Around 1985-88 I worked at Grundig. We had a collegue repairing those small video cams while chain smoking. The drawback with heavy smoking is that the nicotine fills all metal in electronic equipment with a yellow guey film.
I am fascinated with tiny mechanisms too. Like mechanical wrist watches, especially the smallest ones. That camera is so interesting too, but I cannot work on either. Parts are too small and complex.
@@ACommenterOnRUclips engineering masterpiece. This is the type of crap I collect. I have in my collection the first model of camcorder ever, the Sony betamovie bmc110. Also a ccdtr81 which was the first yr series hi8. Then the HC3 i showed which was the first small HDV camera and an FX1 which was the first HDV camera model sold. As far as engineering I would have to say the HC3 and the DVD camera are up there. Recording to disk in something that gets bumped around like a camera is a small miracle in itself.
I look at my old automatic watch at all the tiny parts in that. I just spent 500 getting it serviced and lubricated. It's as rare as hens teeth as there were only 3 ever made and the guy who's name it bears has one. Technically he only made the case and inlaid gold around the bezel and placed the gold hands. The movement is a Swiss movement that came out of the same factory that made Rolex of the period and tag huer ect. Fascinating to look at.
I used to work in an av repair shop here in Minneapolis, and I had a shop at home too, as I did subcontract work for 7 different places around the area. I wonder. Cold you maybe put a piece of shrinkwrap around the cracked retainer to pull and hold it back together? Or maybe shinkwrap AND glue? If so, ir would likely be a longer lasting repair than just glue. Just a thought. Oh! And thanks for the video!! I can so relate to what you do. 8-)
This is exactly what I did (ca glue + shrink tube) and it worked great. I tried just a drop of glue like the video suggested, but it got on the shaft where the pinch roller is and made things even worse (chewed up some tape a bit). Cleaned everything up and did the glue+shrink wrap. Not sure if it is really a permanent solution, but it enabled reading about 8 tapes or so that I needed to transfer to digital.
Thanks for reminding me after seeing your HC3 camera, I have the same model where the tape door won't close and load the tape. Common issue but you suggested on another video it might be the ribbon cables need reseating. I will try that. :)
I would like to suggest that some Canon miniDV camcorders and SONY miniDV camcorders share the same parts. I have a Sony pd170p which are tapes badly, quite similarly to the camera in this video, and I fixed it by swapping its pinch roller with a spare salvaged from a canon camcorder (Sony's spare part was an arm and a leg).
Sony 8mm camcorders have a similar problem with the pinch roller retainer. A common fix is to take a piece of the ink tube out of a BIC pen and shove it in there as its close to the correct size!
Hi Dave, I have 2 identical Canon MV550 cameras, the problem I have is during rewinding on one of them the other works perfect, identical mechanisms, same tape used. It always screws up the tape around 7-8 minute mark when rewinding and tells me to eject. While listening to it rewind I can hear the pitch change, as the tape moves from reel to reel, right before it screws up I can almost hear the tape bouncing in there, some sort of pulsating sound... Could this be just a dirty mechanism ? Visually the cameras have very few hours on them, but again surely 20+ years old
@@12voltvids It's not broken, I think I'll leave it alone, the thing was horrific to take apart... It can still record from firewire to tape, I'm having fun putting some music on miniDV, maybe there is something wrong with me :D
What do I do if my canon camera (the same in the video) tells me to remove tape every time I stick a new tape in it. I don’t know how to rewind tape! Can u please help asap ! Or do u think the tape holder is broke n
@@12voltvids Not sure about the original poster, but I too have an HV20 that won't accept the tape. When empty, the mechanism will close fine, no problems. With a tape in it, after I push it closed, it thinks for a few seconds and opens back up... it never tries to load the tape. Curious what you think. Thanks!
Your camcorder repair videos have inspired me to get the service manual on my 1989 purchased Canon hi-8 camcorder and attempt to repair it, just for the fun of it. I understand that it's outdated, and so on, but I always found the mechanism to be fascinating.
I have two JVC camcorders with a similar defect: one still has a pinch roller, but the clip is gone. Another does not have a pinch roller at all, it has been lost. Seriously, how they could spend so much money on the heads, drum, all the metal levers, and put a plastic clip on the pinch roller? You HC-3 shoots 1080i, so it was not attractive to wannabe Spielbergs. The HV20 can shoot 24p, albeit with 2:3 pulldown and without flags. The HV40 can shoot native 24p. These camcorders, HV20/HV30/HV40 were the holy grail fifteen years ago among amateurs. The HV20 has an 1/2.7-inch 2.96 MPix sensor, which is enough for HD. Canon claimed that lower resolution allowed better sensitivity. After the megapixel war of the late 2000s subsided, camcorders, DSLRs and smartphones parted ways, and Canon returned to lower-res sensor in the professional XF100, which has suspiciously similar specs compared to the HV10/20/30/40 and HR10/HG10.
