I have two Panasonic MiniDV cameras PV-DV53D and PV-DV402 (identical mechanisms) and wish to gain access to the heads for cleaning. How is it opened up for such service?
I can easily remove the cover opposite the tape compartment, but this gets me nowhere. The cover/bezel on the tape compartment side doesn't budge when I remove its screws.
It almost appears that the plastic tape compartment door can be unfastened from its metal frame by bending two plastic ears out of the way of pins in the frame, however I'm really reluctant to do this for fear of cracking them. If this were possible though, it looks as thoughh the plastic door would then lay down in such a way as to provide full access.
I found that this problem was posted here over a year ago, but no one replied.