GH1 question

[Tullio]

Just bought a GH1 (body only) from Wall Street Photo (through Amazon). The camera is NEW. However, I noticed two things: 1) it's made in China (all my other Panasonic cameras are made in Japan); 2) the Video Out setting in the wrench menu defaults to PAL as opposed to NTSC. This made me think that perhaps this unit is not for US. How can I verify whether a particular camera is for the US market or not (based on serial #, I suppose)? Thanks.

 

[Tullio]

Wow...not one comment/suggestion about this issue?

 

[monza]

Look at the warranty card?

 

[Jerry_R]

First two characters - PRODUCTION COUNTRY: WE = China, FS = Japan
Third digit - PRODUCTION YEAR: 9 = 2009, 0 = 2010.
Fourth character - PRODUCTION MONTH: A = January [...] L = Dezember

All GH1s I had in hands were produced in China.

PAL vs NTSC - open recorded file on computer and examine recording details. The option in menu is not saying in what mode camera will record, but to what TV SET camera is connected.

 

[Tullio]

Thanks very much, Jerry. The ting is, from what you said, the serial number tells where the camera was manufactured (and when). The question is, are all the GH1 made in China not covered by the US warranty?

Also, if Video Out has the option to select PAL and NTSC and that's for playing video only, then there should be another setting for recording video where one can select PAL or NTSC but I can't find such a setting. So, how does the camera know whether to record in PAL vs. NTSC? I think once you select NTSC in Video Out, the camera will record in NTSC. I might be mistaken but if my GH1 was recording in PAL, I don'tr believe I'd be able to see anything at all. However, when I set the recording to VGA (as opposed to HD), I can see the video smoothly.

I was reading about the hacking business but the serial number of my unit is listed as "unhackable". So, I don't believe that's it. The camera is at F/W V1.3.

 

[Jerry_R]

Unfortunately GH1 does not allow user to select recording mode: NTSC or PAL. Or it is already PAL or it is already NTSC. No selectable.
User can only select how to pass signal via HDMI to TV SET. That is all.

Maybe you will something helpful here:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?175713-GH1-PAL-versus-NTSC
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/panasonic-lumix-gf-gh-series/236942-lumix-gh1-pal-ntsc-regions.html
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=35295054

PS: I do live in PAL country.

 

[Tullio]

Thanks again, Jerry. I don't believe my GH1 is recording in PAL but I don't know how I can find that out. The thing is, once I select Video Out = NTSC, then the recorded video will play irregardless of the mode it's recording in. Besides, I'm not trying to play the video file on the TV but on my computer. So, the Video Out should not have anything to do with it since NTSC/PAL applies to TV only.

 

[photoSmart42]

Thanks very much, Jerry. The ting is, from what you said, the serial number tells where the camera was manufactured (and when). The question is, are all the GH1 made in China not covered by the US warranty?

Why would it matter where the camera was produced for warranty purposes? If the warranty came with your non-gray market US-purchased camera, then it's valid regardless of where Panasonic decided to have it manufactured.

 

[Tullio]

I don't know whether my camera is a grey market unit or not, that's what I'm trying to find out. The reason is because it came with Video Out set to PAL, which is not the American system. I contacted Panasonic and they told me they believe based on that information that the camera is not for the US market (thus, grey market). However, they claimed that there was no way to know that based on the serial #. Well, I think that's not true otherwise, how will Panasonic know whether my unit falls into the US warranty or not? Also, the unit came with a warranty sheet of paper, not a card with a serial number matching the unit. So, in reality, I'm not concerned because the camera was manufactured in China but because it may not be covered by Panasonic US warranty.

 

[MRfanny]

does avchd show recording limited to 30mins? what does your firmware show?

Play the footage on splashlite player or quicktime and view media info whilst playing. it will tell you the frames per second (fps) if its 50 its PAL if its 60 its NTSC. With the firmware patch you can switch between NTSC or PAL.

 

[Tullio]

Excellent. MR. I will check it out. The camera's f/w is at 1.32 (even though you can't see the 3rd digit (2) when you display it in the menu. I looked at the hack but the model number of my unit is unhackable.

 

[Tullio]

Sorry, I don't do video that often and am totally unfamiliar with this...how do I view media info in Quickview? I clicked everywhere and tried all sorts of options but can't find a way to display the frames/sec. I was able to display the bit rate (14.49 Mbps) but not fr/sec.

 

[Amin]

Sounds like gray market to me. The country of production (China vs Japan) makes no difference, but a US model should be NTSC. If your model number is unhackable, then from what I understand you cannot convert it to NTSC.

 

[Tullio]

Sounds like gray market to me. The country of production (China vs Japan) makes no difference, but a US model should be NTSC. If your model number is unhackable, then from what I understand you cannot convert it to NTSC.

The camera has the two options I can select from (NTSC/PAL). When I first went through the menu, I noticed that Video Out was set to PAL but the NTSC option existed, so I set it to NTSC.

 

[Jerry_R]

Download free VLC Player:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

- open source video MTS file
- from TOOLS menu select CODEC INFORMATION
- under STREAM you will see section FRAME RATE

 

[Jerry_R]

The camera has the two options I can select from (NTSC/PAL).

Tulio, I am sorry, but me and others repeat you many times - it has nothing to do with model.
BOTH NTSC and PAL has this selection with two choices...

 

[MRfanny]

those ntsc pal option is for you to output on to an ntsc or pal tv, not record in ntsc or pal. If you have v1.32 then you can patch it but if you have v1.34 you cannot. so unless you have gone into service mode to see which you have you really don't know. if your serial number is WE0F or later it wont hack.

in quicktime go to window show movie inspector when you open your footage.

 

[Tullio]

Tulio, I am sorry, but me and others repeat you many times - it has nothing to do with model.
BOTH NTSC and PAL has this selection with two choices...

Not true, Jerry. There is a member on a different forum who lives in the UK. His camera only has PAL. To get NTSC he would have to hack the f/w. Here in the US, US models don't have PAL, only NTSC (at least this is what I hear).

 

[Tullio]

those ntsc pal option is for you to output on to an ntsc or pal tv, not record in ntsc or pal. If you have v1.32 then you can patch it but if you have v1.34 you cannot. so unless you have gone into service mode to see which you have you really don't know. if your serial number is WE0F or later it wont hack.

in quicktime go to window show movie inspector when you open your footage.

OK, thanks. I'll look for it.

 

[Jerry_R]

Not true, Jerry. There is a member on a different forum who lives in the UK. His camera only has PAL. To get NTSC he would have to hack the f/w. Here in the US, US models don't have PAL, only NTSC (at least this is what I hear).

Tullio, VIDEO OUT for sure affects playing, not recording. You do not need to believe me!
Download any GH1 or G2 manual, guide - and check yourself!

Let me quote it directly:

*******************************
[VIDEO OUT] Set to match the colour television system in each country.

- [NTSC]: Video output is set to NTSC system.
- [PAL]: Video output is set to PAL system.

This will operate when the AV cable or HDMI mini cable (optional) is connected.
*******************************
INTERFACE

HDMI
Video: Auto / 1080i / 720p / 480p (576p in PAL system)

Audio video output
NTSC/PAL, NTSC only for North America
*Check the website of the Panasonic sales company in your country or region for details on the products that are available in your market.

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/popup/pressrelease/gh1.html
*******************************


PS: Honestly speaking, we LOOSE energy and time discussing VIDEO OUT. You wanted to check if your model is PAL or NTSC. Easiest and quickest way is to play raw MTS file and open its properties in video player application on computer.

Let us know, what you found