Are there any reliable alternatives to Canon (or Sony) Repair Center for my DV camcorder. I'm getting pretty uneasy about a pattern thats been going on for the last 3 camcorders I've had. I had a Sony 8mm/Hi8 ,a Sony DV and now a Canon DV. The 8mm began to have what seemed like a minor problem in that the remote wouldn't work all the time, the backlights for the controls were intermittent. I brought it to the authorized service center and the quote was equal to about 40% of the cameras worth. I decided not to do it and found out later a technique (which I later successfully used) which would usually remedy it. I'd give it a mild thump with the palm of my hand! Bingo the lights would come on. The Sony DV was a much bigger problem in that the playback became erratic. I had it repaired for about 40% of its value. Later the problem continued but the repair center said it was another part and that I was responsible because they claimed some sand was found in it. This time the estimate was 50% of the value. I argued with them about that and eventually they said they'd fix it for 15% less than the original estimate. I didn't trust it to remain reliable so I waited and bought a Canon DV (Optura 600). The main problem with the Sony DV was that playback became intermittently filled with video noise and with frequent audio dropouts. Unfortunately the dv's I'd recorded on this camera played better on it than the new one. Currently the Canon will sometimes have varying degree's of video and audio digital noise. A number of times I'll put in a tape and get a screen filled with horizontal stripes. My solution has been to give it a controlled thump on the bottom and voila ...back to normal. I've used head cleaning tapes but this still happens. Clearly something is wrong but I would like to find out an honest place that will either make a minor adjustment, if thats all that is required to fix. I'd like to hear what some of you think might be the problem here and would also appreciate some references to an independant honest repair place. Thanks