The items you are referring to are the guide pins that wrap the tape around each side of the video head, these under certain circumstances can get pulled out of alignment if a cassette suddenly jams up whilst being rewound or even during rec / or playback, as in that situation the capstan spindle will be pulling hard against the tape causing strain on the guide pins. Needless to say the tape in use just before this happened should not be used again.

Day after thanksgiving, (year 2008) about to film my girls putting the tree and same E03 as all of you with the camera chewing my tapes. All of my DV cassettes are brand JVC so I know that was not the issue. I read and read and finally decided to grab a flashlight and study how the mechanism move. Then I noticed something suspicious about the right "two little spikes" attached to a white plastic piece that, when close, it moves to the right side of the camera head (the round stainless wheel inside). The white plastic piece mentioned above, part of it came off the guiding tiny little rail. 1. So I opened the tape compartment with an EJECT command, 2. Close it back up with an inmediate unplug of the camera without battery so it will stay in a position where I can get my fingers and paper clip inside. 3. With the paper clip, stretch the guiding rail in such a way that it widens so the bottom of the white plastic thingy can get back in the guiding rail. 4. Put a cassette inside and FFWD, PLAY or RWD and problem fixed. Email me if you have any questions. Happy filming!

E-03 is a warning that the cassette take up drive spindle is not turning properly, and this can in many cases be caused simply by the actual tape used being faulty (internally sticking) so another tape must always be tried. Continual use of non JVC brand tapes can cause problems with JVC devices, and TDK or Maxell tapes especially should never be used, as its known in service circles that there is a high incidence of drive problems where these brands have been used, always stick to JVC - Panasonic or Fuji tapes. However if another tape doesn't cure the problem then it indicates that the take up mechanism will have to be inspected, which obviously requires an element of dismantling to be carried out. A long shot measure which sometimes helps is, with the cassette holder open blow air into, and onto, the spindle area, a hairdryer on its cool setting is ideal for this, as if tape lubrication dust contamination is the cause of the problem then this might clear it.