Thanks for uploading this video, I recently got one of these for $30 with the same error. Fixed it using the steps provided - works like a charm!!!! Now I can digitize my footage that I got in 2006 of our now retired RAAF F-111 - you've helped not only me but you've helped preserve Australian aviation history. Thanks mate 😃 🇦🇺
Watched this video last year cuz my digital8 camcorder was having the same issue, and reseating the cables worked! Glad to have people like you who are knowledgeable about this stuff!😁👌
Absolutely great. I found this after googling and gave it a try and worked like a charm. It was Sony DCR TRV 480 in my case and gave C31:21 and sometimes C31:20 and would beep, would not eject the tape or would not take the tape inside. This resolved my issue and hope it will help someone else. Again, thanks a bunch!!
Thank you so much! I had been transferring our kids' videos from 20 years ago and suddenly the playback stopped working. Followed your video and I'm back in business with a great picture! (I also cleaned the playback head). Thank you so much for sharing this video!
Removing analog Hi8/Video8 playback support wasn't such a big deal because Sony kept making analog Hi8 Handycams just as long as they did Digital8 ones -- all the way until 2007. So those who were married to the analog format could simply buy a new analog Handycam instead of a digital one. The digital-only Digital8 Handycams were cheaper than Sony's MiniDV camcorders, so they filled the price gap between Hi8 and MiniDV.
Thanks Dave, 2 years on and your videos helped save another 2x Handycams from the bin. This time its a Sony CCD-TRV85 Hi8 XR 1998 x 2. They both look like new and work great now.
Thank you I was in the middle of transferring 23 (2)hr hi8 tapes when my Sony trv318 starting the error code ! I did exactly what you said and it worked perfectly it is running smooth again ! Thanx again !!
10/10. I've never worked on cameras before, but using this and another one of your videos I was able to get an old camera working again. Thanks for the videos!
Just used this video yesterday to fix my Sony DCR TRV250 error! Just in time for my son to watch footage of his childhood years today on his 20th Birthday! Thanks for the video!
Thank you I appreciate it so much, just recently got handed this camera by my parents and just got this error and fixed using the step by step guide form you deserve more recognition💯
Thank you so much bro you helped me tremendously. I only met one of my grandparents when I was 11 years old . I’m 32 now & you helped me get my footage back
Thanks a million, had abandoned my Hi8 almost a decade back because of this issue, after seeing this video I gave it a try and its worked, camcorder is back on working condition for any future 8 mm tape digitising project.
Thanks you! Just fixed my Sony TRV 250 C31:22 Error. Your Instructional video was easy to follow and worked Perfect. I did not notice any water damage or cables loose, but pulled ribbon cables out and back in, reassembled and error was gone. I have tested on a dozen tapes and all of them worked without error coming back. Thanks again!
Since this message I have repaired a few more & did end up damaging a ribbon cable on one unit. So, the next 31:23 unit I tried a different method that worked & wanted to share.. instead of pulling ribbon cables I put a drop of contact cleaner on ribbon & let it sit over night. Then next morning it worked no error. Not sure if this is permanent.. if error comes back then will pull cables. Thanks again for your great videos!
Easiest way to pull the flex cable is to put a small screw driver under it and then pinch the cable against it and pull the cable out with the screwdriver. I have shown this method on other videos.
I gutted the chassis from this one and put it into a 240 that had been given to me that the guides had been ripped out if. The 240 has analog playback. I have another 250 parts camera as well to keep my 2 240 digitizing cameras running.
Thank you so much man, this saved my life. I've been trying to digitize my families old tapes but the camcorder wasn't playing anything, i was scared it was just gonna eat up all the old tapes. I followed this very carefully and everything works now! Keep making these videos dude, theyre great
Found this when I had the C:31:22 error on my GV-D800 Video Walkman. Unscrewed the back, carefully removed and reseated all the flat ribbon cables, and now it works great!
Thanks, i have multiple Digital 8 Cameras that seem to suffer the same problem (that, and the "white pin" issue) Since you seem to know a lot about these, what do you think could make my footage get pixelated sometimes? My NOS TRV-140E only records footage/audio that gets pixelated. Was working like new until recently... Reloading the tape sometimes fixed it, but now doesent seem to work and trows out same C31:23 error. Same appears on my others like TRV-245 and TR7100E, but only when theres fast changes in the footage. Thank you!
thanks so much..... i have the DCR-TRV280 with same problem , was trying to fix this for months !!!!! until you came along < took apart camera did exactly what you performed , problem solved !!!!! thanks again
If only I can teleport from South Africa to come and pick up that 250...have very nice analogue machines but my 340 chews my tapes and still have some digital tapes to archive. Love your videos and stay safe.
