On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 06:48:41 GMT, (Michael) wrote:

Forgot to mention... yes, it's definitely from tape coatings. When I
mentioned wet lube, I meant the famous miniDV problem with Panasonic
tapes. They use a wet lubricant, as opposed to every other brand's dry
lubricant, on their tapes, and mixing Panasonic tapes with those of other
brands in the same camcorder can lead to this ultra-tough deposit glaze.
This was widely written about in the early days of miniDV. It may be that
Panasonic has fixed this incompatibility, but I suspect this camcorder's
problem was caused by it, especially since it's a Panasonic cam, it's a
few years old, and it probably came with one of the offending Pana tapes.

Michael

Let us know how it goes.. g

. Steve .