Digital8 tape playback issue

[JoseLingo]

Good afternoon.

I am purchased a Sony DCR-TRV510E Digital8 Camera the other day and I am having an issue that I do not know why it occurs. While I can play the 8mm and HI8 tapes without an issue, the Digital8 tapes I have tried they all seem to have a strange effect during the playback. I have tried 5 tapes and all do the same.

The first video I have attached on this post contains the Digital8 issue I am currently having. The second video shows a HI8 tape playing correctly.

I do know if anybody has ever encountered an issue like this.

If anybody has a clue why this is happening I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

[dellsam34]

Those are most likely tape dropouts, either the digital tapes didn't age well or they were recorded on a misaligned camcorder, What you can do is try to clean the heads in case the tapes are bad, I believe ME cassettes have the problem of magnetic layer flaking off.

[jagabo]

Maybe a PAL vs NTSC problem?

[dellsam34]

Highly unlikely, In digital, the format compatibility is either it works or it doesn't, Some PAL camcorders do playback NTSC tapes without any problems on the viewfinder (albeit in PAL60 or NTSC 4.43 out of an analog output).

[JoseLingo]

Thank you very much for the responses. So I should try to clean the heads of the camera itself ? Thanks again