Episode 11: More Panasonic PV-DV203D

[@L0nald]

thinking about to picking one of these up. this just made me sure

[@KevinLendio]

This is so wholesome. Now I'm wondering if I made a good decision getting a 4k camcorder. There's something about this retro type of home video quality that makes it look and feel better.

[@hunsberg]

If you are in the States, I highly recommend shopgoodwill.com. They have so many old cameras and half the time nobody bids on them either so it is quite easy to pick one up.

[@KevinLendio]

@@hunsberg Oh wow, sure I'll check it out. Thanks for sharing!

[@ryu6120]

Cann this workk usinng power adapter

[@hunsberg]

Yep, it has a DC barrel jack behind the battery slot to plug in

[@ryu6120]

@@hunsberg Thankyou, what battery should i use for this?

[@ryu6120]

And ac adaptor 😅

[@hunsberg]

The camera battery is model CGR-D08. Kastar is a good brand that makes replacement batteries and chargers. Not sure about the AC adapter, but you can always find an original one on eBay... The model number for that is PV-DAC11

[@expr6411]

hey i have one and everything works great but the mini led screen its black i noticed it works but the brightness is so low i can hardly see anything do you know a fix?

[@hunsberg]

If the display is dim outside in bright sunlight, unfortunately that is how it is... It's not that good to begin with. If the display is dark even when indoors, the backlight could be burnt out, you'd have to take it apart to replace it.

[@expr6411]

@@hunsberg if the backlight is bunt out how would I replace it? All the functions seem to be working when I don’t turn on the led screen but the moment I do flip is open it’s juts black

[@hunsberg]

The best place to start would be to look for the service manual or a schematic for the PV-203D that would show how to take it apart. You would then need to find the screen assembly or even the entire camcorder for parts on eBay and then transplant the display from that into your own. Currently the model isn't unique or rare so there is also a chance you can find an entire working unit for cheap and use that instead!

[@expr6411]

@@hunsberg okay will do thank you for the help!

[@demojoys]

Can you record video with an SD card in ? I’m seeming to not be able to

[@hunsberg]

This one only records videos to the Mini DV tape and pictures to the SD card.

[@bunninna]

hello! may i ask how you were able to digitalize the videos from this camcorder? thank you!

[@hunsberg]

This camera has a 4-pin Firewire port to connect to a computer. Many old laptops from the 2000s - 2010s have this port, or if you have a desktop computer you can get a Firewire PCIe card. Alternatively if you have a Mac, you can connect a bunch of adapters and have a Firwire to Thunderbolt connection.

[@bunninna]

@@hunsbergthank you, that was very helpful! one more question, (im not familiar with older technology so sorry if this is a bit of a dumb question) do you record the videos onto a minidv tape or are you able to just record and save videos directly onto the camera? thanks again!

[@hunsberg]

The video gets recorded into the tape. Today's cameras/phone's have all the video clips show up individual on the computer and you can pick and choose which ones you want to copy over in seconds. For transferring video off of tape, that isn't really possible. Instead you play back the entire thing on the camera and the computer captures the video. This means that if you have 45 minutes of video if will take 45 minutes to capture. It is not convenient at all, but I think that is part of the charm!