Recently, my 6 year old Canon miniDV video recorder stopped capturing any video aside from total blackness. A quick search on the Google led me to this:

It has come to our attention that the vendor-supplied CCD image sensor used in certain Canon digital cameras and digital video camcorders may cause the following malfunction: When the product is used in recording or playback mode, the LCD screen and/or electronic viewfinder may exhibit either a distorted image or no image at all.

Sounded like the exact problem I was experiencing. A quick email later and I soon had an RMA and UPS label to ship my unit back to Canon for free servicing.

Not 7 days later and I’ve got the thing back, replacement image sensor with complementary cleaning and checkup. Nice job, Canon- you guys are great!