Skipped the whole 8mm format, went from full size VHS Panasonic camcorder, to Canon Vixia HF R300 into SDXD memory card. What advantage is there to digital in a physical format? Use my iPhone 12 for my RUclips videos, very nice macro function on that.
I used hi8 and the DV/HDV as a production format. Physical media was the best we had until memory cards got big enough to store the huge amount of data needed for high quality video. I have been shooting as a fully file based system for close to 15 years now. Have no use for tape based format but still use optical disks for archiving.
WOW ! Thanks, I've fixe my old TVR250 thanks to you... Now I have a question, I have some Tapes that I can't read, I think they are with an older Camera, Is there an older camera NON-digital that was using the same Tape size, it is writen Video8 on these tapes.
at some point a while back i had picked up a couple of a/v cables from Radio Shack under their Gigaware brand that turned out to have the Sonyspecial wiring. I think the Toshiba portable dvd player i have also uses that wiring
Fantastic video. I was actually looking to fix another problem but I have another camcorder with the problem you fixed so I can't wait to try out this fix. The issue I'm having is actually the tape. The video goes in and out and the audio is garbled. I saw another video here where a person was able to adjust the tracking manually and fix a playback problem but he doesn't explain exactly how he did it. He just shows an opening he created on the cartridge cover and he inserts a special screw driver to adjust the tracking. I was hoping you fixed a playback issue similar to this and have a video on the detailed solution. This is for a client who so desperately wants me to salvage her wedding video but so far no luck.
As a camera geek, I appreciate the video, would like to see more....as far as whats different, I'd say you cleaned your work bench some or your pulling audio? :) ~Jack, VEG
Thank you for this tutorial!! I have exactly the same Sony Handycam. Followed your video and had great success!! No more 31:23 code!! Been testing and seems all functions are working!! I'm a subscriber now!! Mine had that same silver screw on top in the grey plastic, it is a little longer than the other black screws too!!
Question, but first, you made a very helpful tutorial. I have a Sony DCR-TRV19. It has a C:31:22 error code (slightly different). Would you estimate that this tutorial would hopefully fix the error code on my DCR-TRV19? Also, the eject mechanism is slow and does not fully release, it needs to be manually "helped". thanks
Unfortunately, after following all of the steps, my cameras still gives the same error 😔 Would you have any other idea on what the issue could be? I desperately want to recover and save these old family videos I have. I own the exact same camera. UPDATE: I was able to get the camera up and running and I figured out that the issue with the camera is that the roller was missing. It had fell out while I took it apart and was working on it but I was able to find it and put it back in and now the camera runs like a charm.
This was my first camcorder i had for a couple of years; then a few years later i bought the Panasonic PV-GS500 Mini-DV, and NEVER went back to Sony and any of their Hi8 and or Digital 8 Camcorders.
I have used Panasonic and jvc cameras and neither came even close to my Sony cameras. I had professional models from all 3 companies. Big difference between home video and professional. I had both a dcrvx1000 and hdrfx1 3ccd Mini DV and HDV camera. Both would blow away that Panasonic. I also had a canon gl2. It had a nice lens buy the camera front end was not as good as the vx1000 and the fx1 blew away the vx1000
@@12voltvids I can agree on the Sony HC3 which was a better Mini DV camcorder at the time, but the GS500 on sale was about $400 cheaper, and that fit my budget! Plus i was only using the Panasonic AY-DVM83PQ Tapes for mostly recording in clubs i was playing at. I still have the GS500, which has had zero issues, and the original battery still holds about a 90% charge.
The rubber pinch roller sometimes fall out. It is held in with a small piece of tubing pushed down over the center pin. 12voltvids has a video fixing that I think on a DCR-TRV120? Or 240.
Hi .. Something does not work correctly in my handy cam. There is no video on the LCD. Only a blue screen, even when i opened to eject the 8 mm cassette, there is no eject tone at all ... would you please help me to fix this problem .. Thank you
But the TRV140E from second hand had these C:31:22/C:31:23 errors but after moving the pinch roller a little and rewind a tape for a some time and have the mechanism and heads working I fixed that and now it can play and record tapes very well without dropouts.
