20 Most Recent Canon ZR200 Mini DV Digital Camcorder - Page 7 Questions & Answers

Have any of you tried using a mini DV cleaner on your cameras? I'll try this soon and report back.

I have the same problem and it's driving me nuts! I've tried taking it apart to see if it was internal. What should I do?

any alternativs? There is a very simple program that convert .mod NOT ONLY to mpg but many others like avi, mkv, flv, mp4, wmv, rm, rmvd, mov, dv, mg2 and swf. MOD converter is the one shoot all the trouble. This excellent mod conversion tool is not just a converter but also a video editing tool. From now on, with the [b][url=http://www.iorgsoft.com/Mod-Converter/]MOD converter[/url][/b], you can enjoy your mod video on many media player, even on portable devices like blackberry, Gphone, PSP, Creative Zen,etc.

remove the battery and wait for couple of minutes then try again with aniother tape and check .

My camera did the exact same thing. I called Canon tech support and they advised to unplug power cord, remove large main battery, and remove smallbackup battery. The small back up battery is under a small door under the main backup battery. With everything disconnected, turn camera to "camera" and then to "vcr" and then to off. Wait a few seconds. Put everything back together and try to eject again. The tech said that resets all the mechanical parts. However, it did not work for me. They now want me to send it to them for a paid repair. I have done some research on the internet and this is a VERY commom problem and it usually costs about $150 to correct via Cannon. Many times the problem occurs again. I am very very frustrated. I pulled my camera out last night to get it ready as my wife is 9months into her pregnancy. Now, I have to send my camera away for 5-9 days. Really really upset.

The ZR200 is able to read a card of maximum of 2 Gbytes !!!

The 4 GB SD card it is a so called SDHC = Secure Digital High Capacity ! Every SD card with more than 2 G Bytes it is a High Capacity and the old hardware will not be able to use these SDHC.

Typically, the problems of this sort tend to be one of a mechanical nature; In other words, the case may be bent, causing this problem. Does the machine make a "motor noise" as the well opens? And then makes a "binding noise" before coming to rest? This would be a definite cause for your dillema, and a camera shop visit would be in order, unless you have some mechanical aptitude....accordiaman

that kind of happened to me, except there were gray horizontal bars going across my screen. I could only see half of what I was watching. Turns out, I just kept playing the tape and they magically went away. crazy but true. Now the only thing I need help with is getting the tape in it, as the camera won't take any tapes.

1. Connect the camcorder to a TV and check if you can playsee the tape.
2. Take that tape and check it using another miniDV camcorder.

this way you will know if the issue is within the camcorder or the tape.
If is within the camcorder .. take it to a service dealer and see how much is to fix it. Chances are that is not worth to be fix. A brand new ZR900 is just 200 USD ...

yeeep .. the ZR200 (and not only - in fact all the Canon cameras/camcorders) it is expecting to see/read a jpeg file according with Canon Standard Name within that folder IMG_dddd.jpg

Check in your network connections and look for a 1394 connection. If you have one, you have a firewire port on your computer.

there may be a tape jam! eject the tape and try another!

First if you have a very bad tape (miniDV) (hard to turn by your hand) the camera will automatically eject coz it cant load the tape to it. it is not a head problem. It seems that you have a mechanical loading issue here. But try to put new miniDV tape. ANd post here what happen. PS Dont use compress gas to clean it you might put new problem. Please use only the head cleaner tape (MiniDV) if you want to clean the head. Hope this may help you

having the same problem...when I put a new tape in it just ejects it right away!

You have a "head clog" more than likely...accordianman

What do you mean by "Its only when i go to record or view previous recording"? in what situation doesn't it show the gray lines? What about the viewfinder? do you get lines there aswell? If you don't see the gray lines when you transfer the video out of the camera, then you don't have a head problem, a screen problem maybe. Don't hurry to use cleaner tapes because they can hurt the head, the actual cleaning procedure is one that scrapes the head and leaves some damage. more info please

Hi, I hope the camera you are talking about is ZR200 Mini DV.
As per its specifications. It has a firewire/DV port.
Therefore, follow these steps. I assume you are using this cable. http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/L10726964.jpg

I am not sure how you used the firewire cable before.
So, try this. Connect one end of the cable to computer and other to the camera. Switch on the camera and keep it in play/ edit mode (not in shooting mode).
When you connect the other end to the computer,  There should be a popup asking you what to do.
If there is no popup,  Open Windows Movie maker and import video from device. You should see the camera in it.
Hope it works.

Hi - You can download the manual by clicking the link underlined in blue below:

ZR200

Please take a moment to rate this solution & let us know if the information given was useful to you - Good Luck!

Informatica

If you have a SD card reader on your computer, you can plug it in there. Click Start, My computer, then the drive the card is connected to (on my system it's the F:\ drive). Right click on the drive and select Format. You can pick either FAT or FAT32 (FAT32 should be the default). Either one will work. It should only take a few short seconds. Once done, your card is formated.

Get to Canon and see if they will spring for a new carriage assembly, as this is usually the culprit...accordianman