Hi,

I have two CCD-V800E camcorders. One of them developed a fault where upon
switch on of the camcorder slider power switch to either player or camera
position the on screen display appears in the viewfinder and then after a
few seconds starts to break up until after a few minutes the viewfinder
display video disappears leaving only a blank raster.
There is no tape in the camcorder yet.

The same symptom is present when I connect the video output signal from the
camcorder to an external monitor.
Today my other camcorder has developed the same fault which makes me think
that this is a common fault on the V800E.

The first camcorder was bought in 1993 and the second in 1994. I am
reluctant to just dump these devices if I can repair them.
As a previous TV, Video etc engineer I have experience of repairing consumer
electronics devices and have opened the first faulty device up. After a
little bit of exploration I dont see any major difficulty in stripping it
down and think the fault may only be something like a faulty capacitor and
easily repaired. The surface mount ICs are another story but I have a
feeling the fault is something simple.

Does anyone have any technical info from Sony regarding this fault or can
give me some advice and put me in the right direction to enable me to get
these camcorders back up and working again as i still have some tapes that I
need to transfer from Hi8 to digital.

I have a friend who has a service manual which I will be getting from him
later this week.
Any positive help greatly appreciated.

Thanks.