It's here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vide...s-service.html

Look under VCRs.
Or look under Panasonic.

Never forget that thread. :thumb:

Hi Moxiecat,

I know this is old but I've just come across this and noticed there wasn't a final comment on how it concluded. What was your experience like with doctorsony? I'm in need of someone to repair my Sony Digital8 camcorder and was looking to see if doctorsony was a legitimate option. Thank you.

You have good timing, because ironically I just got a deck back from Dr. Sony!

I can recommend him. I first used his service a few years ago to repair a Sony GV-A500 (8mm clamshell). The repair took a few weeks (longer than his stated turnaround time) and I had to e-mail him to see where things stood, but the unit came back working fine.

Then a few weeks ago, I sent a Sony GV-D900 (MiniDV clamshell) that had power and playback issues. This time, he was SUPER-fast. Only a few days after he received the unit, he sent the invoice, which stated the problem. I paid it within a day and he shipped the unit out within another day. All told, I had the repaired unit back about 10 days after I sent it! (Note: that does not happen at Jots!)

Since you have a Sony cam, I would recommend him. Going by his website information, he does seem to have the most background/experience with Sony. I did e-mail him both times before sending the units, just to make sure he worked on that particular model, and he e-mailed back quickly to confirm.

Good luck!

Thank you Moxicat,

I've contacted JOT's in the meantime and it looks like they're charging $60 to evaluate and the $60 will go towards the parts and labor costs if they can fix it. I've asked and am awaiting a response from them in the scenario where they're not able to fix it (what happens with my $60?) as well as whether we pay shipping both ways. It seems without shipping it'd cost around $150 (up to $30 in parts). How much did doctorsony charge for your 8mm? And do they pay for the return shipping?

Well, I had the 8mm repaired in 2011 so the charges may be higher now. The repair charge was $138 (diagnostic $20) and return shipping was $15. I doubt if Jots (or any shop) pays return shipping.

Keep in mind, Jots may take quite awhile to fix your unit. Recent VCRs that they have repaired for me have taken 2-3 months to get back. They do a good job, but as mentioned on this forum, some of the techs have retired and are only working a few days a week. In addition, the associated "office work" seems to have become a little slipshod as well. During both of my last two jobs, I had to contact them to find out if my unit was finished, only to find out that it had been finished weeks prior but no one had sent the invoice to me.

Because of that, I plan to use DoctorSony in the future for my Sony repairs, because he seems to do a good job, his prices are reasonable, and his turnaround and communication are both reliable.

Thanks again moxiecat. I would've gone with JOT but the $60 non-refundable is very steep (plus PA is closer than TX for me). I'd go with JOT only if they do a better job than DoctorSony. Do you feel DoctorSony is as thorough and well equipped?

DoctorSony fixed two units for me; that's all I know. I have not been to his shop, nor to Jots, so I have no idea which is better equipped. He's a single guy compared to a shop with multiple employees...but that said, he may have specific Sony knowledge/experience that no one at Jots possesses--so the size of the business doesn't always matter. Beyond that, you know as much as I do from their two respective websites. :-) At this point, I think you'd just have to try him out and see.

Thank you moxicat, I'll be giving doctor sony a shot. Thanks again!!

just a follow-up to this old but helpful thread to say that Jots is, according to their website (http://www.jotsserviceandparts.com), permanently closed as of 1/21/2019, but are still checking emails at jotsservice@gmail.com.

There's a 'trick' that was done with some budget machines to record long-play with standard heads, everything becomes compromised (the head gap sits between SP and LP) meaning intermachine compatibility is poor but it worked well enough, from the UK perspective Lord Sugar used to have Funai machines made which used this trick. They were cheap and cheerful though and put machines in the hands of people with only modest amounts to spend.

This may be what the 'most' refers to, as I've only seen it done in real bargain-basement machines.

I doubt Panasonic would stoop to this method.

A handful of late-model Panasonics decks e.g the NV-MV20 did do PAL LP with 2-heads (the multi-system variant even advertises Super LP on the front!). How well it works on those I have no idea. There are some Samsung-made decks capable of it too, I have a toshiba-branded (VCP-8) multisystem one that does, though it seems it wasn't all that common in their vcrs either.

Ha! Every day is a school day as somebody once said!

They probably managed it with considerably better quality than some of the cheapo late 80s/early 90s two-head machines though.

Thank heavens EP wasn't really a thing in PAL land!