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General discussion

Digital 8 camcorder problems

Jul 6, 2006 7:23AM PDT

I have a sony digital 8 camcorded that I have enjoyed greatly, but it has started acting funny. It began with like spots on the image that are almost like the old time moves static and on certain tapes it says to clean the play head. Also between shots there is sometimes an overlap of the image onto the next frame in Anyone know what causes this? ( I have tried the head cleaning kits, but there is no improvement.)

Discussion is locked

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As it worsens, most begin to shop for a replacement 'corder.
Jul 6, 2006 12:48PM PDT

It may be the end.

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The options
Jul 8, 2006 11:54AM PDT

Hi -

The last poster could be right, it could be the heads that are finally starting to wear. The wear is generally accelerated by the "auto head cleaners" in some units - essentially just a tiny sponge that contacts the heads while they run at extremely high RPM's.

Barring that, it could be:

1. Requires manual head cleaning - tape based head cleaners just don't always do it. This can be very tricky with a camcorder though - contact me if you are interested in how to do it.

2. Tape alignment - some parts may be out of adjustment.

3. Tape guides are loose or base is cracked.

E-mail me if you require further info - I have some pictures and parts diagrams of various camcorders.

Regards,

Lightlord
http://www.electricalrepairlinks.com