8mm hi8 transfer sound problem

atosoup

Hi all I'm desperate for some help here, I have just purchased a Sony digital 8 dcr tr7000e, on receiving it playback had poor image quality, so I used a chamois swab and isopropyl to clean the head and the results were fantastic.. The picture and sound was as good as to be expected from tapes of this age,

Over the last week I have successfully transfered around 15 tapes with great results into the pc using pinnacle studio with the camera connected via fire wire

But last night a tape finished and when I played the mpeg back the picture was great as the others but the audio was horrendous, all scratchy with like a loud buzzing sound

I thought it was the tape but now it does this on every tape I put into the camera even the ones I have already transfered this week..

Its defiantly the camera and not the pc setup as it does it just playing a tape back on the camera with headphones connected. I also tried just using the battery instead of mains same thing and several locations in the house incase it was interference,
I am lost at what to try now and any help would be really appreciated.

MarkE19

It could be that the tape with the audio issues was dirty and put the dirt onto the heads again so the others no longer play well.

Try cleaning the heads again and then try a known good tape you have already captured. If that works then put the dirty taspe to one side and try to capture from the rest of them. Once you have all (most) of the tapes captured with good audio you can then go back to the dodgy one(s).

Mark.

atosoup

So it's gone from bad to worse, I cleaned the heads again and now I get no picture or sound at all on playback, the weird thing is I see the film when holding fast forward but as soon as I play again the screen is just blank.. Any ideas anyone?

Peter Brereton

This camcorder developed poor/tarnished contacts between the head connector and the main circuit board giving the symptoms of dirty heads. The lead carrying the head signals passes over the rear of the tripod mount, so pressing the tripod mount inward a mm or so can very often re-seat the contacts giving at least a temporary solution. When cleaning heads the drum should only be rotated counter clockwise (looking from above the head) while holding the chamois gently against the drum, the leading edge of the head tip is chamfered ..the trailing edge isn't and can tear the head apart if turned in the wrong direction. Hope this helps!
Good luck, Peter