Sony EV-C100 lights flashing?

[jham55]

I have this hi8 player and when powering on it it flashes green and the motor runs like it is constantly trying to load a tape. Then it stops. When I play a tape it take it in and play but no signal what so ever!

I added a video. I cleaned the heads pretty good and still nothing. check out the video. It is pretty weird.

[aramkolt]

Hard to say, but in your video, it looks like it is trying to take a tape in (which obviously there is no tape) and without the tape, there's usually little lockout levers that the tape would normally move to allow the tape to go in as normal. Would have to guess that either your mode switch or other sensing switch or IR LED/Receiver is not working appropriately or is dirty or something is out of time, but could also be a capacitor gone bad somewhere that's confusing the machine about where it is in the load cycle. Could also be a voltage is missing from the power supply and causing issues, so while it may play a tape, if a voltage is needed to process the video signal but is not needed to run the transport, you can get that sort of behavior for sure.

[dpalomaki]

FWIW: I had one and sold it "for parts" on EBAY ~18 months ago along with the factory service and owners manual.

When powered on it would spin the cylinder for a while, then stop. Other working Sony Hi8 VCR sdo this i too. Probably part of startup diagnostics.

It would load tape some times, other times not. Loaded tape often failed to eject properly. It responded to remote and LANC controller commands, but no onscreen display and did not reliably respond to its panel controls.

No display implies component failures on the boards which would require skilled trouble shooting with appropriate technician tools.

Given its age (25+ years) and the other Video8/Hi8 players i had available it was not worth it to me to try repair it. I suspect it may have some bad caps (as was common to many products from its era) as well as other issues such as as dried lube, poor contacts, and deteriorating rubber parts. The unit did not provide a number of desired features such as TBC.

IMO it offers a perhaps interesting repair project for folks interested in taking it on but it is not an especially desirable VCR if Video8/Hi8 capture is the ultimate goal.

[jham55]

well you are right.. it was the sensor that was dirty that causes it to blink. I cleaned it and that stopped it but the picture is horrible. Check out the video. I cleaned the heck out of it and its getting signal now but yikes.

[aramkolt]

That is most likely a tracking issue which is fixable though I usually don't suggest you mess with the tracking unless it does that with most tapes as adjusting the tracking to fit this tape could make it not work for all of your others. If you adjust the tracking P2/P3 guides too much, it's possible that they'll loosen up to the point where they won't stay in place well and could move while tape moves past them. Hi8 and VHS tracking adjustment is pretty similar and there are quite a few videos out there about it. If you want to it the "right" way, an oscilloscope is ideal as you can see the actual RF waveform coming off of the heads one you locate the PB FM test point. PB meaning "PlayBack" and usually the goal is to get the waveform flat. The other thing it could be if it was working well prior to this is that one of the P2 or P3 guides that pulls the tape up to the drum may not be fully seated in the end position, so you might want to wiggle those while playing and see if they can be advanced any further manually or if there's an obvious gap that the guide isn't making it all the way to the end of the track like it should. I'd do the guide inspection part before messing with tracking as it isn't super likely that the tracking would just go out of alignment all by itself. I suppose a bad enough tape, or possibly shipping where the whole machine gets tossed around could cause that.

[jham55]

Well hah its randomly doing the blinking again BUT now I fixed the tracking haha.. this is fun.

-- merged --

update-- its more definitely in the power supply. I switched it out and it does not blink. I replaced the caps and its not that. so still looking.