Sony Handycam Hi8 CCD-TRV318 tape eating?
 

Howdy all!

I posted in the Marketplace a few weeks ago about a new 8mm deck but I figured while I waited for that to go through, I'd fiddle around with my current best deck, the CCD-TRV318.

I did some very minor disassembly (The plastic door and top cover come off with only a couple of screws) and was able to see with better clarity what the issue might be. I am (obviously!) not a tape deck repair person, I've just taken apart a few VHS decks as well as cassette decks, so I'm familiar enough with what's going on to get myself into trouble.

What I've observed with certain tapes is that, upon playback, the tape will start bunching up on the 'take up' side, where the capstan should be pulling the tape back into the shell. This seems to indicate that the tape is being spooled out of the tape faster than the capstan/pinch roller can pull it back into the cassette.

This doesn't happen on every tape, every time, but it's often enough that I can't actually use the deck for any playback. It's already responsible for wrecking a section of one of my project tapes because it had passed my initial testing with a throwaway tape.

I suppose my question is, is this something I can adjust or repair myself? Is there somewhere I can send it for repair? In lieu of heading to eBay and crossing my fingers, the last piece of my workflow is a solid capture deck and I'm at a standstill until that's sorted. :(

Happy holidays everyone, and thanks in advance for reading!
-Dan

Something you can try is to tighten (or maybe loosen/adjust) the small adjustable tape guide that's near the capstan (NOT THE ONES THAT MOVE UP TO THE DRUM). That helped on the CCD-TRV218 I got.

Hi there!

Thanks so much for the reply, and apologies for bringing this thread back up but I finally had some time over vacation to fiddle with the camcorder. I did initially adjust the wrong tape guides that pull the tape around the drum, but I at least took note of how much I turned them and I got them back to the initial position.

Is this the tape guide you're referring to? It seems to have a plastic head that spins freely, it doesn't seem like anything is actually being adjusted when this moves...

Attachment 12814

Yeah it's that one.

I don't think adjusting guides will do anything other than loosing the factory alignment. Can you post a short video of the problem because your description of the problem doesn't make any sense to me.

The take up reel motor is the one responsible for tacking in the tape inside the shell not the capstan, The capstan motor ensures the tape is being transported steadily from the supply reel up to the contact point with the pinch roller, from there on the take up reel motor takes over.

If the take up reel is not fast enough that means either the gear is broken, worn belt if belt driven, bad motor board if direct driven ...etc. If the capstan is faster which I doubt it because you wouldn't get any video, then that's of a more serious problem.

If the tape is spooling up right before the capstan/pinch roller, something is wrong with that part of the transport. The pinch roller should rotate on its spindle freely. Another weak point on these is the white plastic retainer on the pinch roller like to fall off, dislodging the pinch roller itself. Looks like that is OK on your unit.

On any tape transport, its the capstan that pulls the tape thru the transport, the supply reel is un-powered. Take-up reel torque is minimal in play mode, just enough to spool it around the reel.

At least adjusting that guide worked in my case on the PAL version of this camcorder. I think I picked it up from reading it somewhere before doing it but I don't remember where right now. It's not a guide that affects the tape alignment va the head drum, it has to do with where the tape lies on the capstan/pinch roller. If it's loose I suspect it may cause the tape to ride up the roller or do something else. Guide posts loosening is a very common problem in the sony camcorders, the pinch roller (rubber roller thing) can also come loose sometimes, so also worth checking that it doesn't move up and down.

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

I'll try and get a video of the issue, though after making the adjustment noted above I wasn't able to reproduce the issue, the tape seems to run through just fine now!

I'm going to test further on some other tapes before considering using this for the actual tape project, I don't want to cause any further damage to the tapes I care about.

On a related note, would it make sense to just purchase a couple of the recommended models of camcorder on eBay or the like to have spares around? I'd obviously be taking a gamble that any of them would work, but at this point I've gathered all of the other equipment I need and I'm stalled on this project...

Thanks again, all!

I have more than one Hi8 camera. If you can afford it, have storage space, do it. Right now, these are cheap(ish) and plentiful.