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General discussion

Sony CCD-TR71 issues

Feb 21, 2015 5:05AM PST

First time posting and would like to ask if anyone can help with a few issues. I have this cam that I purchased back in 1992 and has served me well for many years. It was dormant for about 15 years and when I tried to use it, discovered 2 issues which I hope someone may have some history with. First, when I turn on the cam, the viewfinder shows a black background and a bright white stripe vertically and centrally to the field of view. Needless to say, it is useless for recording as such.

Second, when playing back several video tapes, there was much waviness, unclear video and some sound distortion. As I played the tapes longer, things got better but not perfect. Would there be any benefit to using an unopened V8-25CLH cleaning cassette, taking it to a shop where they could try a known good recording to isolate whether it's old/bad tape or dirty heads, and have them clean it, or is it time to say goodbye to the cam corder and have the tapes (if any are good enough) transferred to disc. Thanks for any thoughts as the recordings are of precious moments.

Discussion is locked

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Not a good idea.
Feb 21, 2015 5:57AM PST
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I always used
Feb 21, 2015 6:11AM PST

alcohol and Q-tips on the heads and rub blocks. Cloth works better than Q-tips though to avoid cotton fiber getting caught in it.

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Sony CCD-TR71 issues
Feb 24, 2015 1:38AM PST

Does anyone know of any other Sony video camera models that are comparable to the TR71 in case I want to look for another on Ebay to replace this one since it appears that it would be too costly too repair my camera. And I still have to determine whether its the tape or the camera regarding the playback issues. Thanks.

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Remember you do this to get video off the old tapes.
Feb 24, 2015 1:45AM PST