Panasonic NV-MX350B camcorder- "play mode error" HELP PLEASE !

[roger17x]

Hi,

I have the Panasonic NV-MX350B mini DV camcorder for about 5 years from new.

It was working fine untill I purchased some JVC mini DV cassettes rather than the usual Panasonic tapes that I had used with no problems for years. I recorded about 30 minutes onto the JVC tape and when I went to play the tape in the camera it wouldnt display properly. It was small random pixels flashing on and off, no sound and with the following screen warning, " Unplayable tape, other format". Although it is the correct tape that I am using?

I reinserted a pre recorded Panasonic tape to check if I had the same problem, the message and playback problem was the same.

I thought the heads may be dirty so I used a New Panasonic dry head cleaning cassette for the first time in the cameras life, it didn't fix the problem.

Does anyone have the same camera / or had a similar problem. I feel a repair would be costly and I have tried to obtain a service manual for this model but with no luck.

Can anyone in the forum help please?

[senu]

It sounds like a tape head or mechanism "contamination " problem

I had this exact model ( and a 500) which I happily used with a mixture of tapes .. Ended up with similar problem , not amenable to tape head cleaner.. Had to "write off" the camcorder in the end

It seems to be to much of a coincidence
In my case I had been Using Sony tapes then used Panasonic then a JVC: then the problem arose
Although the advice is to avoid mixing tapes I find it very odd that this is happening after only one tape
Also I had felt it was Sony vs the rest
I still use Sony ..but I stick to Sony
It may not cost much to clean the head professionally. The 350 is a good camcorder and apart from not being especially low light friendly ( a bit of grain) is actually much better than many of today's MiniDV models having a host of manual controls ect
...They don't make them like that anymore

[roger17x]

Thanks Senu for your speedy reply, I was sorry to hear you had the same problem.

It's hard to believe that using a different cassette can contaminate the camera head or mechanism, says a lot for JVC products if this is the case.

I wished I'd never purchased the cassettes knowing what the resulting damage would be by using them. The dilemma I have now is either to cost out the repair or buy another mini DV camera just to play the dozens of home made movies of the kids and family. I'll make sure I back up the cassette copies to hard drive or DVD for future referencing next time!

Does anyone know if I tried to clean the heads and mechanism with some kind of wet based head cleaner, would this might correct the fault after having no success with the dry head cleaning cassette?