Need technical help: Adjusting record head on a Sony TRV57

[wolfmangk]

Hello,

I purchased a Sony CCD-TRV57 camcorder off of Ebay for cheap because it "Ate tapes". The lady selling it said it needed a pinch roller. (She even provided a part #) Well when I got it it needed a bit more than that. The infrared emitter that is inside the tape carriage was broken off and the flexible pcb tape was torn.

So I went back on Ebay and bought an older Sony camera that had some sort of error. Well the carriages were identical, except the older Sony camera had a bad record head.

I swapped out the record heads and put the older carriage into the newer camera, and everything went great.

Except now, when I record with the new camera, it says it is recording OK.. But when I rewind and playback I get a brief flash of what I recorded on the bottom of the screen, and on the top sometimes when I recorded "over", and sometimes fuzzy static lines. This lasts only for a second and then goes to the "blue" screen. When I rewind in play mode, I can see what I recorded just fine. I can also see video that my Samsung recorder recorded- only when rewinding on the new Sony. (Which makes me think it is a tracking issue and adjustable).

I took the tape out of the new Sony and put it into a Samsung recorder I have- I enclosed a picture of the result fed into a TV. The sony will not play back the tape at all.

So this leads me to my question: How do you adjust the "tracking" on a Sony Hi8 camera? I swapped out the record heads, and it does record, just at the bottom of the screen. I know you can manually adjust most 4 head VCR's, so I assume you can do it to a Hi 8 camera as well.

http://home.comcast.net/~djunkmail/wsb/media/191035/site1064.jpg

I messed with the screws that adjust the pitch of the little arms that guide the tape on the read/ record head, and for a second I got a brief flash of recording- then that was it. There is also a little device that has a small white plastic nut, I attempted to get a result form this, but it did not work. I returned it to its original height.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!

[jameshgross]

There is really only one way to align the heads and that is with a master tape. I havent done this type of work for several years but a web search should locate a supplier.

You should also purchase a SAMS PhotFAC for this model.

In general with out a well equip'd shop this job is almost impossible to do at home.

You may want to consider sending in to Sony for the alignment.

[wolfmangk]

James, thank you very much for your reply. That makes sense- about the alginment, master tape etc. I have one more pertinent question: What would it run (cost) to have everything aligned? Considering I went through a spending spree on ebay and got 4 camcorders, only one of which works, it may or may not be in my best financial interests to have the Sony resurrected. I very much appreciate your help.

[jameshgross]

Instead of sending it to Sony check out several local repair shops. Their alignment price would be considerably less the Sony.

[Alan69]

Or take a tape from a known good unit, align till it's out one way, align till it's out the other, then split the difference.

Crude but it can work fairly well..

Alan

[wolfmangk]

I'm not sure what you mean by aligning, what am I looking for? Does anyone have a ballpark range of what it would cost for a repair shop to do it? You guys are great, thank you!

[wolfmangk]

Aparently it will cost me 200 dollars to have it aligned, which is slightly more than the $50 and $10 I paid for the cameras. Any suggestions on what do to with the parts? Everything works but the carriage, etc.