In the early 1990s, I bought this Ricoh R-830 Video Camera
Recorder, and the salesperson said that it was actually made
by Sony, but with a different (and better) lens.

It's had such little use that it's not easy to tell it from
new by looking at it.

I'm hoping someone can cross-reference to the closest Sony
number for me, or tell me how I can find this out.

I'd like to tear into this thing and find out why it's not
working, and would feel better if I had a Sony number to
hang on it.

When pressed, a couple of years ago, the folks at Ricoh
simply say, "We don't sell video cameras." End of story. I
couldn't even get them to admit that they had ever sold
them.

So, anybody able to cross-reference?
--
Thanks,
tbl