24p was never a DV standard. They are all fakes. Non, not a single one shoots 24p. The DV standard is 60i, that's the only way it can record as it is a standard. I can take one if those so called 24p tapes and put it in my Sony and dump it over FireWire and it's a 60i signal. Now what they did was convert 24 frames to 30 using pull down but what was natively recorded on tape was 60i. I've had a few canon with the 24 mode and it isn't. It's the same crap. 24f is also too slow for anything but static shots. I love the idiots that go shoot scenery in 24 frames. Things like flowing rivers or waves crashing in look pathetic at 24 frames. Even 30p is marginal. My 4k cameras have true 24 and I would never use them. I did a video for a joke in 24 and everyone bitched about the judder. Even film makers except for a few old school ignorant kbes embraced HFR
Low res sensors were always in canon garbage camcorders. I had a gl2 3ccd. They claimed their low 330k spacialy offset sensors provides superior resolution. My cvdvx1000 with 3x 960k sensors blew the doors off that poor excuse for a camcorder. It looked nice but the performence didn't match. As the old saying goes you can't tell a book from it's cover.
@@12voltvids There were different implementations. There was Sony Cineframe, and it was simulated garbage. Then there was Panasonic 24p on the DVX100, and Canon's versions of 24p with or without flags, these were real deal, packaged into a 60i stream, the same way the Hollywood movies have been shown on TV since the 1940s. With the pulldown removed, they would produce proper 24p, not simulated, all the frames intact, no loss of resolution. As for Canon garbage camcorders, the XF100 has approx 2.37 MP with the same 2.07 MP effective as on the HV20, and the same 1/2.7-inch size. You would not call the XF100 a garbage camcorder, would you? Anyway, thanks for the tip regarding the plastic clip, I'll try fixing it on my JVC MiniDV transport!
Around 1985-88 I worked at Grundig. We had a collegue repairing those small video cams while chain smoking. The drawback with heavy smoking is that the nicotine fills all metal in electronic equipment with a yellow guey film.
First shop i worked at when in high school the owner was a chain smoker. Got lung cancer. Go figure.
@@ACommenterOnRUclips if you smoke around here I will assume you are on 🔥 and take approiete action.
I am fascinated with tiny mechanisms too. Like mechanical wrist watches, especially the smallest ones. That camera is so interesting too, but I cannot work on either. Parts are too small and complex.
You got that right. Too small
@@ACommenterOnRUclips engineering masterpiece. This is the type of crap I collect. I have in my collection the first model of camcorder ever, the Sony betamovie bmc110. Also a ccdtr81 which was the first yr series hi8. Then the HC3 i showed which was the first small HDV camera and an FX1 which was the first HDV camera model sold. As far as engineering I would have to say the HC3 and the DVD camera are up there. Recording to disk in something that gets bumped around like a camera is a small miracle in itself.
I look at my old automatic watch at all the tiny parts in that. I just spent 500 getting it serviced and lubricated. It's as rare as hens teeth as there were only 3 ever made and the guy who's name it bears has one. Technically he only made the case and inlaid gold around the bezel and placed the gold hands. The movement is a Swiss movement that came out of the same factory that made Rolex of the period and tag huer ect. Fascinating to look at.
I used to work in an av repair shop here in Minneapolis, and I had a shop at home too, as I did subcontract work for 7 different places around the area. I wonder. Cold you maybe put a piece of shrinkwrap around the cracked retainer to pull and hold it back together? Or maybe shinkwrap AND glue? If so, ir would likely be a longer lasting repair than just glue. Just a thought. Oh! And thanks for the video!! I can so relate to what you do. 8-)
This is exactly what I did (ca glue + shrink tube) and it worked great. I tried just a drop of glue like the video suggested, but it got on the shaft where the pinch roller is and made things even worse (chewed up some tape a bit). Cleaned everything up and did the glue+shrink wrap. Not sure if it is really a permanent solution, but it enabled reading about 8 tapes or so that I needed to transfer to digital.
Thanks for reminding me after seeing your HC3 camera, I have the same model where the tape door won't close and load the tape. Common issue but you suggested on another video it might be the ribbon cables need reseating. I will try that. :)
And the door pin switch
I would like to suggest that some Canon miniDV camcorders and SONY miniDV camcorders share the same parts. I have a Sony pd170p which are tapes badly, quite similarly to the camera in this video, and I fixed it by swapping its pinch roller with a spare salvaged from a canon camcorder (Sony's spare part was an arm and a leg).
Sony made many of canons transports.
Just for the trivia value, it's 3.1 MP for still images. It's printed on the hot shoe cover that is missing on that one.
Hd only needs 2mp for video. 2073600 is the number of pixels in a full 1080 video frame and hdv had only 1555200.
Sony 8mm camcorders have a similar problem with the pinch roller retainer. A common fix is to take a piece of the ink tube out of a BIC pen and shove it in there as its close to the correct size!
I still want to try and fix that endoscope!
You can have it as i am going to toss it.
@@12voltvidsDid you get my email address?
