Fixing a major drop-out problem
 

Just wanted to pass this on. I've been having problems with my A1 ever since I bought it back in February. One of the problems I noticed early on was occasional drop-outs. None of my friends who use HDV cameras have had problems with drop-outs. I asked Canon what the problem was and they told me to clean the heads with a video head cleaning tape. I did this, but the problem continued. I have found at least one or two drop-outs on all my tapes - and I've filmed over 70 hours of footage on this camera so far. Then the problem started to get worse, with several drop-outs on every tape, especially at the beginning (I started having to film 5-10 minutes of black before the drop-outs stopped - I use Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ tapes - I don't let other tapes into the camera - I was worried I'd got a bad batch of tapes, but I've used them in other cameras without a problem). So I took the camera to Canon for a fix-up. They took it away for a week and changed parts inside the cassette compartment (sorry I can't be specific, the details are all in Chinese, so I don't really understand). The problem now seems to have gone away. They also fixed the on-camera speaker, which had decided to give up the ghost for no reason what-so-ever, and the end search button, which never worked when I wanted it to. So - if anyone else is having problems with drop-outs, be careful, because it might not be due to dirty heads. I only wish I'd taken my camera to be fixed earlier!!