VX2000 Audio Drop Issues... Need advice.
 

My Sony VX2000 is recording as swell as ever, but in playback, the audio drops out quite frequently. This is the case on older recordings (known and once captured good) and new recordings (60 min tone and bar.) The tapes play fine in another Mini DV cheapy.
I use only Sony DVC Premium tapes...

I've cleaned the heads with *shutter* head cleaning cassette
no change
I've cleaned it with headcleaner (I can't find the bottle, but I THINK it was ethanol or methanol based? Not 100% sure)
but, no change
played through a whole tape
no change
and recorded a whole tape
no change
Cleaned the tape path
same audio drops.

What kills me is that the video is pristine! The few times I've seen bad heads, it was both video and audio that were messing up. And it's just audio.

I guess I'm just looking for possible causes here. I've been digging 'round the forums, and come up with bad heads (as a GUESS, I'm thinking the heads have about 1000 hours of use.) Possible break in the tape path or an alignment.

I'de rather not send it out without trying to grab a ROUGH idea as to what is going on. I'm assuming that I'm not going to be able to do the alignment from home, but I was wondering what y'all can come up with on this. I've seen a few people on various forums with a similar problem, but too many don't come back to report the fix!

I'm in the middle of documentary shooting now, and this is the primary camera, so I'm trying to avoid a) that HUGE sony flat rate if it ends up being something silly and b) shipping it around.

Thanks fo rthe help!
-Marc

If you have 1,000 hours on the heads, you have experienced a great life for the heads. But they are probably gone.

Call Armatos and ask them what they want.

Do remember that Armatos will fix only what you pay for (ala-cart pricing) while Sony will fix everything for the flat rate.

If the heads have 1,000 hours on them, there ARE other elements in the transport that need replacement or repair. Sony also cleans, lubes and aligns the transport for that same flat rate.

If you are in the middle of something, Armatos might loan you a camera while they work on yours. Worth asking about.