Hi Dave, I have 2 identical Canon MV550 cameras, the problem I have is during rewinding on one of them the other works perfect, identical mechanisms, same tape used. It always screws up the tape around 7-8 minute mark when rewinding and tells me to eject. While listening to it rewind I can hear the pitch change, as the tape moves from reel to reel, right before it screws up I can almost hear the tape bouncing in there, some sort of pulsating sound... Could this be just a dirty mechanism ? Visually the cameras have very few hours on them, but again surely 20+ years old
Check the clip that holds the pinch roller on. They crack and allow the pinch roller to move a d chew the tape.
@@12voltvids It's not broken, I think I'll leave it alone, the thing was horrific to take apart... It can still record from firewire to tape, I'm having fun putting some music on miniDV, maybe there is something wrong with me :D
I still have my old panasonic SD MiniDV camcorder. I did try those mini dvd cameras but was not really a fan of them.
Hdv looks great.
What do I do if my canon camera (the same in the video) tells me to remove tape every time I stick a new tape in it. I don’t know how to rewind tape! Can u please help asap ! Or do u think the tape holder is broke n
Does it attempt to retract the tape when you load or just kicks open?
@@12voltvids Not sure about the original poster, but I too have an HV20 that won't accept the tape. When empty, the mechanism will close fine, no problems. With a tape in it, after I push it closed, it thinks for a few seconds and opens back up... it never tries to load the tape. Curious what you think. Thanks!
I was thinking a plastic ink tube from an empty pen might keep the pinch roller from escaping.
It's pretty small. Too thick and it will jam the roller from turning.
I fixed a couple of these Canon mechanisms using a ball point pen tube. It took me a while to find an appropriately sized one though.
@@stevecoatesdotnet a drop of Krazy glue on the top will keep the cracked retainer in place.
Your camcorder repair videos have inspired me to get the service manual on my 1989 purchased Canon hi-8 camcorder and attempt to repair it, just for the fun of it. I understand that it's outdated, and so on, but I always found the mechanism to be fascinating.
That will be full of leaking caps. Even after replacing it won't work long if at all due to board damage from the leakage.
@@12voltvids Yeah, regrettably, you are right. I'll just keep it as a display piece.
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the tip!
thanks great vid!
I have two JVC camcorders with a similar defect: one still has a pinch roller, but the clip is gone. Another does not have a pinch roller at all, it has been lost. Seriously, how they could spend so much money on the heads, drum, all the metal levers, and put a plastic clip on the pinch roller?
You HC-3 shoots 1080i, so it was not attractive to wannabe Spielbergs. The HV20 can shoot 24p, albeit with 2:3 pulldown and without flags. The HV40 can shoot native 24p. These camcorders, HV20/HV30/HV40 were the holy grail fifteen years ago among amateurs.
The HV20 has an 1/2.7-inch 2.96 MPix sensor, which is enough for HD. Canon claimed that lower resolution allowed better sensitivity. After the megapixel war of the late 2000s subsided, camcorders, DSLRs and smartphones parted ways, and Canon returned to lower-res sensor in the professional XF100, which has suspiciously similar specs compared to the HV10/20/30/40 and HR10/HG10.
24p was never a DV standard. They are all fakes. Non, not a single one shoots 24p. The DV standard is 60i, that's the only way it can record as it is a standard. I can take one if those so called 24p tapes and put it in my Sony and dump it over FireWire and it's a 60i signal. Now what they did was convert 24 frames to 30 using pull down but what was natively recorded on tape was 60i.
I've had a few canon with the 24 mode and it isn't. It's the same crap.
24f is also too slow for anything but static shots. I love the idiots that go shoot scenery in 24 frames. Things like flowing rivers or waves crashing in look pathetic at 24 frames. Even 30p is marginal. My 4k cameras have true 24 and I would never use them. I did a video for a joke in 24 and everyone bitched about the judder. Even film makers except for a few old school ignorant kbes embraced HFR
Low res sensors were always in canon garbage camcorders.
I had a gl2 3ccd. They claimed their low 330k spacialy offset sensors provides superior resolution. My cvdvx1000 with 3x 960k sensors blew the doors off that poor excuse for a camcorder.
It looked nice but the performence didn't match. As the old saying goes you can't tell a book from it's cover.
@@12voltvids There were different implementations. There was Sony Cineframe, and it was simulated garbage. Then there was Panasonic 24p on the DVX100, and Canon's versions of 24p with or without flags, these were real deal, packaged into a 60i stream, the same way the Hollywood movies have been shown on TV since the 1940s. With the pulldown removed, they would produce proper 24p, not simulated, all the frames intact, no loss of resolution.
As for Canon garbage camcorders, the XF100 has approx 2.37 MP with the same 2.07 MP effective as on the HV20, and the same 1/2.7-inch size. You would not call the XF100 a garbage camcorder, would you?
Anyway, thanks for the tip regarding the plastic clip, I'll try fixing it on my JVC MiniDV transport!