PS - I think you are right about it having been the autofocus, Sean. I just tested the camera in the exact same setting as before, with the exact lighting conditions, and the focus seems to be hunting much less than it was before. At the time, I wasn't sure if the hunting was part of the camera or part of the problem, but it's performing much better now.

Strange that the useage ours were re-set. Maybe that's a policy on that kind of repair work?

I dunno...I wonder if anyone else has had that happen.

I agree, it is strange. In this case, it wasn't much of a change; but I wonder if someone had 200 or so hours of operation, if Sony still would have reset them.

If so, I suppose this is a bit of a buyer beware...The hours meters might not always be telling the truth...?

Okay - one final question, as I want to get this right before the warranty on the camera expires (January 6th).

The camera has been working well. When I have it set to Manual focus, it is pretty much completely silent.

When I have it set to autofocus, it emits the lowest (volume-wise) sound of a tiny motor running. Of course, when I open up the LCD screen, and put my ear next to the controls, I can hear the sound better. As I hold the camera normally, in a quiet environment, I can perceive the sound, very slightly.

Is this normal? Do your camera's make this sound? Is this normal for autofocus on digital camera's (I have no experience with auto- controls)?

I'm not so much worried about the sound, as I am about it being the symptom of a larger problem - as this is directly connected to the noise the camera was making before the repair.

I'd still like people to answer my last question, but I'm going to mail this back to Sony in the morning. When I just turned the camcorder on again, the old loud noise came back. Zooming in got it to go away, so then I tried turning the camcorder off and then back on again, and there it was again!

It's kind of infuriating that I send them the camera 2 weeks ago and this is what I get back.

Dang, that sucks. :-(

Sorry to hear about the problem cropping back up. Please continue to keep us informed about what happens!