Good evening,

I had a fright, I was viewing footage on my gl2 from a wedding shoot last weekend and there are square pixels in two rows across the screen!!!

I then took the tape out and played it on my xl2 and there are no artifacts at all. thank goodness for that!!!

I had cleaned my heads before shooting last weekend.

Any real clues???

I had cleaned my heads before shooting last weekend.

Any real clues???

Well, there's a possible clue! Cleaning MAY have dislodged some crud. Seems coincidence that prior to this time you had no problem - yes? - then after "cleaning" you have. Could be the playback part is "crudded-up". As you say the "capture" system is fine.

OR

I suppose the other option is that the playback system is starting to play-up? You could test this now with playing back a previously GL2-ed reviewed GOOD tape and seeing if there is a problem.

OR

Also, can you repeat this bad playback on the GL2 now? Could be a weak tape align that the XL2 ignored?

In any event, and not wanting to worry, I'd get it along to the Canon Garage for a test. That's why we have back-up cameras.

Tell you what, Dale, having read loads of similar threads here, it would appear playback on the camera can bring about unwanted results. However, and since I've now had BOTH my XM2s into the Canon Garage, my further timorous and judicious use of in-camera playback has been fine. My thoughts are that until Canon got hold of my cameras, and both have now had their TRANSPORT systems replaced and re-aligned, playback issues have "appeared" to have gone away.

- g