Sony Handycam issue - repair/replace?

Could any one update the thread whr your problems are solved by availing the sony support.

Regards,'
jj

If the problem is with the CCD then Sony will fix the camera for free, they will even provide free shipping. I just got my TVR19 back from them on Friday, the repair took less than 10 days.

There is a link to the sony web site where they discuss this problem somewhere in this thread.

Follow the link below if you have the above problems.
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=161&mdl=DCRHC20

I also own a sony dcr-trv22. I have owned it about 13 months, just enough time for the warranty to run out. It plays back fine but will not record properly. They gave me an address to send it along with $224.00 plus shipping and handling. I would be more than happy to join a letter and try to have sony repair thier problem without charging me half the price of a new camcorder.Thank you for bringing it to my attention that I am not alone with this problem.

We've had our TRV22-which was very expensive-for 3 yrs and 3 months. The screen jumps during recordings and playback on the television (using the camera). I called SONY and they told me to send the camera to their ''authorized'' repair shop in Connecticut ( I live in NJ). First, I must pay a flat fee of $211 before they complete any analysis or repair on our Handycam. I filed a complaint with the company, but I want to do more.

I know that it is hard to get anywhere calling Sony because they want to get you to pay their flat fee plus shipping and handling and get you out of their hair as fast possible. I took the advice of one of the posts and sent a letter directly to Sony and put an attention line to the guy in charge, (can't remember his name but it is on one of these posts). I sent the letter a few days ago and he called me today and told me that he would pay for the repair but I would have to pay shipping and handling. I am satisfied with this because I don't think it is worth it to me to fight for the shipping and handling. It only cost me $10 to send it off including insurance. I was specific in telling him that I read the posts on the internet and I am aware that there are many people with the same problem as myself and that I felt like it was a manufacturing problem and they should be responsible. Good luck. I will let everyone know if they come through and repair it and send it back free of charge.

You can find quick answers as well as tech support at http://fletchersite.com/ask.html

If you need the full service manual for your unit, visit http://fletchersite.com or http://fletchermanuals.com


Henry

So I posted back on the first page of this thread when my DCR-TRV22 went blind. I see I missed the boat on a free fix by Sony. I ended up taking advantage of American Express's built in warranty doubling feature - if you buy something on Amex and it fails between the warranty's expiration and twice that long, they will just give you your money back.

Anyway I looked and didn't find another camera I wanted with similar features so I bought a replacement TRV22 on eBay. Still baby it and don't use it often, once every few months or so. This camera worked fine until a few months ago - the last time I was filming the screen popped up a warning about wanting a head cleaner. I didn't have one and kept filming, and everything from that point on was garbage.

So this past weekend I needed the camera again. I went and bought a head cleaner tape, ran it as recommended, and tested the filming while at home. Recording and playback went fine. I took the camera out to film with and at one point went to rewind over something I didn't mean to film so I could record over it. At that point I noticed it wouldn't play anything in VCR mode (blue screen only) and wouldn't even read the time code off the tape. I started searching for information on this problem and ran across this familiar (but much larger) thread that is still going on, where I posted almost 4 years ago.

So, about $900 worth of Sony camcorders counting the price of the new and used one, and I figure I've recorded maybe 12 hours of video with both of them combined. So that works out to about $75 an hour. For that price I think I could have hired a videographer to come film what I wanted and just gotten the edited final product on DVD. Whether I can fix this one or not, I have had enough experience to know that I personally will never buy another major electronic item from Sony again.

I had my HC-42 fixed a few months ago and so far so good. Meanwhile I picked up an HC-96 for $495 or thereabouts. The HC-42 was the second SONY I had fixed, the first was an OLD TRV-85. So right now about every third SONY dies befor I am finished with it. Having said that I sold my first two SONY's to help pay for new ones, and I sold one CANON, while another one I kept died on me - had it repaired - then it died again just over three months later. So no more Canon's thankyou very much.

My cams usually get bumped around a bit, since I am often in the dark when I use them for astronomy, which is probably why my HC-42 had to be fixed outside the warranty. But in general they hold up pretty well. The TRV-22 has held up very well and my son may inherit it soon.

I should register the HC-96 in case there is a bug with it in the future. But so far only recorded 15 minutes on it. The HC-42 is backup.

One good thing is to keep trackof this thread, otherwise SONY may have a recall or whatever, and you'll miss something.

Hi all, Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya, Africa...

My one year one and one month old (just outside the labor warranty) DCR-VX2000, bought from BHPhotovideo.com, has recently started acting up. It does record to tape, but with a weird ghostly pink (or is it magenta?) cast over both the viewfinder and recorded images. A shimmering ragged pattern appears at the top of the image while vertical streaks appear running down the image, and a green coloration appears on and around bright spots and highlights in the viewfinder and recorded images. Its getting worse, and is probably going towards black.

Camera flashes turn whole image to the same green color which then fades off in about 3 seconds
All other functions OK, recorded sound, manual and auto-focus ok, exposure, ND filters, menu functions etc, all ok. Playback of material, tapes recorded prior to the onset of the problem is flawless, with correct colors, sound and all.

Tried all the troubleshooting stuff in the manual, including RESET (shudder!) no joy. Sony wants $ 400 (plus the shipping from Africa) to even take a look at the unit.

I'll be looking here to see if anything, in the way of a possible solution, maybe even from SONY itself, comes up

Regards to all

Agola Gregory
Nairobi, Kenya

I also have this problem. The screen goes all magenta. I have a feeling that the green CCD is failing. It doesn't always stay magenta, normal color will return occationally, only to go back after a period of time.

You'll notice when using additive colors when you don't have green, red and blue create magenta:

http://www.worqx.com/color/color_systems.htm

So that's my theory anyway. I've yet to get a quote on this repair, but I will have one soon.

