Sony DCR-TRV330(PAL) no image/sound when playing tapes?
 

I'm trying to figure out if this Video8/Hi8/Digital8 camcorder is salvageable, as it should be somewhat decent at playing 8mm/hi8 tapes.

When trying to play a Video8 or Hi8 tape I'm simply getting a blue screen, as though there is nothing on the tape (even though there is when the tapes are played on one of the Hi8 VCR's we have.) I haven't tried digital8 playback as I don't have access to any D8 tapes at the moment. I've tried cleaning the video heads with a cleaning stick, and with a cleaning cassette but that didn't seem to help.

Another issue with the camera is that the wheel that's used to select menu entries always open the title menu when pressed, so I can't access the menu, otherwise I would try to play around with the Digital8/video8 settings. I found one post about this on a sony site, but it was answered with "please return the unit for service" so not very helpful.

Has anyone had similar issues, or does anyone here have any idea if this is something that can be repaired? (even if it's just the menu issue as maybe it could at least make the unit usable for DV(PAL) passthrough.)

Also, thanks for all the useful info on this site.

That menu wheel is troublesome on all my Sony units - but in my experience it can be worked and 'coaxed' with care. Try slow turning, turning back and forward and quick turns. All the problem is is contaminated contacts - and Sony (UK) won't repair this fault as I already sent one unit to see if they could fix. Don't squirt cleaner in though as the contacts are shielded by the rotating wheel and it wont get where it is needed.

Thanks. I had a go at tinkering with the wheel, but no luck getting it to behave so far. Would it be possible to clean the contact if the unit is disassembled?

I would imagine so, but I have never taken a Sony camcorder apart as mine have always worked 'well enough'. It shouldn't be too far inside but getting the outer skin off can be a long task - lots of tiny screws which need to go back into the same hole.

Well I took it apart today (which was a royal PITA), and used a generous amount of CRC electronic cleaner on the PCBs and contacts, and it worked! Not only did it fix the menu wheel, but amazingly, tape playback started working as well!

-- merged --

So it was usable for a while, but then the image started being very noisy on a known working tape, and then there was output from cassettes at all, except when fast-forwarding. I cleaned the heads, but that didn't seem to help. After tinkering a little bit and trying a few tapes to see if I could find if something had happened with the tape transport, the eject mechanism stopped working properly as well. attached video of what happens when trying to eject. Is there any hope of fixing this?

Attached a video to show the problem, sorry for crappy cellphone video quality.