HMMM.

For some reason I don't believe this reply made it, though I posted it.

Being still in my sent box, here it is again

------------------------
Nigel wrote

What happens if you record on this camcorder and then play the tape back on
another machine that you know to be working ?

Sorry if I was unclear about this; but trying it in another machine was one of
the first things I did. Naturally I would not assume the machine was not
recording unless I had tried playing the tape in another machine. Indeed, when
I put it in the VCR is when I noticed that the original signal on the tape had
been erased but no new signal had been laid down.

I add it wasn't just that BLACK had been recorded, but it's as if the tape had
been wiped completely. If black had been recorded, at least a timecode would
have been present; but the VCR couldn't tell what speed it should be nor could
it tell if it was even SVHS or VHS.


Unless you have done this test, you cannot conclusively say that it doesn't
record, it may simply not playback, and this would affect its own recordings
and other known good recordings equally.

Indeed



Also, does the playback problem affect both viewfinder and audio/video (or
RF) output ?

No video output, either.

Well, there's an OUTPUT, as in the tape counter and play/stop icons will appear
but no video playback. When fast forwarding you can even see little faint lines
on the screen similar to when you fast forward normally, only no video signal is
displayed.