HV20 wont load cassettes
 

Just bought an HV20 2 weeks ago. Now I cannot load a cassette into the camera. Nothing preceding this to warrant this type of response from the camera.

When I eject the empty loading mechanism to insert a tape, the camera beeps 5 times. When I put a tape in (and have tried more than one including brand new tapes), and close the mechanism (but not the door), the camera will wait momentarily, then open the mechanism again for you to pull the tape out and beep 5 times again.

Ive tried this at times with the viewfinder open and theres been a 'remove the cassette' message.

Ive pulled the battery off to try to reset the camera, and that didnt help anything.

Any ideas? I looked on the Canon web site and couldnt find any help (gee what a surprise).

Does anyone know a customer service number for Canon USA. I refuse to work with email if Im forced to get this taken care of through warranty service. If I send an email I wont get a response for 6 weeks. I only talk to humans.

This really ticks me off because the camera is two weeks old and Im on vacation and shot maybe an hour of footage with it -if that.

There's obviously a hardware fault, just return the camera to where you bought it, not necessarily to Canon. If you must, there are customer numbers for US customers on Canon's US site.

I bought it online so this could be a pain in the neck. I guess I should start with Canon first. I think the online retailer requires a Canon case ID number before they will accept a return.

Ugh.

Canon is not impressing me. I also have to send my mothers PowerShot A3xx digital camera back because of a hardware bug that renders the LCD useless so the camera takes blank pics. This was a 2-3yr old bug Canon is apparently willing to fix regardless of warranty because it was so glaring.

woops, duplicate post.......

chris, not sure this will help or not... pull the battery and look for the reset button on the back of the camera where the battery rested...

just maybe...maybe if you hit the reset button it might come back to life??

here's hoping

also, it could be just a jammed tape... try another tape... I have one of those jammed tapes at my house now...

resetting the camera didnt help. ive tried a number of tapes including brand new ones. they do not have the write-protect switch set either.

Camera just beeps 5 times every time you open the loading mechanism, and beeps five times when you attempt to load tape then ejects tape.

I do not need this aggravation.

Get it to an authorized Canon service center as quick as you can. Enclose some kind of proof of purchase date (The online merchants email confirmation of order or shipping notice should suffice).

Typically Canon tries to get stuff like this back to you in a very timely manner.

I had a couple of instances in the '90s when I had to have them service flash units. One under warranty and one I dropped (I didn't try to BS them on that one and owned up to what had happened). In both cases I had the units back inside of 2 weeks. One at no charge (warranty) and one with what I considered a fair charge.

The sooner you get it to them the sooner you'll have it back. (Hope you had a backup camcorder with you...Even miniDV would let you bring back something.)

Welp. Called Canon USA and boxed it up to send to Canon in NJ for repair. Jeez, only had it two weeks and its already in for surgery.

Hopefully they can fix it without any further issues. Canon guy said expect 7-10 business day turnaround. Seems optimistic to me based on dealing with other company service repair stations.

Dumb question but can I capture the HD tape I shot with my HV20 by sticking it in my GL2? Its got an hour of vacation footage and Id like to see what I captured before the HV20 went kaplooey on me.

Sorry, but only if you actually captured in DV.

By the way, I put a tape in my HV20 the other day, and had same problem, same problem in my FX1. This was different brand than I normally use, but I was wondering if that could be issue with yours... a particular tape brand not tolerated by camera..

I think they are either Sony or JVC tapes. Im actually thinking JVC but Id have to look for sure. The goofy thing is, even when a tape is not in the camera, when you pop the loading mechanism open, the camera will beep 5 times.

Never did this before. Same beep that happens when you put a tape in and then it waits and ejects it back out.

Sounds like a fault of some sort. Anyway. Hopefully the Canon ppl can figure it out.

I'm having this issue as well. unfortunately i discovered the problem when i showed up for a paying shoot, lucky it was a 2 camera shoot and we just made due with the 1. it's interesting you mention sony tapes, as i usually use pannies, but the last shoot in went on we used sony, and i had only put one pannie in after that, and once i ejected it it wouldn't accept tapes anymore.

pushing the reset button seems to have no effect, other than unsetting the time/date.

I sent my HV20 in under warranty and they fixed the issue. If yours is under warranty I would call Canon and get a warranty repair number and send it in. Short of that, I would have not been able to fix it myself. I think something got loose inside my camera.

Since they fixed it, I have had nothing but happy shooting.

i've had mine a hair over 2 years, but i have the mack 4yr warranty, so tomorrow i'm boxing it up and fedexing it out.

I see these "mack" warranties everywhere... What exactly are they? Are they any good?