Sony Handycam issue - repair/replace?

ok there are 2 major companys in market now. SONY and Panasonic, im using always sony and panasonic but i diden had eny problems yet, but my frend is a tchnishin in los angeles so allways im asking about the news so that was he tald me i think is the truth first of all do not take the camera in airaplane,becouse in hi altitude its damiging a CCD bluck,2 nd i think your trunsfered the video to your pc withe firewire,sony says always when your camera conected tp pc firewire port never shut doun the comuter or restart you can damge the port in video camera bord becouse the 5 volt its coming from the comuter very fast and the Sony dident instald in there system the braker, but the panasonic did,thet the problem of your issues. some times ccd block damiging diiferent ways, you can see the picture but it the blakc you see wite dots, wnd no picture ever,3 brekebel picture, the audio is diffrend chanal so for audio is no problem, for fixing the unit its not worthet, you better bye The new one withe CMOS tecnology now avalibel its diffrent image option dont spend the many its gone cost you about 300 to 400 US dollars and that part no company will include in there worenty,thats my advise good luck Sir

Recently discoved that my Sony TRV33 has a problem in the LCD and viewfinder which shows as mixed paint falling down the screen. It comes frequently while taping or not taping with pwr from battarey or from charger.

I'm nor sure if this same problem as the blach screen or an early stage of the black screen.

Any suggestion or comments.

Steve,

My Sony Digital Handycam DCR-TRV 250 is doing the same thing. The picture on the screen is green looking and has lines running through it. Camera is 1 1/2 years old. Would you be interested in taking a look at it and repairing it?

If so, let me know what your charge would be.

Thanks,
Bob

stevenb@cuneolaw.com

I'm experiencing the same problem as others in this thread.

Steve, thanks for your post on a repair that worked for you.

I've removed all the small case screws (with the small arrow pointing to them) but the case will not come apart.

Anyone have instructions?

Thanks,
Bob

Hi

I have the same greenish screen. I clicked your link for the image but is dead. Where can I find it? Thanks.

Javier

Hi Steve,

I've got the same problem with my camcorder and dismantled the PCB with the CCD on it. First I thought the problem might be the CCD-chip itself, but after reading your posting and rembering that heat and humidity could accelerate the damage I suppose to watch out for some dried out capacitors too.

Did to finally fix the problem completely or are you still trying?

Since I do not have access to http://webpages.charter.net/questrian
I want to ask you for more detail on your modifications.

Cheers,
George

Same story as I have read from all of you - my Sony DCR-TRV33 Camcorder gave the the black screen when I went to go use it a few days ago. I am both happy and sad that a lot of people have this problem. I will try and join "the list" of disheartened Sony customers. I was also thinking about opening the thing up and trying to diagnose the problem since I do that thing for a living. Don't get your hopes up, but I will let you all know if I find anything.

I just got the black screen on my trv19 over the weekend, I thought I musta dropped it or something till I found this site, How frustrating.

From what I have been hearing the problem is a faulty CCD board.

A few days ago I just picked up my camera and got the same black screen. Everything else works. Called customer service and was asked to do reset behind the LCD, but didn't work. I just used less than 2 years was ready to take it for a vacation. Frustrating. If somebody has a good idea like changing parts by myself, etc, I would do it rather than paying huge fee for the repair.

Same black screen problem I got in my DCR-TRV33. Although I bought it about two and half years ago I hardly used it and last month opened up (after about 6 months) to take some shots with my friend and found the problem.
If any one know any solution to fix the problem (without going to the Sony Repair Center) please post it on the forum.

I purchased a DCR-TRV33 in November 2003. Black screen started in July 2005. Clearly these products are defective and Sony should not be able to shirk their responsibility to their customers. I hope the mentioned class action will proceed.

I am using my camcorder trv33 for last 1 nad half years. Recently it has started displaying a black screen during recording. In vcr mode the display is perfect. Any solution for this problem ? I am really dissatisfied with this type of product from Sony. I won't recommend anyone to by Sony Camcorder anymore

My Sony DCR-TRV250 COMCORDER has a black screen whenever I try to record. I tried battery and new tape, still black screen whenever I try to record. I can view prevouily recorded film on the camcorder but not record itself because of the screen.

Does anyone know what this problem is and how to fix it?

Go to Sony web site. They will fix it for free. There are many posts here that will help you.

I got a TRV22 as an incentive bonus. After using it for 11+ months with 3 tapes, it started to have green vertical lines during recording. I brought it in for repair and I was soooo lucky to be a week from having the warranty expire. Service center did fix it and I was glad to have saved $200+ for repair. Now the unit is 18 months old and guess what, it suddenly died. As in, it just failed to power itself up. The unit turns on for about 1 second and just turns itself off again. I can't even eject the casette inside. I brought the unit in for repair and the diagnosis is the board. The replacement will now cost me $200+ since warranty has expired. Guess luck doesn't come 3x.

Screen went black last summer. Gave it easy use and taped maybe 15 tapes prior to black out.

i got a trv-250 around a year and a half ago and also have the problem with a black screen.called sony said it would cost around 269.00 to repair it. also bought a sony widescreen tv around two years ago and after one year the crt's whent bad and they wanted to charge me 329.00 for each crt that was bad and the tv has four of them. will never buy sony products again.

You can buy the part at partstore.com. It costs about $18

The class action has been filed against SONY. If you want to get in on it, contact the lawyer that is listed in earlier posts.

I am still hoping SONY will come clean but i doubt they will. I spoke with Tech support and customer service agent - unless enough people return the camera and pay the money they claim they cannot document this as a problem!! Our letters and calls are not enough.

I encourage as many of you as can to go to sites that allow you to "rate" a product and describe your SONY experiences. This way potential customers, not just burned ones like us, might start turning away from SONY. If they see their business affected, they will fix the problem.

I bought my DCR-TRV38 after researching the cameras and looking at Consumer's Digest. I am going to write them as well and tell them they should do a follow up and look into these complaints before they do their next rating.

I am a user from the Philippines. I originally thought that the problematic unit I had (TRV22) was one of poor-quality units that may have been dumped into third-world countries. After reading the same complaints from this site, I realize it's actually a product quality problem. Now I will try to look for other users who are experiencing the same problem so that we can file a complaint over here too.

I suggest everybody report the black screen issue to www.bbb.org. They handle the defective products from any company. When you file a report there, you need to fill in the company's address. I got it from a SONY agent on the phone. The address is
Sony Corporation of America
12451 Gateway Blvd.
Fort Myers, FL UNITED STATES, 33913-
(212)833-6800.

I too was going to report it to the BBB. I decieded not to because that would give Sony more less a warning. I'm in the class action against them so I didn't want them to get a heads up from the BBB that they are being investigated.

This was the fancy model that records straight to DVDs, and I bought it right when it came out (about 18 months ago). I went to use it today and only got the black screen. The LCD panel works fine in playback, and so does the viewfinder, it's just that the camera (CCD) itself is BLIND!

After viewing these postings, I think I am going to pay the $270 to get it repaired (the thing cost over $800 new). But I am also going to report this to the BBB.

Sony products used to be solid. The recent stuff I have bought from them though has been quite shoddy. I am done with them.