged on.

Get an estimate from RBE video (About Us). maybe not the cheapest, but at least honest. I think you would be better off leaving the camera and not repairing it.

The quote I got (originally) was $1500 for the part and $250 for the labor.

This is a bunch of bs. Sorry, but how is it possible that a new camera with all the circuit boards, CCD chips and a micro processor and a lens costs $4500 new, and one peripheral board costs 1500!
A few months ago I had a displeasure of dealing with customer support from JVC, and it left with with long lasting bad taste. On the other hand Sony was just the opposite. JVC- are you listening?

I hear you. I was trying to be diplomatic about it, but I'm not sure why!

If I were in your shoes, I'd buy a used HD100/110/200, swap lenses, then sell the HD100 with the stock 16x lens.

Yes, there is a market, but you're not going to get much. I have a working HD100 and would probably buy another HD100 with a blown port to use as a b-cam if the price was right.

Speaking from experience, the board that has to replaced is the main board for the camera and the whole camera has to be dissasembled to get at it. Still I do agree that the board is way overpriced. Especially since the port could be protected by an internal fuse.

regards
Ian Skurrie

I'd definitely get a second estimate. See this post for my experience with this:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/jvc-gy-hd...tml#post925220

I took my camera to Full Compass in Middleton, WI. Good guys, very straight with me, did fine work and fast return. I haven't had any problems with it since.

I had them send my camera back to me without fixing it. If I spent over $1100 fixing the port, I may wind up getting not much more than that when I resell it. I'll just use the camera as a second camera. It still is a very good camera, and I can just use tapes with my deck. It's just a pity that there is no way to get a decent price for it - without that port being fixed, it has no resale value.

I think JVC should fix this for free. This is a design flaw that affects all the camcorders with the 6-pin firewire. They should fix it for free and remove the two pins on the port that send/recieve power. I hope to get 5 years out of my camera, I'm two years out of warranty now and I so I bought a $25 port isolator and a separate HDV deck.

Hey, where did you get the port isolator? I'm trying to find one for my HD110. I already blew the firewire, fixed it, and I really don't want that to happen again. Please let me know.
I've tried other links people posted but they were dead-ends.

Thanks!

These cameras were full of design flaws. It's the same story with original tape mechanism, which was notorious for braking down.

Look in this post, firewiredepot.com I think you can find them cheaper elswhere.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/jvc-gy-hd...-firewire.html

Firewire Port Isolator Link
 

Ben,

I have 2 HD100s and invested in a couple of firewire port isolators as per Tim Dashwood's suggestion several years ago and thankfully, I have had no problems with my cameras. I went tapeless 2 yrs ago, capturing directly into my DR-100 units, and I simply leave my port isloator cables attached to the cameras ALL THE TIME so that I never forget to use them. And of course, as you already know, ALWAYS power off both camera and HD/computer/dect before attaching or detaching the cables.

Here's where I got my cables. You can even have them custom designed to various lengths with right-angled connectors for an addtional fee. Just make sure you carefully consider which angle/direction you really need before ordering if you decide to go that way.

FireWire Port Isolator - 6pin - 6 inch

Cheers,

Michael Lafleur