Hey Everybody,

I'm a new poster. I own a Canon ZR 25 MC as well. I have experienced my fair share of problems with the machine. The cassette deck often refuses to accept MINI DV tapes and sometimes spits out the film inside the cassette deck. The film ends up getting stuck in the tape heads and is very difficult to remove. Attempting to remove the film has damaged quite a few of my tapes. When it does accept a tape, I get several bars across the screen making the picture jumbled. I purchased a service plan on the camcorder from Sears, which has since expired. I sent the camcorder to Sears three times to fix the problem and the problem remains. Canon claims this is only a problem they can repair themselves. I suspect the problem is either a misaligned head or a capstan problem.

Canon estimates $157.00 for out-of-warranty repair, what a rip-off! I might think of repairing it if I thought it would not break again in a few months/years. I don't know if I should pay the nearly $160 to repair the problem with no warranty to cover future problems or simply cut my losses and purchase a new camcorder. How much would it cost to have it repaired somewhere else? I am going on vacation in late July and I would like to have a camcorder by then. What should I do? I would appreciate any advice or ideas to fix this problem.

Thanks

Consider the repair cost on anything. You pay for the technician's time, plus for the shop, equipment, supportt and supervisory staff, etc. (What does an auto repair shop charge per hour?)

Given the street price for a ZR-25 equivalent current models, it is probably not worth repairing this ~5 year old model. Most consumer electronics are designed to be a throw-away-after-warranty-period these days (service labor costs appear to drive this).

As a point of reference, the new Canon ZR 500 sells for well under US$300 these days.

I E-mailed this letter to Canon's Tech Support Center today.

I have experienced major problems with my Canon ZR25MC. The cassette deck often refuses to accept MINI DV tapes. My digital video camera sometimes flashes Eject. I noticed that the camcorder was making a very faint noise that sounded like the tape was wrinkling. When I open the compartment to eject the tape, it sometimes spits out the film inside the cassette deck. The film ends up being stuck in the tape heads and is very difficult to remove. I took the tape out and sure enough, there was slight evidence that the tape was being damaged especially on the top edge of the tape. Attempting to remove the film has damaged quite a few of my tapes.

When it does accept a tape and I can play back my tapes, I see mosaic noise. Images appear in horizontal lines or mosaic during replay. While playing tapes back, four horizontal, pixilated lines scroll down the screen and render the image unwatchable. The sound playback is also garbled beyond comprehension. A dry-head cleaning cassette has not fixed the problem. Now the camera will not play or record and just gives me a "remove tape" message.

I suspect the problem is either a misaligned head or a capstan problem (defective CCD assy). I have done some research about this particular model on the Internet and I have discovered that this is not an isolated problem. This is a well-documented equipment malfunction with this particular model, the Canon ZR25MC. Please refer to the following website for owner reports of the same problem with this model. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B00005AUJC/ref=cm_rev_prev/103-1382638-6655856?ie=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=502394&s=photo&customer-reviews.start=1

In lieu of the fact that Canon has received numerous complaints for this particular model for the same problems, I feel this camcorder should be recalled and repaired at no cost to the owner. I am willing to have the camcorder repaired, but I would like some guarantee, in the form of an extended warranty, to ensure that these problems do not occur again after having the camcorder serviced. I spent over $800 for this camera when I purchased it and I feel this particular model has not met the high quality standards of other Canon products. Please E-mail me to let me know how I should proceed in this matter.