8mm old camcorder help

[vdubz]

[Attachment 45791 - Click to enlarge]Hiya guys, please bare with as I'm technically challenged
I have an old video camcorder 8mm Sanyo VM-EX30P - it is OLD!
I have set myself the challenge of digitally converting footage for my dad for father's day.
This old camcorder played fine a few years ago on my tv and has been in its bag in a cupboard since then.
I have now bought a digital converter and was excited to proceed.....
However, the footage on ALL tapes now has large horizontal bands when in play mode - making this footage completely unviewable. (this is both on the screen when viewed through my capture device and also on the camcorder viewfinder itself)
Ive tried to include a photograph which was taken through the viewfinder to demonstrate...perhaps not ideal but thought it may help diagnose the issue
Interestingly, when fast forwarding, the footage appears fine - which makes me think the problem is not with the tapes themselves.
I invested in a tape cleaner in case it was this, but this doesnt appear to have helped.
Can anybody suggest any other things to try?
It might just be the camcorder is past its prime, but id ideally like to do this myself and not have to fork out for a new camera to do it.
Im sorry if this is a dumb thing to be asking but like i said, im a bit technically challenged and would like some advice first.
Thanks advance
Vicky

[amaipaipai]

From my experience this is not a case for a tape cleaner, this camera need to be sent to a service center, there is nothing you can do to fix it yourself.

[JVRaines]

Probably dried-up lubricants in the tape transport are preventing parts from seating and moving properly. Needs professional repair.

[solarfox]

I'm afraid amaipaipai and JVRaines are correct. If you're seeing the same kind of distorted image on both the camera's viewfinder and on your PC during playback, then it's not a problem with the capture device or software -- and it's extremely unlikely that all of your tapes could have degraded and failed in exactly the same way. So, all signs point towards the camcorder being the culprit.

Unfortunately, getting it serviced might end up costing about as much as getting a replacement secondhand camera off of eBay.

[wim72]

Many video camcorders or electronics from that era with small surface mount electrolytic capacitors will gradually fail even if hardly used as these capacitors chemically degraded with time. Replacing these capacitors will take quite a few hours of careful work and it would probably be cheaper (as was suggested) to purchase a 2nd hand camcorder that was manufactured later. Sony made their last Hi-8 camcorders round about 2005.

[KarMa]

More recent Digital8 camcorders will also play Video8/Hi-8 and might be found at a thrift shop on the cheap, like how I found mine. My Digital8 camcorder also has a decent builtin TBC and S-Video output, which does help with Video8 capture quality.

[lingyi]

Unless you have a large number of tapes, say 10 or more, my advice is to have a transfer service do the project for you. Someone here will probably give you the name of someone reliable.

As evidenced by the hundreds of post here, the time, hassle and expense of getting the correct equipment to do a transfer well is very difficult.