I have a Panasonic NV-GS180 and yesterday i was just uploading a few seperate clips into adobe premier elements. The camera was set to the record option and i was using a USB 2.0 cable to link to the pc, i went through the usual process of winding on to the part of the tape i wanted to capture clips from and then i started it to capture. For some reason when i stopped the capturing process it had nto extracted the clips, it had not even shown the tape on premier elements capture screen. So i tried again and then once more but it was still the same, then a small message appeared at the top of the capture screen where it usually says 'playing' or 'stopped' and the message said that the camera was not connected and i should try resetting it, of course it was connected and when i reset it nothing happened, i further tried turnign it on and off, takign the tap out and putting it back in and even restarting my pc. After restarting the pc this message did not show but insted when i tried to capture the clips again there was nothing at all on the tape. It was just stationary at the 0 seconds as though it was a fresh tape. Now i have lost all of my footage that was on the tape and i have checked my pc but it has not been removed from the tape to a folder anywhere. Has anybody got and ideas of what has happened, how i can get my footage back and if i can not then how to prevent it in the future. (I have also had the problem with elements saying i should reset the camera before and it only works when i restart my pc.) Cheers if anyoen can help - i am really so confused...

Surely if you are uploading you should not be on record option. Sounds as though you have just recorded over your footage.When capturing shouldn`t you be on playback on the Camera. I have a Panasonic model and i just play straight into Pinnacle on Capture. I`m no expert but i get by.

" The camera was set to the record option and i was using a USB 2.0 cable to link to the pc "

As suggested above I think the 'record option' was the first error, just set the camera to player.

Second mistake... N E V E R capture using usb. A L W A Y S capture with firewire.

My emphasis because those who post here often say this, ohh, about 3 times a week...

No slight to you my friend, it is a very common error. You will find that with f wire you can control all the camera functions from the capture software (dont think you can with usb) and also the capture quality will be a zillion times better... at least.

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Sorry i forgot to mention that i use firewire/1394 connection to hook the camera to the PC.
As Mark rightly says you can control everything from the PC using the software this way.

Grrr sorry i really screwed up here i put the wrong thing in my problem, liek you say i should not have it on record mode, i very stupidly typed record instead of replay. My camera was set to replay footage and it can not have recorded over the whoole tape because there was nothign on the tape afterwards, not a clip, it was liek a brand new tape - so i dont see why it should have happened, im sorry for confusiong you by putting wrong word, maybe you can make more sense of it now. Thanks so much if you can diagnose the problem, and also what is with that thign happening on premier elements liek i stated? SHould it do that..?

from your wording you are viewing the tape through the 'capture' interface and, as stated, if you do this through usb then you'reeady in trouble. disconnect the camera from the pc and attempt to view your recording on the camera by playing it back as normal. if it's still 'empty' then I thiunk you'll just have to accept that youloused up somewhere/somehow and deleted the tape. If it does play back then flip the tape over to write protected PDQ and capture through firewire.

If the entire tape has been wiped then check your surroundings. You're not sitting next to a big pair of speakers are you?

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thanks for the help, so should i get a firewire then? The only thing is i don't know if my pc has a port for it...and how much are they? cheers

I'm 99.9% certain Premiere Pro and Elements won't allow you to capture from USB, they are soley set up for Firewire capture only (correct me if I'm wrong). A Firewire cable with a 4 pin connector on one end for the camera and a 6 pin on the other end to connect to the computer is what you need, costing around 15 pounds sterling. If you don't have Firewire already on your computer, then get a PCI card with Firewire ports on it, it should cost around 20 pounds sterling and are certainly worth it, usually 3 ports on the outside and 1 internal and fit it inside your computer to a spare PCI slot.

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I'll tell you what happened and you may be able to save your footage. Your tape has somehow flipped over (twisted) in the shell. Take a good look at your tape and I'l bet anything it is now facing the wrong way. Compare it to a fresh tape to see if the correct side is facing out.

ok thanks so much guys ill try that and get a firewire xD