"Kent Clarke" wrote in message
...

In article ,

"Brian MacD" wrote:
Yes, the camcorder is insured, but despite the no guarantee
warning from Sony, the insurance company is keen to see if
the repairs would be successful before they will consider the
replacement option. Before I agree to this option, I want to
find out whether the repair of a dropped camcorder is likely
to be successful, or whether there are too many small hidden
parts that could have been damaged which would not be
detected from a routine inspection of the damaged camcorder.

I dropped a cheap Canon camcorder once, and Canon repaired it under
warranty, even replacing the chassis. Thing is, the alignment was so
different from what it was before that my old tapes were unviewable.
After a few months, the thing began eating tapes. I've taken it in for
an estimate, but have come to the conclusion that these things are like
Bic pens-disposable after the batteries wear out. There's a reason Sony
won't guarantee their repair. Let your insurance company waste their
time and money, but I'd say you should be looking for a new camera.

Oh, and don't walk backwards while shooting unless you have a helper ;-)

Thanks Kent for this information, most people I have talked to agree
with your view that it is a waste of time and money trying to repair a
camcorder that has had a solid blow. The following web site
http://www.batterycanada.com/camcorder_faq.htm

says that "The DV format camcorders use a tiny video head drum
and mechanism and as a result are very fragile and time consuming
to service. It is often cheaper to replace the complete VCR mechanism
or printed circuit board rather than to attempt to service a problem.
The down side of digital, particularly a DV camera is that repairs are not
cheap, even for minor problems. "

The insurance policy says that the company will pay:
(a) the repair cost, where the item is damaged and capable of being
economically repaired; or
(b) to replace the item as nearly as possible equal to its condition
when new, where the item is lost, destroyed or cannot be repaired.

Apparently, Sony has advised the insurance company that the lack
of a guarantee for the repair work is the "standard wording" added
to a quotation when a camera has been dropped and that Sony has
confirmed that they are prepared to repair the camera. For this
reason, the insurance company is determined to push ahead with
an unguaranteed repair, and will not look at option (b) above,
which is to replace the camcorder.

To repair the camera with a guarantee, I guess Sony would need
to replace the circuit board because they have warned that even
several months after a dropped camera has been "repaired",
hairline cracks in the circuit board can get worse and stop the
camcorder operating. If the circuit board was replaced in
addition to the other repairs that are needed, the cost of
doing all this would approximately equal the cost of a similar
new camcorder. So, in my opinion, the camcorder is not capable
of being economically repaired if the repair is guaranteed by Sony
and the insurance company should give me an equivalent new
camcorder in accordance with clause (b) as quoted above.