VCR Help!

[ultphot]

Hello, I am new to this forum, and I was wondering if anyone more knowledgeable than I am help me out with this, because I feel like I know the issue but don't.

I recently bought a Sony DSR-1500A for the purposes of converting my MiniDV and DVCAM tapes, and while I love using the thing, it has a problem that makes it impossible to use.

The unit only has 3 operational hours, 3 tape hours, 4 threading hours, and 3 drum hours, yet when I insert either a MiniDV tape or DVCAM cassette, the counter does not move from 0:00:00.00, and no image comes through the firewire port at the back of the unit. The actual tape transport mechanism is fine. I'm wondering if its because the heads are dirty, thus I ordered some materials and cleaning cassettes so I can (hopefully) fix it. I'm looking forward to using this deck, but not being able to get a video output really butchers the experience of using it. I've also tried to set everything in the menus I could to something related to MiniDV, but the indicator for DVCAM still illuminates despite me trying many MiniDV tapes, however it goes away if I press REC and PLAY at the same time and then sticks to the DV logo.

Would dirty heads be the issue here? Or does the unit need major servicing? it's got low hours on it, but I'm not too sure.

Thanks!

[ultphot]

I also wanted to add, the counter does move when the tape is recording, but does not move when playing back. Playing back the stuff it "recorded" with no input shows a blank screen on my good MiniDV and DVCAM cameras with cassette decks.