I have a 2000 model DCR-TRV520 and also a 2001 DCR-TRV730 as you know the TRV520 is top loader, and the TRV730 is loaded from the bottom. Since they look very similar is size and design, are the inside boards and connectors interchangeable from one camera to another?
Good question!!! My guess is the inside components would be pretty much the same, as only being a year apart. Can't imagine Sony redesigning the entire camcorder mechanics in a year. I could be wrong?
I just received a second hand TRV 270e and was it was displaying the error code C31:22. I tried this fix of opening it up and replugging the cables shown and it solved the problem temporarily, I found that pressing the photo button would trigger the error message and ask me to reinsert the cassette. To solve this I would just reopen the device and plug the cables back in. I turned the camera on today to attempt to export video and the error code redisplayed. I went in to the camera and have now replugged the cables in 3 times, after each attempt the error message still displays upon launch. Do you have any advice on a potential fix/reason as to why this is happening? To note: I have now noticed that the photo function seems to work as the screen will flash when the button is pressed behind the reinsert cassette error message.
I have the DCR-TRV19, getting error code 31.23. The little black thingy fell right out so is there only one supposed to be in there? Will this video show me how to put it back in? Without taking it all apart?
any advice if the tape wont go in? I have the same camera and trying to recover my wedding video. I started with this error and did the repair as you showed here but now the tape slot is stuck out.
Sure? These D8 models was a good improvement in quality compared to the early models from 1999/2000. Anyways these are more than 20 years old camcorders the heads or the pinch roller could not be good. In other case I have a DCR-TRV255E and when I was young I touched all the mechanism of the tape compartiment and all and it still working and playing back the tapes very well without dropouts and that impressed me because back in the time I touched very hard the heads and all the mechanism from there.
@12voltvids Hi, I’ve got a Sony handycam DCR-TRV14E and all the mechanism works but sometimes when it’s in camera mode, it just shows a black screen and if I shine a bright light in to the lens it flickers back to life and the picture returns, but if I have it with the picture in the screen sometimes it sorta glitches out and goes green and all droopy. Do you think it’s the connectors/connections on the board or is it something else? Thanks
@@12voltvids hmmm, I have a feeling it’s a ccd sensor problem which I hope it’s not because I don’t know how easy it is to get a new one but hopefully if I have to it won’t be that hard to get one
I followed your tutorial and the error is gone. But unfortunately now the camera can't playback anything, i only got the blue screen and that's it. The tape is actually playing but i'm getting no signal. I think that something is wrong with the Head connector (the middle one) because if i press it i get some disturbed audio, but still no video. The cable seems ok though, no broken connection... Any advice?
my DCR-TRV350 was working great, then suddenly I get the C31:23 code. I checked the pinch roller, which popped off when I barely touched it. I put it back, but still get the error. Long story short, my edge connectors look different from yours and the ribbon REALLY doesn't want to come out. I can't see any "gate" to open or anything to make them come out. I finally forced the issue, but I still have the error code. Any ideas, anyone?
I was just using mine, watching a playback. I stopped the tape, hit rewind, then as I was watching the screen as it rewound, the counter stopped working. So I stopped it, hit play, and now it doesn't play back any video. It still rewinds, forwards, and I can hear it running when I hit play, but no counter and no video or sound. Been in storage for probably 8 years, pulled it out to watch some old videos, and badda bing, badda bip... worked for 2 minutes, then stopped!
Could be a head clog or caps exploded. There were sitting there all those years the corossive electrolytic eating away at the leads exiting to the board. You powered it up, they started to heat up, pressure builds and blows the corossive electrolytic all over the board.
Cool video! I buy and sell these cameras all the time! I've often bought broken ones and ended up throwing them away or selling them cheap for parts but I wish I was able to fix them like you. The only thing I know how to replace is the little white roll that keeps the pinch roller in place 🤣 Where can I find your guide?
