Brand new with dirty heads!

[livy500]

Hi,
I just got my HV20 brand new, used it once and then next time I turned it on said that it needed it's head cleaned (Note: I use Panasonic AMQ tapes only). I've read other posts here saying Canon ships some HV20s with dirty heads.

24Peter recommends running a tape head cleaner thru for 10 seconds. This makes me nervous b/c I tried this with my two older cameras, one a Sony, the other a Canon, and it went from occasional audio dropouts to producing video glitches every 5 minutes or so.

Have people had problems with running tape head cleaners with the HV20? Should I use different tapes? Any advice? Should I return it just in case?

Thanks,

livy500

[Ten Ounce]

Hi,
I just got my HV20 brand new, used it once and then next time I turned it on said that it needed it's head cleaned (Note: I use Panasonic AMQ tapes only). I've read other posts here saying Canon ships some HV20s with dirty heads.

24Peter recommends running a tape head cleaner thru for 10 seconds. This makes me nervous b/c I tried this with my two older cameras, one a Sony, the other a Canon, and it went from occasional audio dropouts to producing video glitches every 5 minutes or so.

Have people had problems with running tape head cleaners with the HV20? Should I use different tapes? Any advice? Should I return it just in case?

Thanks,

livy500

Was the tape that you used new? That's pretty odd that it would tell you to use a head cleaner when it's brand new. Are you sure it wasn't open box or something? I would call Canon's tech support and ask them about it. Maybe you can send it in for cleaning or something.

[livy500]

Was the tape that you used new? That's pretty odd that it would tell you to use a head cleaner when it's brand new. Are you sure it wasn't open box or something? I would call Canon's tech support and ask them about it. Maybe you can send it in for cleaning or something.

Yes, the tape was new. And I'm sure it wasn't open box--got it from B&H.

I just did a test shot about a minute long and captured it. (This time it did not tell me to clean the head when I turned it on). I noticed one video glitch. I captured it again to make sure it was on the tape and yup, saw it in the same spot. Does seem like a dirty head issue.

livy500

[24Peter]

My camera (like many others) arrived with dirty heads too. I've run the head cleaner 2 or 3 times (10 seconds each) and it's fine. I use Panasonic miniDV cleaning tape AY-DVMCLA ("dry" type).