My Canon MV500 camera has performed ok for a while and now will not record to tape. It appears to be recording but on play back there is no picture. I have had the dreaded "Remove cassette" notice but after a few runs with the cleaning tape the notice has disapeared, but now will not recors. Any ideas please.

SOURCE: Not recording clear.

Hello, please try to playback these new recordings on some other Camcorder. If you experience good picture on the borrowed Camcorder it means that the video head is (partly) damaged. In order to cure this the video head is to be replaced. Please contact the Authorized Sony Service or the technician with the best references. Best regards, Arpi

SOURCE: Message reads eject. won't eject

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.

SOURCE: Canon MV800i tape would not eject.

Put pedalfoot in camera, shake vigorously.

SOURCE: dirty heads

I work for canon and when I get one this dirty I use a tape that has been recorded with used or almost used up. I let the tape rewind and fast forward all the way through. I then use a soft head cleaning tape for 25 secs. If that doesn't work then it might need an adjustment.

SOURCE: Horizontal lines on image

This is not a solution , but only a work around. If you do at least 1/3 zoom on your lens before clicking a photo, these lines will not appear. But this not not a convenient way I agree.
Also this surely means that the CCD is not the problem otherwise it would have never worked ( electronic parts cant simply dont start to work when you zoom ringht ? ). Surely Nikon is fixing the issue, but cheating the customers by charging for a part is not defective in the first place