@@AlexArba Hi8 is a high band recording. The luminance carrier extends all the way to 7 MHz. Standard 8mm was only 5 MHz. A hi8 tape recorded in hi8 format will only play on a hi8 player or digital 8 player with analog playback capability. A hi8 tape recorded in regular video 8 will play on a regular 8mm player. Likewise a hi8 tape recorded in digital 8 will only play on a digital 8 player. That was the downside to digital 8. Because it used a standard 8mm tape, and yes you could record digital signals on a standard 8mm tape, they did not have to be a high eight tape however the signals will only play on a digital 8 machine. I had a customer a few years back they had a digital 8 camera and recorded everything from about 1990 forward in digital 8. They gave the old still functional 8mm camera to their son as he was getting interested in making videos. I think you know where this story is going. Since the analog 8mm camera could not play the recordings made on the digital 8 camera the son inadvertently erased about 80% of the digilite tapes to record skateboard videos and other things with his buddies when they were teenagers. He wiped family vacations to Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, Disneyland, Disney world in Florida, his sister's wedding, and all the birthdays and Christmas videos from the time they got me digital 8 camera. Only the earliest 8 mm tapes survived because he was able to see that there was something on the tape. I just simply transferred all 45 tapes and out of that there was only about four 2-hour tapes that had on them what was supposed to be on them the rest of them were mismatch of snippets of original recording and then footage of teenagers playing the skateboards and lighting fires and other things that dumb bored teenagers do. They were trying to make their own jackass video pretty certain. I'm sure the parents were not happy. I didn't say a word I just collected all the cash for the transfer but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they watch those DVDs and found that they didn't have what was supposed to be on it. It's not like the tape boxes were labeled they were all clearly labeled with what had been recorded on the tape but what was on the tape was not what was labeled on the box. I kind of felt bad for them because I know that if one of my kids had done that to my tapes of them I would have been just pissed. Fortunately for me being in the production business I was using big production cameras so I have lots of video of my kids that were shot on professional formats using cameras that were too complicated and big for them to use anyway. We're talking betacam SP.
Bad caps everywhere. The bin is where it belongs. No matter what you do it won't last. The caps lesk corossive crap on the boards and ruin them. You put time and money into something that 3bweeks later breaks again. Quit while you are ahead.
@@CalvertFitness pleasure is mine. I have made the mistake of accepting these nightmares over the years. I had a momentary lapse of reasoning last year when i allowed a fella to ship me an evw300 giving him no guarantees that I wpuldbbe able to fix it. Well he now bought and sent me a parts wrecker to pull parts off of and I am still miles and miles away from making this thing run properly. I have spent so much time on it and have made progress but I still need to change about 120 capacitors
I feel like a proper HI8 recording is pretty much indistinguishable from Digital 8. I simply cannot tell the difference between this footage and my camera's.
@Taco Digital just looks as if you were recording straight from a camera's a/v output, which tbh is not much better than using the built-in mechanism in analog mode.
@@dmztrix01 it was a donated camera that came in with a box of other stuff and it was months before i got to it. Have no idea where it came from. Just erased the tape and tossed it.
@@12voltvids Yes I can imagine,Not as if Sony gear is cheap,I’ve got a lot of Sony gear I’ve collected over the years including a pair of Dev-5 recording binoculars,I bet there hard to work on.
The big problem with these connectors is that pesky element known as oxygen. It alone if responsible for so many problems in electronics and just material in general. Get rid of oxygen and things would last forever. Problem is nobody would be around to use them. 😗
The tape quality is identical as they both record the same data stream. The ccd sensor however was low grade low resolution compared to the DV cameras. Sony did this to make sure digital 8 cameras didn't end up being used for broadcast like the DV cameras did. DV cameras were never intended for use in any broadcast applications but they were good enough that many did. They didn't want to make that mistake again so they intentionally put CCD chips in digital 8 that could barely do 250 lines of resolution. Needless to say you can see it in the image as the tape has enough resolution to record the limit of the chip and well beyond so you see the color filters on the chip when you record bright colored images such as flowers.
@@12voltvids this was amazing and interesting, i still have a question i can not find anywhere answered on the internet in video formats 8, hi8 when you write in lp modes the sound is distorted compared to sp as for example in the video the image changes to clear or blurred?
