Anyone else have problems with miniDV camcorder tapes purchased from Costco last year (1 Viewer)

[Jeff D]

I was having problems with my JVC GR-DVM90 and I got in touch with the service center. I explained the problem to the guy on the phone. "I'm getting the error, Error 03 Disconnect the battery" The guy said that error is caused by a dirty head. Well, this is a camcorder I got last year and maybe used for a total of 1 hour. He asked if I ever cleaned the head, I said no, It's only been used for an hour... He asked if I was using TDK tapes. Yes, I was... He then asked if I purchased them from Costco. Yes, I said again. He said they had heard of problems with those tapes causing problems to the camcorder heads. He also said that they were notified by Panasonic and Sony. Strange I thought because those guys don't usually share that trade info.

Turns out that TDK did have a problem with the formula for the tape. This problem was only with tapes manufactured for Costco and the problem was discovered, but not before some tapes had been bought.

I returned the camcorder to the store, because I had an extended service plan. They said they would get a replacement from another store. But there were no units at any store or warehouse. So they shipped it back to JVC. The store has been great in getting the camcorder back. From here it will go off to the service center for repair.

Anyone else have problems with miniDV tapes purchased from Costco?

 

[BrianKM]

I got a pack of them a couple of months ago and I have not had any problems so far in my Sony TRV-900. While researching camcorders a while ago, several people recommended not switching MiniDV tape brands because doing so tended to "gum up" the heads. I think that it would be culmulative though and take a lot longer than an hour, so it was probably a bad batch of extra sticky tapes.

TapeStockOnline seems to have the best prices on MiniDV tapes, from what I've seen (in case you're looking for an alternative to Costco's TDK specials).