Horizontal bars upon Camcorder mini-DV-playback

[ootput]

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to the video editing scene, but I'd like to transfer a few home recordings to DVD as backup.

With a recently recorded mini-DV tape, the camcorder unit - a JVC GR-D290AA - shows distortion similar to the following:

That screen-shot is actually from Windows Media Player Classic of a DV transferred onto the PC. With playback on the camcorder unit itself, those horizontal distortions reflect the actual footage.

Is there something wrong with the camcorder?

Are there software tools to correct this?

Update:

I've noticed that if I fast-forward a bit on the camcorder, the distortions disappear for a period, upon which time they re-appear, but aren't as pixelated for slow motion camera movement. If the camera movement is swift, the distortions become more pixelated.

Thanks in advance.