Today I went out to use my Sony PMW-EX1 for the first time since it was serviced by Sony Premium Support (new back and slide plate, circuit board replacement for battery drain problem, firmware upgrade).

And I find I can't get any audio levels. Not through my usual external wireless mic on Channel 1. Not through my external shotgun mic on Channel 2. Not even through the internal mic.

Checking the menu I find the "Trim" settings are suddenly greyed out and can't be changed. I know at one point as I was hunting around for a setting I may have missed they weren't.

Is there some setting on the camera I've missed or is this a case of a botched service job? I've tried all the obvious back-panel settings of trying auto vs manual, internal vs external etc.

The trim settings are greyed out if the input switches below the XLR sockets are set to Line.

I assume that the camera is not set to any of the modes (S&Q, Interval, Frame recording) that disable sound?

N

The trim settings are greyed out if the input switches below the XLR sockets are set to Line.

I assume that the camera is not set to any of the modes (S&Q, Interval, Frame recording) that disable sound?

N

Indeed. Just normal shooting. And yes, once I'd got home and checked the manual I realised why the trim settings were greyed out. In desperation I'd tried switching between all 3 XLR socket positions in the dark, wondering if they'd accidentally shifted.

Oddly if I turn the monitor up to their highest volume so I hear hiss, as I change the external mic switch position between the three possible settings (Line, Mic, +45 v) the hiss seems to change with each switch position: from both channels to right channel back to both channels again. But no sound can be heard, even tapping on the internal mic when it's set to be input.

Use the All Reset and test again. Use the internal mic (make sure settings on back of camera are set to internal).

If that doesn't fix it, it may well be a bad firmware upgrade.
I had an odd problem were SDI Out turned on prevented playback of media off cards.
Two other people have posted about odd white balance issues.

In my case I had Sony reinstall the firmware upgrade and the problem was fixed.
I think firmware upgrades can go wrong and the symptom is usually some odd behavior that might even seem hardware related.

Actually the firmware upgrade was applied by my dealer just before it went to Sony Premium Support and the camera worked fine after the upgrade. But the dealer said they weren't allowed to do the other upgrade (circuit board to fix battery leakage problem, replace back and side panels where paint was peeling off) so that was when it went back to Sony Premium Support.

They're collecting it again tomorrow. The first time was such a series of cockups they extended my support by 3 months - and that was BEFORE I discovered the audio problem. I just hope they don't break anything else on this second visit.

Ian,
Whenever I get anything back from repair I have to check out everything almost as if it was a new camera. It is not unusual to find some issue which has cropped up in the repair. Once Sony had an old Betacam deck of mine which they repaired but forgot to hook up the audio harness on reassembly so it had no sound on playback. I found the problem myself but those machines where easy to open up compared to a camcorder. Trust but verify before using any gear which has just come back from repair.

Yep, Sony San Jose broke my audio circuit too. I was having the backplate replaced (paint wear issue) and the tech managed to jam the audio selection switches into the circuit board when they misaligned the new backplate and screwed it down on top of the switches. It had to go back to San Jose for that one. "Trust, but verify" indeed.