when i bought this video camera it came with install cd's in order to transfer videos from camera to my computer. when i got to udon had problems with computer and they installed or re-installed windows xp. now my computer does not recognise the camera, i'm sure the files still exist in program files as i can pull up panasonic with all its files listed, can anyone tell me the file names and where to put them as i can't figure whats, what with all these files, also have a problem with picture files taht i cannot find and i'm sure are in here somewhere. please can someone help me out with this, i live in udon, and can get anywhere for some help, thanks, peterg.

Peter - If your computer was re-mastered then I think they will have wiped the hard drive. Is there anything relating to the Panasonic on your C:/ drive? Have you re-installed the supplied software?

As for pictures if they were not saved on a seperate partition then if the C:/ drive was formatted then they could be gone.

Double click My Computer, double click the C:/ drive... On the left click search for files or folders... When the balloon appears on the left, try clicking "pictures, music and video." When the next balloon come up check the boxes for pictures and photos and videos and click search. Is the stuff there that you are looking for?

Photos are typically *.jpg... Videos *.MPEG or *.AVI.

thanks irish alan but in c drive panasonic folder still exists with all its sub-files. also most all my pictures remained but in a different place, i'm confused as i am not that computer literate. so i don't think they wiped the harddrive. peterg.

Peter, as Alan said, try putting your Panasonic CD into the PC & re-installing the software. If, for any reason it will not install the software then you will need to delete the Panasonic software & then try again.
You can delete the Panasonic software by
Clicking on the Windows Start icon at the bottom left hand side of your screen, then Settings in the pop up menu & Control Panel. When the Control Panel Window comes up Open the Add or Remove Program Icon. After a little while an alphabetical list of all your software programs will appear. Click down to Panasonic & click on the program - it then gives you the option to remove that program...
You will then probably need to restart your computer & re-install the programs from the CD....

thanks bob, but here in lies the problem, i don't have the cd's anymore, i think that if i know the correct names of files,i can move them to where they will work. if any one has same camera and cd's maybe i can borrow then delete and re-install programs, thanks, peterg.

ok, i'm guessing they didn't do a complete reinstall, just tried to fix or reinstall, since old files were saved. if complete, it would of been reformatted and all lost. so, if you can still get into subfolders, and have images, right click on one and click on properties, it should give a file location, then track that down. hopefully all willl be found. possible just moved and you can't access without proper location.

if you can remember any part of a pic file name, just do basic search, should pop up, then do prop. and file location. hopefully you'll find all. if you do, try to copy one and move to different file. if that works, copy all and move to where you can access. not to savey myself, but that's the best i can think of.

Peter - I believe the bundled software for your camcorder is: Panasonic MotionDV STUDIO.

See this site: http://review.zdnet.com/digital-camcorders/panasonic-pv-gs150/4507-6500_16-31307916.html

That being the case go to: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/soft/download/motionDV51J_LE.html

and download the latest version of MotionDV Studio and install it.

The file extension is the key for windows to recognise your movies/photos. As said before a jpg is a standard photo. However some cameras/mobile phones have their own for example I could make a movie on my old mobile phone but couldn't play it with Windows media player. Your movies may have file extensions not recognised by windows. If you try the search as I mentioned earlier, use an asterisk as a "wildcard" if you can remember what a movie might have been called. E.g, *disneyland.* or peter.* Hopefully installing MotionDV Studio will get you going in the right direction.

FAQ's on MotionDV Studio: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/soft/faq/motionDV_faq.html

Then report back...