Sony DCR TRV320E PAL Eject and Button problem

[ozstar]

Hi,

I have been using this 320E PAL with a TI 1394 Firewire card and Win 10 to transfer Hi8 to the PC and so far have done about 50 tapes.

Every now and then The driver for the TI 1394 would dropout and I would have to spend a hour or so getting it back however when it was going it was fine using WinDV. I am plugged into the power and have a new Lith battery in.

Just now I noticed that when I tried to eject the tape, the lights on the top would flash then the 'Pause' light would stay on. I was able to eject the tape. I thought I maybe use a cleaning tape so put that in and it slid nicely into and played for a few secs then I hit stop.

As I did this I noticed the top button lights flashed a bit and then went dead. The eject also didn't work.
Now none of the lights work nor does the eject button and the clean tape is still in it.

If I use the Remote it will Play and stop etc.

When I turn it on to VCR, I get one 'ding' and the LCD screen lights up fine but nothing on the top panel.
When I open the top panel and press the eject nothing happens either.

Have a I accidentally pressed something or is this something more sinister?

Thanks

oz

[ozstar]

On trying again to get it to eject, I noticed the lights did come on the top when I sometimes pushed the panel inside where the 'eject' button is. The Pause sign came on again but it all went out again and I can't repeat it. Seems like a loose wire or something in that panel.

[hodgey]

The flex cables used to connect the buttons to the PCB can be a bit fragile, similar to the kind of things used in modern cellphones. Got a slightly newer sony MiniDV camera here where the ribbon cable connecting the button panel on the door to the pcb, and it eventually teared so the camera can no longer be turned on. It could be something else as well, but a bad or loose cable sounds likely.

If it's a cable issue it's possible you could replace some of the cable and parts that hold the buttons with ones from the Digital8 only camera from the same lineup (tends to be a fair bit cheaper than the models that playback Hi8). Alternatively, if you have good soldering skills maybe you could solder on a manual eject switch to the connector pins that normally goes to the eject switch (or even repair the cable but that's rather tricky.) If it's just loose or dirty it should be easy to reattach, but you got to be careful when opening it to avoid tearing any cables.

[ozstar]

Many thanks for the great description. Really do appreciate it. I will take it to a repair shop pay $60 to see what they would charge to fix it. Cost me $180 on Ebay so maybe cheaper to buy another. We'll see I guess.