I just purchased some 80 minute disks and am getting the same thing after 15 seconds I get about 1/2 second of static. Here's what I've tried so far: reformat the disk, record with no mic pluged in, spliting tracks after being recorded, new groups and just about every menu change you could think of. I'm sure that Sony will find nothing wrong as usual but as I stated in an earlier post it did work at one time using PCM but no longer does. I will work with the other two formats but I'm doing field recording and want the best possible quality. Does anyone know of a special menu setting possibly a copyright thing built in that can be turned off? Well I'll keep searching but thans for the help so far. If you need any more info please let me know and I'll be happy to provide you with it. Thanks Seamus