Nikon VN-750 camcorder no video display?
 

Hello,

I recently recovered my parents old Nikon VN-750 camcorder and was able to get it to play tapes through the viewfinder built into the device. The image displays very clearly in the view finder (even for tapes that are >30 minutes long), only it is in black and white since it is not a color display. The camcorder also does not play audio, so I decided to try and use and S-Video/RCA to HDMI converter to play it through my monitor. Once everything was plugged in and I played the tape, the audio sounded perfect, but the screen remained blue with AV and SV flashing in the corner. At times the tape would play video and it would still be in sync with the audio, but the video would be horrendously oversaturated then it would cut back out. Sometimes the video showed for 10+ seconds, other times it would just flash for less than a second, but for the most part the screen is just blue. I've looked online to see if others have had a problem with this and can't find anything similar. I don't see why the tapes would be the problem because as I have said, they play find in the viewfinder and even when played through HDMI the audio and video are in sync. I then tried this on an older monitor that does have AV input and the same thing happens. I think the problem is related to the S-video and composite video ports on the camcorder itself. I tried switching between s-video and composite and both seemed to share this same problem. I would really appreciate anyone elses thoughts on this matter as I can't seem to find anyone else having this issue. :salute:

Thank You.

P.S. From my understanding, this camcorder is basically a copy of the Sony TR-101 from what I have read online. Hope this helps. :congrats:

The device you are using is cheap fake chinese trash, Get a proper USB capture device, there are members here who can suggest some good USB capture devices, I'm not really familiar with them.

The converter may be trash, but that doesn't really explain why the video was having the same issue when I was playing it through a monitor that has AV input directly from the camcorder. There was no converter used in that process and the problem was the same, the video input seemed to phase in and out while remaining in sync with the audio.

Welcome. :)

@wowman1010, though @latreche34 is a bit blunt here, it is very accurate, so do be aware of this

I would concur. Your troubleshooting seems to suggest it. The proper course of action is to test a test in another Hi8 camera, in order to confirm your hypothesis. Scientific method! :)

That vintage (early/mid 90’s) Sony built camcorder is most likely suffering from bad surface mount capacitors. As LS suggests, you need to try your tapes in a known working Hi8 camcorder to confirm this. If you are planning to capture the tapes to digital yourself you’ll want to check out the recommended Hi8 playback devices here:
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...-digital8.html

These later Sony camcorders have fewer capacitor problems and can still be found but due diligence is still required if you go the eBay route to buy one.

BW