We have nine Panasonic AG-DVC7 cameras in an educational setting. All are relatively new, purchased in 2004 and 2005. Six of the nine cameras are now exhibiting the same record problem, one that Panasonic claims it has never heard of. In a nutshell, the camera "pretends" it's recording. The timecode in the viewfinder is advancing, and we can hear the tape turning. But when we get back from the field there is nothing on the tape. It's happened so many times to so many different student crews on so many different cameras that I have long ago ruled out "user error." Or repair person is stumped, and Panasonic is of no help. They first blamed it on our tapes, until I told them we use only Panasonic professional quality mini-dv tapes. No other brand name tape has ever been loaded into the camears. Anyone ever encounter this problem? It's the worst you can imagine, really -- the students go out on their news shoots, everything looks fine, then they get back and there's nothing on the tape.
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