Sony EVO-9800A Hi8 deck plays Video8 but not Hi8?
 

Believe it or not, I managed to snag this deck from an Amazon seller for a good price. Having just received it yesterday I gave it a quick test. I found that the deck plays the regular Video 8 tapes fine but the Hi8 tapes the picture has noise with some snow and tends to flicker some. This is only for the Hi8 tapes. The same tapes play fine of course in the camcorders I have (TRV-820 and 350) but they were not recorded on those units.

So I am wondering if servicing may be needed. After going through the menus I found the unit has 5,500 hours on the drum and around 8,000 from being powered on, so it has had use. Could possibly be the heads. At least now I know where I can send it to for service if needed, but just wanted to see if anyone has any ideas as far as the Hi8 tapes goes. Its a pretty good deck and everything works great on it. I'll work on it more as I can in the coming days. A great addition to my video deck collection.

It probably has separate heads for the Hi8 playback, and those are shot.

there is a switch that tells the deck if the tape is hi8 or video8 - that switch is probably stuck or broken off
much like a S-VHS deck has- on a S-VHS tape there is a hole the switch probe goes into that is not on a VHS tape.
same is true for 8mm - Hi8 tapes have a hole that is not there on Video8 tapes

Well, I've played with the deck some more earlier today, and when I put the Hi8 tape in, the Hi8 indicator does light as it should, but the playback has noise and snow in the picture. I noted however when I put the unit in pause, the picture is clear. So it could be a head issue.

Here's a shot of what it looks like (never mind the reflected lamp image in the TV since its a plasma):

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...b5d8052d-1.jpg

Other than that, the regular Video 8 tapes plays just fine with no issue. May see about getting the unit serviced if I can.