Go to: Previous Item Current News Next Item Sony: More CCD service advisories By Mike Tomkins (Friday, November 24, 2006 - 09:39 EST) Sony Japan has today published an update to an existing service advisory (first distributed in October 2005) which reports potential problems with CCD image sensors used in a variety of Sony products. According to the update, which currently seems to be available only in the Japanese language, the defect may potentially be found in an additional eight digital camera models which went on sale from 2003 - 2005. The Japanese advisory states that these newly added models will be eligible for free service regardless of warranty status should any malfunction be caused by the CCD sensor, in the same way as detailed in the original service advisory. A full description of the problem can be found in our Fall 2005 report, "CCD Sensor Problems in Consumer Imaging Products". In brief however, it is caused because internal wiring in the CCD sensor comes loose at high temperatures and humidities, and causes the camera to stop recording images, or to record distorted images. During the last round of service advisories we heard that the problem may have related to moisture penetrating into epoxy chip packaging. Interestingly, the Japanese PC Watch website states in its coverage of the news that this time around, the affected sensors use ceramic packaging, which generally offers better environmental sealing. According to PC Watch, moisture can potentially penetrate the ceramic packaging nonetheless, entering via the gluing surface. The new cameras added to the service advisory by Sony include the following models: Cyber-shot DSC-F88 Cyber-shot DSC-M1 Cyber-shot DSC-T1 Cyber-shot DSC-T11 Cyber-shot DSC-T3 Cyber-shot DSC-T33 Cyber-shot DSC-U40 Cyber-shot DSC-U50 Sony USA has yet to publish any details of the expanded advisory, and it isn't currently clear if cameras sold outside Japan are affected. Should this prove to be the case, we will of course report both on our news page, and with an update to our report. For reference, the original Sony products which were covered by the advisory when published last year are as follows: Digital Cameras: Cyber-shot DSC-F717 Cyber-shot DSC-P10 Cyber-shot DSC-P12 Cyber-shot DSC-P2 Cyber-shot DSC-P31 Cyber-shot DSC-P32 Cyber-shot DSC-P51 Cyber-shot DSC-P52 Cyber-shot DSC-P7 Cyber-shot DSC-P71 Cyber-shot DSC-P72 Cyber-shot DSC-P8 Cyber-shot DSC-P92 Cyber-shot DSC-U10 Cyber-shot DSC-U20 Cyber-shot DSC-U30 Cyber-shot DSC-U60 Cyber-shot DSC-V1 CD Mavica MVC-CD250 CD Mavica MVC-CD400 CD Mavica MVC-CD500 FD Mavica MVC-FD100 FD Mavica MVC-FD200 Camcorders: CCD-TRV107E CCD-TRV118 CCD-TRV128 CCD-TRV218E CCD-TRV228 CCD-TRV228E CCD-TRV318 CCD-TRV328 CCD-TRV418 CCD-TRV418E CCD-TRV428 CCD-TRV428E DCR-DVD100 DCR-DVD100E DCR-DVD101 DCR-DVD101E DCR-DVD200 DCR-DVD200E DCR-DVD300 DCR-DVD91E DCR-TRV147E DCR-TRV14E DCR-TRV16 DCR-TRV16E DCR-TRV18 DCR-TRV18E DCR-TRV19 DCR-TRV19E DCR-TRV22 DCR-TRV22E DCR-TRV240E DCR-TRV24E DCR-TRV25 DCR-TRV250 DCR-TRV250E DCR-TRV255E DCR-TRV25E DCR-TRV260 DCR-TRV265 DCR-TRV265E DCR-TRV27 DCR-TRV27E DCR-TRV33 DCR-TRV33E DCR-TRV340 DCR-TRV340E DCR-TRV361 DCR-TRV38 DCR-TRV38E DCR-TRV39 DCR-TRV40 DCR-TRV40E DCR-TRV460 DCR-TRV460E DCR-TRV461E DCR-TRV50 DCR-TRV50E DCR-TRV740 DCR-TRV740E DCR-TRV840 DCR-TRV940 DCR-TRV940E DCR-TRV950 DCR-TRV950E DCR-IP45 DCR-IP45E DCR-IP5 DCR-IP55 DCR-IP55E DCR-IP5E DCR-IP7E DCR-PC101 DCR-PC101E DCR-PC103E DCR-PC104E DCR-PC105 DCR-PC105E DCR-PC106E DCR-PC107E DCR-PC108 DCR-PC108E DCR-PC115 DCR-PC115E DCR-PC120 DCR-PC120E DCR-VX2000 DCR-VX2000E DCR-VX2100 DCR-VX2100E DCR-HC14E DCR-HC15 DCR-HC15E DCR-HC16E DCR-HC18E DCR-HC20 DCR-HC20E DCR-HC30 DCR-HC30E CLIE Handheld Computer Models PEG-NZ90/G PEG-NZ90/H Professional Camcorders (DVCAM format) DSR-250 & DSR-250/P DSR-PD150 & DSR-PD150P DSR-PD170 & DSR-PD170P DSR-PDX10 & DSR-PDX10P Go to: Previous Item Current News Next Item Powered by Coranto