I needed something for transferring 8mm videotapes to DVD, and I bought this non-working video walkman hoping to at least get the VCR section working. The unit powers and the OSD works fine, as do all the mechanical functions of the VCR, but the video is very dark and has lost both vertical and horizontal sync. I found a post regarding a similar unit on a website, the guy had the exact same problem, but of course there were no replies. Is this a fairly common problem for these, and is there any quick solution? I don't care about the TV part as long as I can output the video to something else. Thanks for any advice.
Sony GV-8 Portable TV/8mm VCR
It could be the common problem of the guide posts lossened up and moved out of alignment. A proper alignment and locking the posts would solve this. Or... If small surface-mounted capacitors are used on the boards - like similar Sony 8mm camacorders, there could be dozens of leaking caps making repair difficult to impossible.
But first try giving the entire tape path a good cleaning.
I forgot to mention that the audio cuts in and out, and the same symptom are present whether playing a tape on the built-in LCD, through the A/V out, or when using the A/V in. There are indeed tons of those caps, some round and some square, and I was wondering if they might be responsible.
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