@@amatorev well first and foremost LP speed should never be used under any circumstances. Now you might wonder why was the speed even included? That's a good question and the reason is because of competition. When Sony first introduced 8 mm and for that matter minidv and digital 8 there was only one speed. Ntsc cameras could record 2 hours on 8 mm what hour on DV and 1 hour on digital 8. Other companies that manufacture the formats, namely JVC and Hitachi, JVC making mini DV and Hitachi making 8 mm and high eight needed something to differentiate themselves from King Sony. So they brought in a slower speed, now you can get 4 hours on your little 8 mm cassette. 90 minutes on the mini DV format. So now the competition has a feature that Sony never intended to put on their camera but because the competition had it they had to counter with the same speed. The first digital 8 cameras only had one speed. Hitachi launched their version and put the lp speed on their camera so Sony countered the next year with LP on their camera. The problem with the lp speed is that each video track that is recorded but each had is half overwritten by the next field. So in effect you are erasing half of the track that you just laid down to place the next track over top of it. Because the angles were slightly different, the A head recorded at + 7 degrees and the B head at - 7 degrees the signal from the opposite head having 14° difference in the azimuth the odd track will be attenuated by approximately 30 DB. This allowed enough signal to be recovered for the original track on the original head but there was still the opposite track in the background and because it's recorded at the same frequency there's no way to eliminate it. This caused color crosstalk and because the audio was recorded as an FM carrier you've got background noise that made the sound distorted. The limited signal being the strongest was the least affected but the AFM audio and the chroma being a weaker signal to begin with the crosstalk was much more apparent. Sony on every digital 8 camera and mini DV camera they sold, in the operator's manual page 2 write down at the bottom there was a note regarding use of the lp speed. And it said, and I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact wording, tapes recorded in the lp speed are not guaranteed to play back on any camera other than the camera that made the original recording. Strong words to warn people the speed is there you are advised not to use it. You don't know how many people I've had to disappoint when they brought me their collection of mini DV or digital 8 tapes recorded in LP and they no longer have the original camera because it broke or was stolen or they bought a new one. Most times I cannot get a good recovery from the lp speed there's macro blocking freezes you name it and there's just no way to recover. No amount of tweaking my playback deck will fix this and that is why Sony had that big warning. I do have owners manual with that paragraph highlighted so that when I get one of these tapes that's in the lp speed and it won't play I can show it to the customer pointed out and basically say too bad so sad you should have read the f..king manual! I had one woman that was almost in tears because they had recorded everything in the lp mode and had pictures of family members that had passed away and she wanted to have everything put on DVD and of course the tapes every one of them was glitching. There was nothing I or anyone could do, I showed her the tape playing in multiple machines and they all played the same constant banding every few seconds throughout the picture and that would have been avoided had they used the sp speed. Worse were those people that copied their tapes to VHS in the SLP speed and reused their camera tape. Now they want to archive their second generation tape recorded at the worst speed and wonder why their digital files or DVDs look so bad. One client even asked for his money back because the quality was "shit" as he put it. I said too bad so sad, garbage in garbage out.
@@12voltvids Thank you very much for the analysis you gave me in the answer, I really like experimenting with sound and analog image and so I have connected my computer to the input of my Sony ccd vx1 camcorder microphone and I am recording music from my computer digitally wav files on videocassettes video 8, hi8 and I like the distorted sound that the camera makes when it writes at low speed lp the sound becomes distorted and heats up something like a warm analog sound effect
Hi there I have the same problem error code I repeated your steps and nothing help I still get the error message can you help me with the problem im trying to fix my Sony DCR-TRV480 to transfer all the tapes to a usb hard drive I don’t know if you could help me with that
Yes i transfer tapes to hard drive. That's actually my business. People think I fix stuff as my business. That's just a side gig my main business is archiving videotape and home movie film. I have all the formats VHS, svhs, 8mm, hi8, digital 8, miniDV, HDV, betamax, betacam, betacam SP, betacam SX, umatic, umatic SP, 8mn and super8 movie film, audio format cassette Dolby B C and dbx, reel to reel, everything from half track mono 15/16ips through 15 ips 4 track, 8 track cartridge, DAT, minidisc and CD to .wav, flac or mp3 hi bit rate.
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Thanks for uploading this video, I recently got one of these for $30 with the same error. Fixed it using the steps provided - works like a charm!!!! Now I can digitize my footage that I got in 2006 of our now retired RAAF F-111 - you've helped not only me but you've helped preserve Australian aviation history. Thanks mate 😃 🇦🇺
Watched this video last year cuz my digital8 camcorder was having the same issue, and reseating the cables worked! Glad to have people like you who are knowledgeable about this stuff!😁👌
Absolutely great. I found this after googling and gave it a try and worked like a charm. It was Sony DCR TRV 480 in my case and gave C31:21 and sometimes C31:20 and would beep, would not eject the tape or would not take the tape inside. This resolved my issue and hope it will help someone else. Again, thanks a bunch!!
