20 Most Recent Sony Hi8 CCD-TRV138 Camcorder Questions & Answers

You can connect the Camcorder to the Computer using A/V interface to transfer the recordings to Computer.
Once you transfer the recordings from tape to computer, you can use any burning software to burn the recordings to DVDs.
In order to capture the analog videos, you can use the Windows Movie Maker available in the Computer.
If you need further assistance please click hear to reach me..
HOping a positive thump after your issue is solved.

Hello Everyone!

My Handy Cam CCD TRV-138 was have a malfunction error by stopping and beeping and telling me to reinsert cassette.
HERE IS HOW YOU GET IT TO WORK.....
Let me first tell you that you need to call the Sony Service Hotline at 1-800-488-7669.

They will have their service tech help you to reset the camera, STEP by STEP and it will work fine after that.

You have to do several things in the right sequence in order for the reset to work. You can't just press the reset button and make it reset.

It doesn't cost anything to have Sony help you over the phone. They are all too happy to make sure that you are satisfied with their product and want to help you.

Mine was out of Warranty by 4 years and they still helped me without charging me.

I followed their steps and it worked. She had me first remove the cassette tape from the camera, turn off camera, remove the battery, then she had me turn the camera back on, then she had me take a pen or pencil and push the reset button, that is below the volume buttons (inside the view finder area). Release the pen then turn camera off again, then unplug the cord and wait 60 seconds so that the residule electric current can completely drain from the Camcorder. After 60 seconds, power on the camera and before you do anything else *YOU MUST RE-ENTER AND SET THE YEAR, DATE, TIME before you go any further. This is crucial to your camera working properly. Then power off again. Power up one more time and this time try to record and playback and see if everything works ok.

Mine worked fine. If this does not work for you it may be because you own a different model and you will need to have Sony give you specific instructions for your model.

Good Luck and let me know on this blog if it works.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=CCDTRV128&news_id=161

The video heads are clogged or broken. Remove the cassette cover and in the middle back of the mech is a cylinder, this is the drum assy. You can gently spin the drum and look for a black piece of carbon (tiny). This is actually one of the heads. You can take a swab (Q-tip) with liquid head cleaner and very gently clean the heads (more than one) wipeing horizontally, never vertically to clean the heads. Inspect for broken heads as well.

Hi,
There is sound processor chip on main board that got bad and need to be replaced and it requires precise soldering work because it is SMD chip mounted on surface of board.
Let me know if you need part number of sound processor chip of CCD-TRV138
Thanks.

take the lense cap off

Yes, you need to align the take-up and supply tape guide posts - they have a screw adjustment at the top.

From the description it is the record head, and probably intermittent you get sound and video issues, there is no easy fix, if sony still supports it not worth the repair cost.

This is usually caused by an oxidized, misaligned or defective Audio/Video drum. You can try running a cleaning tape through the camera. If this does not solve the problem the camera will need to be serviced by a qualified service technician.

My name is Rick and I'm a professional repair technician with over 20 years in the business and have repaired many of these. I'm semi retired and work from home with little overhead so I can keep repair costs low. If you decide to have the camera repaired, please click HERE for a directory listing that suits your needs.

If this response has been of any help to you, please be sure and give a positive vote for me on FixYa.com .

Try reinserting a Brand new Cassette . If this dos`nt work take the battery out over night reinsert the battery with the Brand new cassette in it .if you used the recorder to play very much footage as a viewer it has over heated it . the sensor that sense`s a cassette is just a little out of place with a little skill and if you know what you are looking for you can put this back in possition!

Hi,

I am sorry to hear regarding the problem.

This is a common problem on these units and more often needs repair.However, as you have not used the camera for so long, cleaning could work like charm .

It sounds very much as if the following might be in need of cleaning and/or maintenance:

Drum ***'y (including heads),
Head cleaner,
Tape guides & rollers,
Rotary encoder,
Belts & gears,
Drive parts

If you are avoiding of dissembling, you could try to run a cleaning tape . This cleaning tape could be easily available at most of the shops. If this could clear the problem, that would be great unless you need to send the unit for repair for either servicing or repair.

I wish i could have a better solution.

Let me know,if needed further assistance.

Hope i helped you.

Thanks for using ' Fixya ' and have a nice day!!

Slide the write-protect tab on the cassette to set to REC.

REC: The cassette can be recorded. SAVE: The cassette cannot be recorded (writeprotected).

Greetings Jerry - You don't need a Sony head cleaning tape. 8mm is a standard that was used by many manufacturers.

Head cleaning cassettes for 8 mm and Hi8 are exactly the same, there is no Hi8 head cleaning cassette except one that Sony used to sell for almost three times as much as a regular 8mm and offered nothing special.

Sony also made a bit of a big deal that you can't use "wet" cleaners inside your Sony Hi8 camcorders...also not true and Sony was just trying to part you from your wallet.

I can understand if you have some concerns about these things so I suggest you Google around something like "head cleaners for 8mm and Hi8."

Good Luck,

Mikeywaf

if u can bring the mechanism out all u need to do is just to service the captain or u change it