Hi folks,

Yes, I'm experiencing the same errors as all of you. I have contacted JVC too, but no reply yet, and I also think that my warranty is exactly two weeks out!

Seems like JVC have designed the LCD to last exactly 367 days!!!

Just wondering MluM, has the replacement of the LCD screen ($161.20) caused you any problems, as this seems to be the ONLY solution.

Regards,

Mark

Mark:

It is not the LCD (external vewing screen) that we are referring to, it is the CCD (image receptor) behind the lens. And it may not always be defective in itself. I read one thread somewhere, where the user took it upon himself (he seemed to have electronics experience) to take the camcorder apart into two sections, and reconnected a cable from the CCD to the circuit board. I don't know the validity of that user's statement, but it does seem another possible explanation. There may be a multiple of causes for that Lens Cap message to appear (besides the obvious one).

Thanks for the advice.

I don't have any electronics skills, so I've left it in to be repaired...fingers crossed it won't cost an arm and a leg!

Many thanks.

Mark

Well, I certainly owuldn't reccomend tkaing your camcorder apart in any case.

I'm doing a degree in electronic and electrical engineering, so thought i'd be ok.

Wrong.

I couldn't see anything obviously wrong inside, all cable intact and connected.

However when i put back together the camera is even more broken, now won't power up properly. I'm guessing i've created a short somewhere, or I've knocked off one of the earths.

either way it won't do anything contsructive now. At least before i could play back, record from firewire and at least record audio.

So take head.

Im not to bothred anywho as it was my last option before binning it.


Tom.

My camcorder works fine so far since being repaired. Just for your information, I said that it cost me $161.20 to replace the CCD. Well the cost for the CCD was $20.00 and the rest was labor plus tax.

I'm a JVC technician in INDIA. specialized in environmental electronics. jvc will always promise consumer satisfied good! the problem causing the 'LENS CAP' error is that when the cam is exposed to high intensity of lights, causing the CCD(charge coupled-device) to blank out. the CCD perfroms a unique & complex conversion process of converting the LIGHT SINGNALS TO ELECTRONIC INPUT BITS. the GRD series uses a latest 680,000 pixellation resolution CCD in short it blanks out at a min. of 2 seconds of exposure to direct sun-rays.
The only way to resolvethis is to replace ur CCDs, which is the most costliest of all the parts the GRD series holds!

So I guess the moral of the story is not to point the camcorder directly at the sun to avoid damage to the CCD?

That's not totally true. I didn't point mine into the sun. It was working fine and the next day I got that lens cap warning.

Mine was never pointed at the sun either. I treated the camcorder very carefully and it was never dropped or subjected to any extremes of temperature or humidity. It failed after only a few hours of taping during a year & a half of use.

This is VERY dissappointing product performance, but JVC's complete refusal to acknowlege or rectify the issue makes it unlikely that I'll ever buy JVC again...

I, too, am very disapponted. My family and I just arrived in Hawaii and my camcorder is now displaying this error. I was hoping I could find a solution online but instead it looks like my family and I will have to be satisfied with stills of our 'once in a lifetime' vacation.

Until I purchased this camcorder I had refused to buy JVC due to the failure of a just out of warranty VCR. Seems JVC's response to problems is to find a rep and spend &50+ to diagnose/repair.

I seriously debated purcasing this camcorder, but the features, price, and reviews (at that time) swayed me. I should have known better. Like others who have posted, there was no abuse of the camcorder. It was never pointed at bright light or the sun, and always in its case when not in use. I can now say with certainty that I will never purchase another of their product brand.

JVC needs to step up and address these issues. If they want to produce disposable quality it should be priced accordingly. Theirs is not.

I similarly bought a GR-D90U in December of 2003 and today after 3 months of non use, I am getting the lens cap error.

I must say that I am really disappointed in JVC for this. I am traditionally a Sony buyer and I liked the features that the JVC offered for the price compared to the SONY.

But after this experience and the cost of what I see the replacement is. I am reverting back to my SONY products, the price may be a bit more at the beginning, but at least the value and the service is guaranteed.

To make matter worse, I do not reside on the Contential United States, but the camera was brought there. I live in the caribbean. So this is gonna cost me even more to fix.

Maybe we can petition JVC and embarass them into action? Is there a national consumer group who will take up the fight??

Basically I don't think the problem is comes from sun because I just bought my camcoder around 8 months ago and never use that until yesterday. I just put it in a box and test it everymonth. I guessing the problem should be comes from JVC. Is there any one with same situation as me ? I can't take it to JVC to repair because I bought it from USA but living in Taiwan now ...

The feeling is so bad, because I never taken any tape yet by this one ....

HI,
My name is Kyle, i have the same problem with my JVC GR-D90U model camcorder. It have the same "lens cap error" that many others have. The repairs will cost me $499.00 which is more than i paid for the camera!!! any help or info you guys get let me know. thank you

Kyle

It's been 7 months since I repaired my camcorder for the "Lens cap warning" error. So far so good. I hope that I never get that error ever again.

i got this error too, but only happened like a few times then never again...i noticed it would only do it when it was either a dark place and it couldnt recognise if the cap was on or something like poor focus...the other time was the cap was already off and then i quickly turned the camera on and the message displayed for a breif second or two.

my other GRDX75, which was stolen thank god! coz i my insurance replaced it with the GRDX77 newayz would have alot of tape head errors that it was dirty.