Thank you so much! I had been transferring our kids' videos from 20 years ago and suddenly the playback stopped working. Followed your video and I'm back in business with a great picture! (I also cleaned the playback head). Thank you so much for sharing this video!
Removing analog Hi8/Video8 playback support wasn't such a big deal because Sony kept making analog Hi8 Handycams just as long as they did Digital8 ones -- all the way until 2007. So those who were married to the analog format could simply buy a new analog Handycam instead of a digital one. The digital-only Digital8 Handycams were cheaper than Sony's MiniDV camcorders, so they filled the price gap between Hi8 and MiniDV.
Thanks Dave, 2 years on and your videos helped save another 2x Handycams from the bin. This time its a Sony CCD-TRV85 Hi8 XR 1998 x 2. They both look like new and work great now.
Paypal.me/12voltvids. LOL 😀
Thank you I was in the middle of transferring 23 (2)hr hi8 tapes when my Sony trv318 starting the error code ! I did exactly what you said and it worked perfectly it is running smooth again ! Thanx again !!
10/10. I've never worked on cameras before, but using this and another one of your videos I was able to get an old camera working again. Thanks for the videos!
Just used this video yesterday to fix my Sony DCR TRV250 error! Just in time for my son to watch footage of his childhood years today on his 20th Birthday! Thanks for the video!
Thank you I appreciate it so much, just recently got handed this camera by my parents and just got this error and fixed using the step by step guide form you deserve more recognition💯
THANK YOU!! This helped me to fix my Sony Camera, and view my old tapes....so many years of thinking they were lost!
Thank you so much bro you helped me tremendously. I only met one of my grandparents when I was 11 years old . I’m 32 now & you helped me get my footage back
Thanks a million, had abandoned my Hi8 almost a decade back because of this issue, after seeing this video I gave it a try and its worked, camcorder is back on working condition for any future 8 mm tape digitising project.
I pulled my "stupid" camera out after 18 years and it had the same error. FIXED thanks to you! :)
This is the most useful video regarding this problem. It solved my problem on my 21 year old TRV-250. Thank you very much.🙏🥰🙏
Love the easter egg hunts in your videos, keep 'em coming.
Thanks you! Just fixed my Sony TRV 250 C31:22 Error. Your Instructional video was easy to follow and worked Perfect. I did not notice any water damage or cables loose, but pulled ribbon cables out and back in, reassembled and error was gone. I have tested on a dozen tapes and all of them worked without error coming back. Thanks again!
They go bad from just sitting.
Since this message I have repaired a few more & did end up damaging a ribbon cable on one unit. So, the next 31:23 unit I tried a different method that worked & wanted to share.. instead of pulling ribbon cables I put a drop of contact cleaner on ribbon & let it sit over night. Then next morning it worked no error. Not sure if this is permanent.. if error comes back then will pull cables. Thanks again for your great videos!
Easiest way to pull the flex cable is to put a small screw driver under it and then pinch the cable against it and pull the cable out with the screwdriver. I have shown this method on other videos.
Works like a charm! Fixed C31:22 on my DCR-TRV250. Now I don't have to pay $100+ for a working one
You're welcome.
Thanks from Argentina! I was finally able to rewatch all those old tapes👍👍
You rock.
That's the DCR-TRV250 , it's the base model, the next one is the 355E which can play 8mm/Hi8
I gutted the chassis from this one and put it into a 240 that had been given to me that the guides had been ripped out if. The 240 has analog playback. I have another 250 parts camera as well to keep my 2 240 digitizing cameras running.
I have a DCR-TRV285E and your video was the only one that worked for me. Thank you very much 🤩 ❤️
Thank you so much man, this saved my life. I've been trying to digitize my families old tapes but the camcorder wasn't playing anything, i was scared it was just gonna eat up all the old tapes. I followed this very carefully and everything works now! Keep making these videos dude, theyre great
Found this when I had the C:31:22 error on my GV-D800 Video Walkman. Unscrewed the back, carefully removed and reseated all the flat ribbon cables, and now it works great!
I have covered that one in many previous videos.
@@12voltvids I'll check out the videos, thanks
Thanks, i have multiple Digital 8 Cameras that seem to suffer the same problem (that, and the "white pin" issue)
Since you seem to know a lot about these, what do you think could make my footage get pixelated sometimes?