Can anyone deny or confirm this theory?

Hello,

I have the same problem. How much did the repair cost?
Any information would be helpful.

William

I sent my camera in to Sony and they repaired it for free. This link was for my camera perhaps they have he same type of deal for yours.


http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=95&mdl=DCRTRV38

I have also the same problem with a DCR TRV-38E. The last time i recorded with my camera (and worked fine) was in December last year, and yesterday(24.03.2005) i experienced the same problem you were discusting here. I'll try to go to Sony ROMANIA and explain them the problem i'm confrunting, but i'm sure i have to pay for my camera to work again . If you find more about this issue please send me an email at cvi@mymail.ro

I pulled this thing out after not using for 2 months, and now only getting a black screen. I contacted sony's tech support, which got me nowhere. Suggested resetting. Like that would help. Also, told me to take it to nearest local sony dealer (Laredo, Tx), and I'm in Tampa, FL. There goes the memories in St Martin this weekend that should be captured on video. Thank you Sony for the memories and the $700 that I'm out! "Do Not Buy this Unit or anything from Sony"

i think calling will just result in being referred to a repair center - is there a more effective way to get them to notice?

There has to be some way that we can get sony to notice this problem. If anybody has any ideas, please post them

I have had the same problem and posted about it earlier. I contacted www.troubleshooter.com but they said Sony is so big that they probably wont fix the problem. I myself personally disagree. If enough people are willing to come forward they wont have a choice but to fix the problem. I've seen class action suits over dumber things then this. I am not given up.
My suggestion would be to make sure to contact Sony. When you do make sure to save the reference number they give you so you can prove you called. Try to be polite while defending your point of veiw. I can tell you now they will only tell you you have to pay to have it fixed. They will say its the "first" they have heard of the problem. (rolls eyes) and they dont know of any problems.
I just got done writing an e-mail to the vice president. I dont know if he will respond considering the only available e-mail I found for him was the press e-mail. But this is the link http://news.sel.sony.com/pressroom/contact/ I strongly urge everyone and anyone with this problem to try and contact him. I will keep you posted on my progress. If I do not hear from him i will be going to the BBB (better business bureau). Also I would like to collect stories about this problem. So feel free to send them to me at beauty_s@hotmail.com. You do not need to include any personal information but I would like to use them if the need comes to show them this isnt just a isolated case. Also here are some links to other posts on the same issue.

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=104264
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t110280.html

I just sent you an email and would like to invite all the consumers having issues with SONY camcorders to unite and fight. My TRV 19 just stopped recording this weekend without any reason. I am really disappointed the way SONY is dealing with their customers.

Hey I didnt get your e-mail yet. Did you send it to beauty_s79@hotmail.com?

I also just sent a email to sony
thanks for the idea hope80

I live in WI also and they wanted me to send mine to TX. As far as the e-mail I didnt get a response yet. I'll wait a few more days. After talking to Sony customer support again last night I was able to get an address. She told me we could use this addy to contact Rick Clancy the Sony VP. The address is

Sony Direct Response Center
12451 Gateway Blv
Fort Myers, FL 33913

If you do write to him, you might want to add Attn:Rick Clancy either above or below the address. Otherwise anyone may be able to open it.

Hi
Can you give me Ricky's email Id ?
Thanks,
Suresh

I noticed I forgot the 79 in my e-mail addy.It's beauty_s79@hotmail.com.

i got the reply from the VP. All they told was there sorry and gave me the number for tech sopport.

I sent another email to you, hopefully u get it.

yes i did get your message, thank you. at least he mailed you back i still have yet to get reply. im not sure if the BBB can help in this matter but i will try contacting them in the next few days. im also trying to find other consumer advocate groups that may be able to help.

I have the same problem with the black screen. However, mine occured after a pretty hard drop to concrete.

Yeah, my friend babied his moms camera well, then he put it in my bag, which I threw over fence. I think the CCD-TRV318 absorbed most of the fall. Total carelessness on my part ofcourse.

But same deal, black screen on veiwfinder and LCD in camera mode. All functions and playback work fine and it still records sound.

Phoned Sony after noticing the handycam camcorder model is infact covered by Sony's free repair service due to this ''defect''. My friend did explain to the Sony rep. that the camera had been dropped but was still showing symptoms similer to those aforementioned in this forum. Sony said to send it to a service station and he plans on taking it there in hopes to see if Sony will repair this free of charge.

And btw, the camera did work fine untill the drop. I have also heard temperature can affect things; it was dropped in snow. It happened yesterday... *sigh*

Well we may have some help with our "blank screen" problem. This is a message I received today. He is going to need all your stories also, if you've had it fixed or not.

Sony Camcorder Class Action Litigation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, my name is Steven Berk. I am an attorney in Washington, DC, who specializes in representing consumers who have purchased defective products from technology companies. I am currently working on cases of that kind against HP and JVC. I noticed your posting concerning DCR-TRV38. I have been investigating other complaints about the a number of Sony camcorder models. In connection with that investigation, it would be very useful if I could interview you about your experience with the blank LCD screen problem. If you are interested, please email me at stevenb@cuneolaw.com or call me at 202-789-3960. Thanks for your consideration.

Well we are having the same problem as everyone else posted. We just bought our camera a year ago and the screen is now blank. We are able to view and hear something already recorded though. I contacted Sony through a live chat (today) and the guy (Keith) stated that we should reset our camera but of course it did not work. I happened to type in our problem and this web site came up with the same exact complaint as ours. We have seen one of the posted members quote a price of 269.00 to get it repaired and we feel that it's not worth it. So we are not going to get it fixed. We'll most likely end up getting another camera but it will definitely not be a Sony. I hope this helps and if you need anything else you are welcomed to contact me through e-mail.