20 Most Recent Canon Optura 20 Mini DV Digital Camcorder Questions & Answers

This can be caused by several problems including a defective eject switch in the cameras internal circuitry or a bad motor and can usually be repaired fairly inexpensively. However, it's not a user serviceable problem and will need to be repaired qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

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This is usually caused by an oxidized or defective Audio/Video drum. You can try running a cleaning tape through the camera. If this does not solve the problem the camera will need to be serviced by a qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

If this response has been of any help to you, please be sure and give a positive vote for me on FixYa.com .

Tape mechanism problems can be quite complicated but they can usually be repaired fairly inexpensively. However, it's not a user serviceable problem and will need to be repaired by a qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

If this response has been of any help to you, please be sure and give a positive vote for me on FixYa.com .

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This is usually caused by a defective CCD image sensor and can be repaired fairly inexpensively. However, it's not a user serviceable problem and will need to be repaired qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

If this response has been of any help to you, please be sure and give a positive vote for me on FixYa.com .

Has your firewire worked with any other application? Here's a blog with some discussion about the problem, but they claim that running XP, the firewire should be detected automatically, and the drivers installed.
Here's a web blog that might help:
http://www.dvforum.com/ubb/get_topic/f/20/t/000024.html
Here's some things to try from this site:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080710160107AAouh1b
Try their suggestions, and if you're still having problems, you might contact Canon support here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer
Good luck, and hope this helps.

The USB cable is to download still images only. To download video, you need (1) a firewire cable, (2) a firewire port on the computer, and (3) a video editing software program used to download and edit the video.

I had the same problem. I cycled through the eject process until it finally gave me back my tape. I had to send it back to have the tape carriage replaced

You need a firewire (DV) cable and port on your computer. The USB will only read whatever is on the SD card.

Yes, you can view live footage via the firewire (DV) port. The USB will not work.

Go to this site for your manual.- > http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=326&modelid=8765
Copy this address into a new widow. Check the lower bracket as you open the side to see if it is hung on the tape door, causing the tape cartridge, to rise up and keep the carrier from opening.

Gears are Locked up take it to a repair shop

That depends on the connection on the camera.

You can download a user manual here.