I have been having pixelation errors on a lot of my footage for quite a while. I have cleaned the heads about 6 times on those occasions, and it sometimes seemed to help. Sometimes it would pixelate a lot for the first few minutes on a tape and then it was Okay. It is quite variable. I just ran the head cleaner thorough again and it did nothing to fix the prob.

Am I at the point where i need to send it out for repairs? If so, what would it cost? Any recommended vendors?

Thanks.

It will likely be the tape transport path needs adjustment and cleaning. The symptoms you describe are a signature of incorrect tape back-tension or maybe a slow take-up when the take-up has to wind fastest at the head of the tape when the diameter on the take-up spool is small.

If you have been experiencing some capture problems, especially when spooling forward past footage you don't want and attributing them to the computer or the software, you may find that they will also go away after the service is done.

Some wearing parts may need replacement, however if this has been a slow and incremental trend, likely nothing drastic has happened. Labour costs and utility costs occur in local currency so the price in $US may be similar with parts costs maybe a little less.

Can't help with a US cost estimate. Might cost you about AU$350 - AU$400 depending on what other small adjustments are off.

As to which vendor? The VX and PD families are still alive so third party and Sony Professional dealers will be familiar with them.

As a personal preference, I would lean towards using a workshop of a Sony Professional dealer, even if it means shipping the camera within the country.

Check out this thread and my youtube video and read the youtube description.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=100125&page=2