20 Most Recent Panasonic AG-DVC7 MiniDV Proline Camcorder Questions & Answers

• Like all the old video recorders there are mechanical parts inside what need cleaning in high priority the parts that mechanical activate switches for the intake in the little microcontactsswitches and the most important of all are mechanical mode-select-switches where timing is an hot issue
• The entire process is timed often gears are used, but sometimes also strings that can slip by age and or dirt, cleaning and contact cleaner and look for bad soldering.
• Also check that the lens motor for the aperture setting is working properly, because everything concerns mechanical settings when that failure then stops the device. Also the zoom lens motor that are the first mechanical parts after the tape was lace in. all must exactly done in a special short timing.

PANASONIC AG DVC7 SCH Service Manual free download schematics eeprom...

check beneath the fold-out LCD screen.

I take the cover off the door, using the eraser as the end of a pencil - lightly press on the recording head (drum). Put a tape in and watch to see if the tape now wraps around the head and stays in position to record.

This is usually caused by an oxidized, misaligned or defective Audio/Video drum. You can try running a cleaning tape through the camera. If this does not solve the problem the camera will need to be serviced by a qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair cost low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

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Tape mechanism problems can be quite complicated. This will require disassembling the camera to repair and can usually be done fairly inexpensively. However, it's not a user serviceable problem and will need to be repaired by a qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

If this response has been of any help to you, please be sure and give a positive vote for me on FixYa.com.

I'm not a technician, but we just sent our AG-DVC7 to a repair shop. For $45.00 they told me the CCD Unit and the CCD board were bad. they wanted $250.00 for parts alone. The camera is 8 yrs. old and I don't see a $400-500 repair as a good investment, as the new unit is only $1000.00

try Enhanced View Services 305-971-2916

Yes, I've popped the whole thing apart and the lens is very, very tiny under all that plastic... like a handheld camcorder lens. There appears to be no adjustment options on it... but I'm also afraid to open it beyond where I'm at. I'll continue to investigate and let you know if I come across a solution. I don't mind so much if I damage the lens as the whole cam is already holding on by a thread.

Bad power switch... very, very common with the DVC7 and DVC15. Get the power switch/recorder button assembly replaced and hopefully you won't have the problem again until the new one decides to act up.

the dvc20 performs a self-test routine which includes testing the operation of the mechanical deck. if one or more tests fail, the "press reset" comes up. most common problem is a poor connection to one or more motors in the deck; oxidation or dirty connectors causes this.

the knob for the eject button has broken internally. replacement involves almost complete disassembly of the camera.

most likely problem is poor connection on the ribbon cable from the video head to the board.

Panasonic lists video heads for the AG-DVC7 at about $250.00. p/n VEG1576.

I've had this happen with a Panasonic when I went back out into the cold after going into a warm, humid cafe for lunch. The drum had picked up some condensation, but the condensation detector didn't shut down the camera.

Actually I got it done this evening when I got home. I carefully started pulling screws that appeared to hold the left case side on, and I got lucky and got all the correct ones on the first try. After removing and reseating all of the ribbon cables the camera works perfectly again!

Sounds like the cleaning job wasn't good enough to get all the dirt. Try a Panasonic cleaning tape; if that doesn't work, find a local repair shop to do a good hand cleaning.

Most likely the flex cable connection to the video head is dirty. A good repair shop will be able to handle this.