I am having a problem that I am blaming on my Canon ZR-10. I occasionally get groups of 8x8 pixels that are recorded in whatever color the camera feels like recording. Several groups of the pixels may be next to each other and sometimes the arrangement is identical to previous errors. I usually notice this problem about once per hour when watching the original on the TV, but after it is captured and played in Vegas I notice it every 5 or 10 minutes. The sound generally drops out at the same time, especially in Vegas. It seems that more often the problem is in playback and sometimes it is in recording. The problem can be seen at www.leabeach.com/vegas/vegas2.htm . A less common but easier to explain problem is the banding that occurs for about 3 consecutive frames as in www.leabeach.com/vegas/vegas1.htm . I have sent my camera in for repair (under a Circuit City maintenance contract) several times without it’s being fixed. All they have done is clean the camera. I’m afraid that if I can’t give Circuit City a better idea of the problem they won’t fix it. I would just get a newer and better camera, but I can’t justify the expense (to my family) when I only use it once or twice a year for something significant. Any ideas what is wrong and should I be able to get acceptable recording quality (not get the problems in the samples above) at both standard play and long play?

I have a second problem that I would post separately, except that I am using the same Canon ZR-10. I am trying to transfer my old video recordings to digital video. I have tried recording and playing on three VHS recorders and one 8 mm camera with similar results. About the bottom 2% of the picture is out of sync when it is rerecorded on the Canon ZR-10 as can be seen at www.leabeach.com/vegas/vegas3.htm . When I record directly from the TV cable box there doesn’t seem to be a problem. Again, any ideas?

Thanks.

Ed