I can playback the tapes but now I can't see anything on the screen when I want to record. The screen is just black. Is something not set correctly?

Possibly faulty video recording head. Save your tapes to another format (dvd, digital files etc) and replace camera with something current. Probably is not worth to repair.

take the lense cap off

Trace the wires from the head to the amp section. Put your finger on where they join (during playback) and see if you can get a buzz. If you can't on either channel, look for something that might be common to both channels. Either a switch, or a pre-amp IC, as being the cause of the fault.

if you have the setting to avi it will not show up, you will get sound but know pic just a black screen, try the dvd setting and the the other dv setting.

Can you see what is being recorded while recording on the screen?
Dan

If it plays back pre recorded tapes then there is nothing wrong with that section of the unit. Does it playback audio and not picture or does it not playback anything.
Also, when trying to playback a recording what is seen of the screen? Snow(black and white dots or wiggly picture?

The unit uses two separate circuits to record and playback tapes. Is any thing else connected to the unit while you are recording? If you are using anything plugged into other ports on the recorder it may not see the camera input causing it to not record anything..

tape guides are out of adjustment, need to have brought in for service.

You can see an image in a camcorder viewfinder any time the camera's actually on in record mode, whether or not the camcorder is actually recording. So that's no guarantee.

Assuming the obvious (you have the right kind of tapes, they're not in write-protect mode, you rewind before playing, etc). I recommend that you borrow a tape of the same kind from someone else and check it on playback in your camcorder. This should lead you know understand if you have a playback problem or a recording problem.

This sounds like the CCD sensor is faulty ( this is the device that generates picture in both v-cams and normal digital cameras and sits behind the lens ). Playback is fine but no image ( or very 'noisy' image ) in capture mode. Easy to repair but one has to put a new CCD block in.

Just use good quality Video Head Cleaning Cassette. Video head is dirty/ clogged.