Picture during playback is badly distorted

SOURCE: Canon Gl2

Dirty video head! Playback newly opened blank tape for five minutes, after that eject, reinsert, playback then eject again five times, these will serve as your video head cleaner, never use "video head cleaning cassette tape" for it will only damage your camera. Most camera has built in video head cleaner installed inside and activates only when you insert, initial play/rec, and ejects a tape. If the problem is still there you need pro fix then.[:0)

SOURCE: Blue Screen or Pixelated on Playback

Check Canon's Website. There's a known problem with video chip on several different models...including zr80...a loose connector from the CCD.

I know what I'm talking about because I just got one fixed...for FREE.

SOURCE: 5 Grey Horizontal Lines across the screen during play back and distorted sound.

Someone here recommended on another post to put the lense cap on & videotape the blackness in a quiet room for 5-10 mins. I tried this as a last resort & it worked. When I played back the tape, no more skipping or gray lines. I had 4-5 SOLID gray lines with skipping video & audio in between on every tape I put in. I think the person who helped me solve this said that it was a result of the tape alignment going off. My camera is a Canon zr80 digital camcorder. (Called Canon, they had me reset it & then recommended sending it in).

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: The DV tape is totally macroblocking during

Hi there,

I've just posted this solution to another user:

This is likely to be your heads, but you need to be made aware of the following:

1) MiniDV cassette

The quality of your cassettes should first be considered:

Panasonic, Canon and several other brands use what is called "Dry Lubricant" cassettes. For this reason, you should AVOID at all costs, any cassette made from a manufacturer whose cameras use Wet Lubricant type cassettes. Unfortunately, this means you should AVOID SONY cassettes (as Sony cameras use the WET lubricant system).

Dry type cassettes also cause less wear on your heads.

I would highly recommend you use only Panasonic PQ (Professional), SQ (Studio) or MQ (Master) quality cassettes.

(PS: I use these Dry type cassettes on my Canon Pro Camera)


2) Camera HEADS

As stated in above (re the cassettes), if you have inadvertantly used a WET type cassette in your camera (i.e. Sony or similar), have been using old cassettes or debris/dust has entered the compartment, then there is a high probability that some microscopic contaminants may have fouled your heads.

If so, your heads will require cleaning.

The good news is, Panasonic have a MiniDV Head Cleaning cassette (DVMCLA) which can be purchased for around $8 - $15. (try Amazon.com).

If you choose to use this cleaning cassette, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you only run the cassette for a max. of 5 seconds ONLY, for each clean (and no more than 10secs, as using this cassette longer than stated, can cause wear). Then, try playback of your old cassettes to look for improvement. Cleaning is only necessary, if you experience drop outs on dry type cassettes, or pixelating of picture playback.

If this head cleaning process does not resolve your problem, then you will require professional assessment.


Good Luck !




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