Cleaning the Video Heads

Digital video camcorders record video signals onto the tape in very thin lines (as thin as 1/8 the width of a hair). The following anomalies may appear if the video heads are even slightly dirty.

•Mosaic or other blocky video artifacts (Fig. 1) or banding (Fig. 2) appear on the picture during playback.

•Sound becomes distorted, or there is no sound during playback.

•The message [HEADS DIRTY, USE CLEANING CASSETTE] appears.

If such symptoms appear, clean the video heads with the Canon DVM-CL Digital Video Head Cleaning Cassette* or a commercially available dry cleaning cassette.

If the symptoms reappear shortly after cleaning, the videocassette may be defective. Stop using it.

* Availability differs from area to area.

Video heads may become dirty under the following conditions:

•Using the camcorder in humid or hot places.

•Using cassettes with damaged or dirty tapes.

•Using the camcorder in dusty places.

•Using the video heads for a long time without cleaning them.

NOTES

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

•Before you make important recordings, clean the video heads and make a test recording in advance. We also recommend cleaning the video heads after use, before storing the camcorder.

•Do not use wet type cleaning cassettes as this may damage the camcorder.

•Even after cleaning the video heads you may not be able to correctly play back tapes that were recorded with dirty video heads.

2 • Introduction