Interestingly, last year, one of my PCM-7010F DAT recorders stopped reading time code in fast forward. I sent the unit to Sony Professional Products Service in Los Angeles CA. I could not imagine it but they were able to repair my DAT recorder, and, for a flat rate, they replaced all circuit boards which needed replacing to bring my unit up to spec again. I was quite pleased to have Sony fix my unit, which is an indispensable part of a $17,000.00 digital editing system used since 1993 to archive radio commercials created and produced by my creative company. Today, I use these units to master nature recordings, mostly thunder showers, and to record audio from the Internet, which cannot be downloaded. At any rate, I've gotten a little off track but back to Sony ES, what little service I've needed from Sony for my Sony ES components while under warrenty has been just as prompt, courteous, and satisfactory as their service for the Sony professional audio products I own.