PANASONIC HDC-SD1-S ***SOLVED***

[Archangel]

[color=]Hi

HELP.

New thread and new to this site, hope someone can help me.

I have the above camcorder recently bought from an ebay, only 7 months old, I have it for 6 weeks,  have taken video and photos, have taken off some video and uploaded to my macpro, fine until now, it has just decided to to show any video at all to upload to computer.  After connecting all cables that it came with and putting battery in correct place connecting to computer etc it just says \' CONNECT AC ADAPTOR TO BATTERY\'
 This is in PC  mode as it says except that it will still not work.  I have also tried it on a PC and it still does not work.  I just don\'t know what else to try, does anyone else out there have this problem or a solution. HELP please. Want to see christmas videos taken of grandchildren.[/color]

Thank you

[gbruner]

Hi Archangel,
I\'m glad we got you to the forums.  We\'ll do our best to help you.

First, can you play back the video using the SD1\'s LCD in playback mode?  If so, then good so far.

The AC adapter/charger has to be attached to the SD1 in order to connect it to a Mac or PC using PC mode.  Make sure the battery is in the camcorder, connect it to the AC adapter and make sure you have power.  If you have a second battery, take it out of the charger.  Connect the SD1 to your Mac with a USB cable and turn the SD1 to PC mode.

If you have done all the above and still have the message, have you reset the SD1?  There is a little button inside the LCD cavity that you have to press with the point of a pen/pencil or paper clip. Turn the camera on in playback mode and press reset.  Then, see if you can connect to your Mac.

Let us know if that works or not.

Cheers,

[Archangel]

Hello Guy, thanks for quick reply.  Yes we can see video on camcorder, but still cannot get it to go on to the mac.  Have tried all you said and still nothing.  With the battery in the camera no message comes up, but it says to put battery in the Ac adaptor - still does not work but brings up the attach etc message again.  Have also tried the reset button, still nothing.  Am puzzled that it has worked and now does not work.  Have not done anything different.  All computer is up to date with everything. (Newish computer)

Archangel

[Archangel]

Hello Guy,
Forgot to say it opens in pictures to take off photos but does not open in Imovie nor if we open imovie first. Does not recognize camcorder.

Archangel

[gbruner]

By any chance have you installed new software since you last pulled video from the SD1 to the Mac?  I understand Flip4Mac sometimes causes iLife to not see the video folder.

[Archangel]

May well have done, if so what do we do.

[Archangel]

Hello Guy

More on the Panasonic.  My hubby John says it is nothing to do with the computer not seeing the video it is the video is not getting as far as going into the computer - seems stuck in the connect ac adaptor to battery stage, it will go no further than that.

That\'s in PC mode as it says to do.

Archangel

[gbruner]

Start by removing Flip4Mac if you have it installed and see if that lets iMovie see the video folder on the SD card.  If you know, for sure, that you have installed other software, then remove each software one at a time and check.

Another thing you might do is take the SDHC card (or the camcorder) to another computer and see if it can see the folders.  It doesn\'t have to be a Mac.  If you don\'t have friends or family with a computer, perhaps the local computer or electronics store will let you plug into one of their laptops.  If you can see the folders, copy them to a USB jump drive and try that on your Mac.

[Archangel]

Hello guy

I did reply again saying what my problem was with camcorder did you get it or are you scratching yor head trying to sort what is wrong with it.

I did try panasonic customer servercies today, but after holding on for them to answer for 30 minutes - then teling them the problem and they said hold a minute please - 10 minutes later still no one had come back to me and it was time for me to go back to work.  Just a costly phone call and still no answers.

HELP - is anyone one else having these type of problems with the camcorder.

[gbruner]

Are you positive the camcorder is getting voltage from the AC adapter?  It seems to me that the adapter may not be working. It is possible that the battery charger will work to charge a battery but not supply voltage over the DC cord. Or, the cord could have a broken wire which may not be visible to the eye. When he was a puppy, my dog chewed on my laptop AC cord and I had to repair it.  I could barely see his teeth marks. They were almost like pin pricks.  The wires are very tiny and it doesn\'t take much to break one.

If your husband has access to a volt-ohm meter, he could check the DC voltage on the camcorder plug end of the cord...the plug you stick into the camcorder.  It should be 7.9V.  Positive voltage is on the connector in the center of the coaxial plug. He just needs to make sure he doesn\'t short the inner conductor to the outer sheath. The outer metal sheath is negative (ground). If the adapter is working, then there may be something wrong internally in the power circuitry of the camcorder.  You would have to have Panasonic or an authorized service dealer repair it.

Most camcorders will allow transfer operations while on battery.  Unfortunately, Panasonic has chosen the alternative and forces the user to plug in the AC adapter.  They could just as easily have powered the camcorder from the USB cable when it is plugged into a computer, but they didn\'t do this either.

[Archangel]

Hello Guy

Have not had any answers from you recently, do you have any other advice for me on this problem.

It just says  \' attach ac adaptor to battery\'  does not go the computer at all.

[gbruner]

Archangel,
Did you see my replies above?

[Archangel]

HELLO GUY

So sorry - have emailed you - I did not go to \'next\' page, thought they ran on down, thanks for keeping on bothering with me, will try all you suggest when hubby home tomorrow (Friday) and report back.

In the meantime I have tried with a usb but that does not work either - it shows the files as A .MTS EXTENSION file and cannot open them, on a mac or vista

thanks

archangel :unsure:

[gbruner]

:)It\'s ok.  We were all new at this not long ago.

MTS is the extension of the AVCHD file as it is stored on the SDHC card.  On a PC, you can change that extension to M2TS and media players can open it.  Most of the current media players can open the MTS file.  I don\'t know what the file extension is on a Mac...probably .MOV or .MP4.  You can try changing the extension on the Mac and see if that fixes it.

[Archangel]

Hello Guy,

Am replying to this as I think I am possibly confusing you.

With all the wires plugged in as Panasonic say to computer etc we cannot see any video files at al[/i]  BUT it loads the photos which are also on the camcorder on to the computer  in  Iphoto  on the mac ( NO videos show on the mac or pc), as I said before it seems stuck in the part of the getting the video through to the computer stuck on ATTACH AC ADAPTOR TO .......

As I have said post this, I have put the sdhc card into a micromate usb card and it sees the MTS files on the mac and pc but cannot open them in either.

Is there a way of resetting the camcorder, have tried all in book and what you have already said.

I can see no breaks in leads but will try them out tomorrow in a tester.

Does this help

Archangel