My GH4 micro HDMI port faulty?

[Teemu]

Hi!

Been enjoying my GH4 until I needed to use my external monitor with it...

I tried to plug my micro HDMI to HDMI cable to camera and noticed this problem when plugin it in. It won't fit there easily and actually haven't got it to work at all. So I thought that I bought wrong cable or the cable is faulty. But tried the monitor with my sony rx100 and gopro 3+. Works with both of them.

So could someone who has used hdmi port on gh4 to confirm if my hdmi port looks a bit wierd? (images attached below) There is these two pins that are too high up from the bottom of the port?





Or did Panasonic reinvent the HDMI micro port to sell some Panasonic branded cables... Don't think so.

[varicam]

Mine works fine.  I was capturing the HDMI output using my Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt without issues.

[Teemu]

Mine works fine.  I was capturing the HDMI output using my Blackmagic Design Intensity Shuttle Thunderbolt without issues.

Did you notice any difference with my hdmi port compared to yours? Does your hdmi port have those pins up there like mine has?

[varicam]

I do have those "pins".  Is it possible that yours got warped/damaged?

[Teemu]

I do have those "pins".  Is it possible that yours got warped/damaged?

Well it has to be damaged in the factory/assembly because mine hasn't got any hits or anything that would have caused some damage. Sad thing because I'm afraid that I have to be quite a while without my camera if it goes to warranty :/ hope that Panasonic has good warranty services.

[nahua]

It's a new micro HDMI port.  So you should get a new HDMI cable since that's considerably cheaper than sending the camera back only to find out you don't have the right cable.

[Teemu]

It's a new micro HDMI port.  So you should get a new HDMI cable since that's considerably cheaper than sending the camera back only to find out you don't have the right cable.

Oh, didn't known that there is micro hdmi cables that are different versions. Thanks a lot for the info. Just bought this cable from ebay and it was branded to use with black magic pocket camera. Thought it would fit put seems like it won't. Where should I buy the right cable and how do I regonize this "new" version micro hdmi cable?

[RRRoger]

Mine works, but I hate the small size.

I have the hardest time plugging in a cable when I am afraid it/both will be damaged.

It is also not very secure.

Even if I buy an expensive plate with a stabilizer I will still have to remove and reinsert it.

 

One of the reasons that I bought the GH3 and GH4 was the larger camera body size fits my hands.

Soon cameras are going to be so small that we will be loosing them and need special glasses or a GPS to locate them.

Micro SD cards are also too small and no doubt there will be (is?) smaller ones.

[markledz]

I have the same problem with the two GH4 cameras that I own. The weird thing is that I bought one direct from panasonics website and the other from BHphoto store a week later. I just discovered it last week as we were prepping for a shoot. I went to BH and tried a number of different manufacturers. None worked. We had a 3rd GH4 on our shoot that the cable fit. Must be a manufacture flaw. Heading to BH for return.

[Teemu]

I have the same problem with the two GH4 cameras that I own. The weird thing is that I bought one direct from panasonics website and the other from BHphoto store a week later. I just discovered it last week as we were prepping for a shoot. I went to BH and tried a number of different manufacturers. None worked. We had a 3rd GH4 on our shoot that the cable fit. Must be a manufacture flaw. Heading to BH for return.

Bad to hear that this problem is in other cameras also. I have tried several cables also. And it's just clear that the HDMI port is faulty. If I put side by side other cameras with micro HDMI port those works great and looks a bit different. GH4 HDMI port's pins are too high. My body is going to exchange as soon as I'm not as busy with paid jobs that I can wait for the repair/new body.

 

Anyone has experiences with Panasonic warranty/repair service? Especially the European service, cause I'm from Finland.

 

Please tell if you have some experience. Thanks!

[markledz]

Well I just had a great experience at Panasonic in Newark regarding my issue with the micro hdmi. The head engineer contacted me regarding this issue. They actively monitor sites like this for customer problems and reached out to me. Nice right? Anyway, it seems the connector port on my two bodies were VERY tight. At first He had to push pretty forcefully to initiate contact. Now that its been in once, it goes in easily... Just the way one should expect it to.

 

  I had a number of my colleagues try it as well as sales people at BH . No one wanted to apply the amount of pressure needed to make contact for fear of damaging the connection. Clearly it was too tight , but now...no problem. 

 

FYI, Id like to thank the head engineer who was so engaged and helpful. He asked me not to mention his name. Aside from solving my issue, I got a mini tour of their headquarters in Newark and got some insight into the momentum the gh4 is gaining and the future of mirrorless in general.I also learned that theres a new verb bouncing around Hollywood..."Lumix it!" 

Thanks Panasonic:)

[nycvideo]

Hi All -

 

Is anyone else still experiencing this? We have two GH4 units that do not seem to be compatible with any micro HDMI cables or adapters.  Seems that perhaps as these were early run production units the prongs are misplaced and not allowing the cable/or adapter to enter the HDMI port?

 

Don't want to force it - but obviously need the output for external monitors.

 

Any insight would be much appreciated!

[Jay Turberville]

Yes.  I'm having this problem and it seems to be exactly as described.  There are two spring-loaded pins on the flat side of the camera's micro-HDMI socket. Their faces are flat so that when the cable is inserted they prevent the insertion of the cable.  And yes, I'm very concerned about pressing any harder than I already have.  If the face of these pins was ramped, they would probably be pushed down by the pin.  If the lower lip of the cable was ramped, it might push the pins down.  But neither are.  I did dry to modify a cable by filing a ramp, but the metal is too thin.  It is only thick enough to provide some support for the plastic that surrounds the cable contacts.  Filing makes it so thin that the HDMI port pins deform the metal and plastic of the cable.  Still jammed.

