Video 8 Tape Audio Cuts in & Out on Sony Camcorder

[TazDave]

Hi. I have a Sony DCR-TRV355E camcorder which when I play or capture Video 8 tapes the audio cuts in & out.

It records, plays & captures fine when I use a Hi 8 tape.

This model is not listed as not being able to play Video 8 tapes.

Has anyone else come across this issue?

I have attached a sample of my capture but the same thing when the tape is played on the camcorder itself.
Thank you

[Sharc]

... but the same thing when the tape is played on the camcorder itself.

The audio wave is repeatedly interrupted. It's not a playback issue. There is just no audio signal on the tape where the sound is interrupted.
What camera was used to shoot that V8 video? Did it have an audio squelch, intended to suppress wind noise?

[timtape]

I found one reference in the Sony Owner's Manual (p. 50 I think) suggesting Video 8 format could be played back. The picture seems solid but the hifi audio is certainly teetering and occasionally tipping over the edge. Have you used an approved cleaning tape as per the instructions? If the cleaning tape doesnt fix the issue possibly a manual tape path clean by a skilled camera technician would be more beneficial as it's more thorough.

Does the camera show on its LCD screen whether the tape was recorded SP or LP? LP is more vulnerable than SP to tracking errors.

If the audio drops out only on one set of tapes recorded on the one camera but is fine on other tapes there's possibly a small guide height error which could be corrected without too much trouble again by a skilled camera technician. The sound can be more sensitive to this type of error than the picture.

Tim

Sharc you could be right about the wind noise being a factor.

[TazDave]

Thank you for the quick replies.
The LCD unfortunately does not tell me if it's short or long play & the owners of the tapes don't believethe camera had an audio squelch.
I did use a head cleaner but I'm not a skilled technician to fix any of those possible issues.

I captured some more footage on a Samsung VP-K85 Video 8 camcorder which I bought off a dodgy seller who told me it was in good working order,

The camera has random eject tape errors & as you will see I can't stabilise the footage with my Hauppage USB Live-2 but the audio seems fine & does not cut in & out like on the Sony camcorder

[dellsam34]

The Sony D8 camcorder is a good one with analog playback and TBC/DNR, it just needs some cleaning to get the audio back assuming it is not miss aligned, The Samsung is a low end V8 only with no image stabilization, You don't really need it, just return it if you can or use it to rewind tapes.