Sony Handycam Video 8mm - Tape Alignment/Tracking Issue

I have a 10 year old Sony Handycam Video 8mm - Model #CCD-TR91 that has served us well. The unit is on it's 4th battery, but still works, kind of... I suspect the trouble is with tape alignment/tracking since some previously recorded events and sometimes new events as well do not display properly. Usually I lose half the picture with tracking lines and at times it also is in Black and White only.

I do not see any electronic tracking adjustments similar to similar vintage VHS VCRs. Can anyone provide a reference to a service manual or a tracking adjustment procedure? At this point I am inclined to replace the unit with another since price has come down so much over the years, but before I did, I wanted to take a shot at aligning it myself.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman
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Hi Bob...

I'd urge you to forget all about electronic adjustment and instead focus on mechanical problems...

Start with a good thorough cleaning... the tracking head, the pressure idler, the video heads, the capstan and idler, and the audio head. A little isopropyl alcohol and a bunch of q-tips. A little - moist q-tips, *not* wet.

Pay particular attention to the capstan idler. No flat spots, indents from the idler? Does it line up perfectly with the idler?

Look at the audio head - it's spring loaded for azimuth adjustment. Still sitting normally?

Check the supply hub, clean it well.

Then, after completely absolutely dry, I'd watch it play a tape. Supply side feeding tape smoothly, not jerking. Nothing skewing the tape.

If still no luck, look at one of the failing tapes. Edges not "rippled"? If so, invest in one brand new one to try.

Hope this helps... take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

These cameras had a common problem with the tape guides. The guides immediately before and after the video head have a tiny allen key set screw near the bottom which loosens, then the guide moves out of alignment one way when the tape is moving forward, and the other way when it's moving in reverse. Aligning the guides is a complex process. It involves playing back an alignment tape while connecting an oscilloscope to a test point on the circuit board. The point is in a different place on each camera. The problem is that if any tapes were recorded while the machine was OUT of alignment, they will no longer play when the machine IS properly aligned. When the guides are aligned, the set-screws are tightened and it usually never goes out of alignment again. Now here's the bigger problem - Sony camcorders of this age have a serious problem with capacitors going bad, leaking, burning traces off the circuit board with their acid, etc. Not two or three caps, more like 100 of them. The amount of labor involved with replacing all of these capacitors makes the camera not economical to repair.

Reply to
Jumpster Jiver

Ken & JJ,

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I will take a closer look to see what I can do. Ken, Although I did not mention this, I had already attempted a cleaning with 99% isopropyl alcohol and some Q-Tips and cleaning pads, but had not yet opened the case so could not do as thorough a job as I could so this is a good next step. JJ, yes, I was aware of the capacitor aging problems and have observed occasional evidence of this over the last three or so years with strange behavior, especially when the battery was not completely fully charged. This is pretty much why I have resigned myself to ultimate replacement, but I still would like to get it working if this can be done very cheaply because I will likely choose to change tape formats (go still smaller) and would like to be able to use it long enough to recover tapes already made to other media.

Is there a service manual available anywhere on the web that would help me? I have never worked on an 8mm unit before, although I pretty much try to fix anything I can (TVs, various household appliacances, computers, automobiles, etc.) and have been successful fixing several standard VHS VCRs (panel micro switches, tape alignment issues, aging rubber parts, switching PSU electrolytics/transistors) and even an old VHS camcorder as well.

The basic message here is I don't believe it is worth enough to send it off for refurbishing and I have little to lose by attempting to repair it myself.

Bob

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Reply to
Bob Shuman

Ken,

I took the unit apart and checked tape threading and alignment and everything looked good to me. I also checked and everything seemed pretty tight so I performed the thorough cleaning you recommended (I had cleaned it previously, but could only get at it through the top cassette loader). While I was in there I also degaussed the heads. When I was done I checked it out and it seems to be much improved. Unfortunately, some of the recently recorded stuff is still not 100%, but is at least watchable. I will have to use it for some non-critical stuff over the next few weeks to make sure it is working well again and trust it for an upcoming graduation ceremony. Thanks for your assistance. I'd still appreciate getting a copy of the service manual if anyone can point me to where one can be found.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

Hi Bob...

Here's some Sony camcorder manuals... hopefully yours might be available (free, btw)

formatting link

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Looks like the schematic and signal diagrams are there for my camera, but not the full service manual.

Reply to
Bob Shuman

Bob, The tape path adjustment is as JJ discribed and without the "adjustment remote commander" and a scope you won't be able to perform the adjustment. I have the manual for the TR88,98 and 99 and the adjustment procedures are pretty similar in all the manuals I've seen. They are contained in "Tape Path Adjustment" of the "8mm Video Mechanism Section Adjustment Manual VII [B Mechanism]'. I think the "A" was the one that ejected out the back. This was a seperate manual that Sony put out to cover these mechanisms. In my experience I've only seen it at Joseph electronics in Niles, Il. and when I worked at Helix, Ltd, Chicago. However as JJ suggested you can check the tape guides listed as TG-2 and TG-3 in my manual. Sometimes only one of these has gotten loose and you can fly it in while playing a tape that you want to recover. Be careful it's a good way to mess up a tape. As to the fish caps you can search this forum for many discussions of this problem. Usually if you're having this problem you've got video problems as the CCD-TRxx cameras that I've looked at have those bad caps only on the video boards on the back of the lens. I have never seen them on the controller boards for the player/recorder. ESR meters are great for this. Richard

Reply to
spudnuty

It is fairly unlikely that you are going to be able to fix this thing. First: All 8mm and newer consumer video tape formats use the video signal for "tracking" adjustment. There is no "tracking head" or "control track" as in VHS and Beta(max). There is no adjustment you can make without a special wired remote control (RM95) or a computer emulator thereof. Second, it is more likely than not that your problem is mechanical. That is: The tape is not following the correct path through the machine. From your description, it sounds like more-or-less normal wear-and-tear...assuming you've cleaned the mechanism...and not damaged it while doing so. Actually, your description of the problem does suggest a thorough, professional cleaning might help. This does not involve a "cleaning cassette", but partially disassembling the machine and using the correct materials and procedures (NEVER using cotton-balls or "Q-tips"...which can cause a kind of damage to the video heads that produces exactly the effects you describe.)

Overall...probably best to replace the machine with something a decade or so newer.

Reply to
webpa

Thanks for the reply, but it does not appear you saw my followup. I did disassemble the unit and cleaned it thoroughly and it seems to be working well again. Now only time will tell.

Bob

Snipped for brevity

Reply to
Bob Shuman

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