 

The temporary solution I came up with was to cut a strip of thin plastic out of some packing material I have.  The strip is wide enough to cover both pins.  I then insert it into the socket on the pin side of the connector. Then, when I try to insert the HDMI cable, the pins get pushed down by the strip of plastic. Once I'm pretty sure that the cable is just slightly past the pins, I pull out the plastic.  If I don't do this before the cable is fully inserted the whole combo will be jammed.  It's necessary to find the sweet spot where you can continue to push the cable in while pulling the piece of plastic out.

 

Frankly, this whole business is BS.  I love the GH4, but there was NO NEED to use such a rinky-dink connector for HDMI output. I suspect that whoever designed this HDMI port got a bit overzealous with the pin design as an attempt to ensure that the micro-HDMI cable wouldn't come loose too easily. I think they should have just stayed with mini-HDMI instead. 

 

I'm simply not going to force the cable in as someone else described.  I'll try to look at the pins with a loupe and see if I can bend them or if they seem to be too robust, check to see if I can maybe file their fronts to a ramped profile (not likely given their small size.)

[matt2491]

My GH4 also had these two pins sticking up in the way of the port. I very carefully persuaded them inward with a paperclip. Problem solved.

 

Annoying though...

[Michael1]

Well I just had a great experience at Panasonic in Newark regarding my issue with the micro hdmi. The head engineer contacted me regarding this issue. They actively monitor sites like this for customer problems and reached out to me. Nice right? Anyway, it seems the connector port on my two bodies were VERY tight. At first He had to push pretty forcefully to initiate contact. Now that its been in once, it goes in easily... Just the way one should expect it to.

 

  I had a number of my colleagues try it as well as sales people at BH . No one wanted to apply the amount of pressure needed to make contact for fear of damaging the connection. Clearly it was too tight , but now...no problem. 

 

FYI, Id like to thank the head engineer who was so engaged and helpful. He asked me not to mention his name. Aside from solving my issue, I got a mini tour of their headquarters in Newark and got some insight into the momentum the gh4 is gaining and the future of mirrorless in general.I also learned that theres a new verb bouncing around Hollywood..."Lumix it!" 

Thanks Panasonic:)

I've got to say, I'm impressed with the way Panasonic is actively involved with customers and addressing issues.  It seems like they really want to be tops in this market.

 

Michael

[Jay Turberville]

My GH4 also had these two pins sticking up in the way of the port. I very carefully persuaded them inward with a paperclip. Problem solved.

 

Annoying though...

 

And they stayed down?  Mine are spring loaded and pop right back up.  Or are you saying that you bent them backwards a bit so that when the micro-HDMI cable is inserted it they get pushed down?

[Jay Turberville]

I've got to say, I'm impressed with the way Panasonic is actively involved with customers and addressing issues.  It seems like they really want to be tops in this market.

 

Michael

 

I've got to say that letting the product out with this kind of flaw is unimpressive to me. Users shouldn't be fiddling with bending pins or forcing cables to be inserted to begin with.

 

Mind you, I've been a big fan of micro 4/3s and the Panasonic line from the beginning.  I like Panasonic. But this is kind of a bad goof IMO.

[Spice]

Anyone else have any updates on this? I seem to have the same issue with my brand-new GH4. Not relishing sending it in for several weeks, and I too can't get the pins to stay down enough to actually fit a cable!

[ukc]

Hi there,

Bought my GH4 in september and had the same issue here in France. My operator did plug a cable for monitoring, but after that we couldn't plug anything else. So we thought we damaged the port. I had it returned to "La Fnac" which is sort of BH in France, and they sent it back to me (I think it went through Pana), claiming it was ok. Didn't have the need for hdmi output in a while, until last month, then I discovered the problem was still here ! So I went back to "La Fnac", and asked the guy to try his own micro hdmi cable, as mine (amazon cable) could be faulty. He couldn't plug it. Back to repair ! But I got a new GH4 from "La Fnac", waiting for mine to come back. Just checked this week on the new one... same issue !!! 

I'm waiting for their return so I can verify once again, but I'm pretty sure it won't change anything...

[Teemu]

My camera went for the Panasonic repair at Poland (here in Finland it's the place where all Panasonic products go nowdays). And I can just say the service SUCKS! Mine was there like 2 months and this camera is my tool which I use on paid projects, a lot! So was a bit problem because of that. But even that was told to Panasonic, they didn't offer any help with some other body for the repair time or anything... Only my local store (where I bougt the gh4) was nice enough to borrow some other bodies for me.

And the repair wasn't even under quarantee because they said that I had broken the port. Well I forced the HDMI cable there because, simply I needed to use external monitor and I was so pissed off the faulty port. Well my local store was still so kind for me that THEY paid all the costs. There wasn't much of costs like 5€ or something... And when they started to fix it tthe had to order seprate part (new hdmi port) all the way from China! What kind of repair service is that they don't have any parts ready at there! They even needed our confirmation first to pay the 5€ before they ordered the new part from cChina to repair it!

So all I can say.. Avoid Panasonic service at all cost! At least here in Finland! And I think it includes many other europe countries also...