My NOS TRV-140E only records footage/audio that gets pixelated. Was working like new until recently...
Reloading the tape sometimes fixed it, but now doesent seem to work and trows out same C31:23 error.
Same appears on my others like TRV-245 and TR7100E, but only when theres fast changes in the footage.
Thank you!
I recovered many camcorders after watch your videos. Thank you.
Thank you Sir for fixing my camera, makes no sense to me why that makes it work but it does! Now I can enjoy my home movies
thanks so much..... i have the DCR-TRV280 with same problem , was trying to fix this for months !!!!! until you came along < took apart camera did exactly what you performed , problem solved !!!!! thanks again
Thank you...I'll have a go with mine now!
От всей души! Большое спасибо! Ваше видео помогло мне сэкономить немалую сумму денег!
Hi! I don't usually leave comments, but you helped me a lot. Thank you very much, I've been scratching my head for 3 days already.
That worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and helping with the camera I was about to throw away.
If only I can teleport from South Africa to come and pick up that 250...have very nice analogue machines but my 340 chews my tapes and still have some digital tapes to archive. Love your videos and stay safe.
I will likely sell this one as i certainly don't need it.
@@12voltvids Thanks, but shipping to South Africa is quite risky...might disappear as soon as it lands here.
Skipped the whole 8mm format, went from full size VHS Panasonic camcorder, to Canon Vixia HF R300 into SDXD memory card. What advantage is there to digital in a physical format? Use my iPhone 12 for my RUclips videos, very nice macro function on that.
I used hi8 and the DV/HDV as a production format. Physical media was the best we had until memory cards got big enough to store the huge amount of data needed for high quality video. I have been shooting as a fully file based system for close to 15 years now. Have no use for tape based format but still use optical disks for archiving.
WOW ! Thanks, I've fixe my old TVR250 thanks to you...
Now I have a question, I have some Tapes that I can't read, I think they are with an older Camera, Is there an older camera NON-digital that was using the same Tape size, it is writen Video8 on these tapes.
at some point a while back i had picked up a couple of a/v cables from Radio Shack under their Gigaware brand that turned out to have the Sonyspecial wiring. I think the Toshiba portable dvd player i have also uses that wiring
A stereo cable will work but the right audio channel is shorted out. Video will be on the red plug.
Fantastic video. I was actually looking to fix another problem but I have another camcorder with the problem you fixed so I can't wait to try out this fix. The issue I'm having is actually the tape. The video goes in and out and the audio is garbled. I saw another video here where a person was able to adjust the tracking manually and fix a playback problem but he doesn't explain exactly how he did it. He just shows an opening he created on the cartridge cover and he inserts a special screw driver to adjust the tracking. I was hoping you fixed a playback issue similar to this and have a video on the detailed solution. This is for a client who so desperately wants me to salvage her wedding video but so far no luck.
As a camera geek, I appreciate the video, would like to see more....as far as whats different, I'd say you cleaned your work bench some or your pulling audio? :) ~Jack, VEG
Opening had a subtile change.
YOU JUST SAVED 100S OF HOURS OF FAMILY VIDS!! THANKS BUD
Thank you for this tutorial!! I have exactly the same Sony Handycam. Followed your video and had great success!! No more 31:23 code!! Been testing and seems all functions are working!! I'm a subscriber now!! Mine had that same silver screw on top in the grey plastic, it is a little longer than the other black screws too!!
I have a Sony trv203 that keeps having the same error & it will open and jams & won't close when tapes put in. Thanks for your videos
PERFECT !!! I HAVE A CAMERA SONY DCR TRV 900. DISPLAY PROBLEM C:21:00 . THERE IS A SOLUTION ?
Question, but first, you made a very helpful tutorial. I have a Sony DCR-TRV19. It has a C:31:22 error code (slightly different). Would you estimate that this tutorial would hopefully fix the error code on my DCR-TRV19? Also, the eject mechanism is slow and does not fully release, it needs to be manually "helped". thanks
The edge connectors were a source of ongoing troubles on the 8mm hi8 and digital 8 cameras by Sony.
This fix worked for me on a Sony DCR-TRV350 with a C3130 error. Thanks 12voltvids!
Wow! I can finally save all of my old tapes. Thank you!
Unfortunately, after following all of the steps, my cameras still gives the same error 😔 Would you have any other idea on what the issue could be? I desperately want to recover and save these old family videos I have. I own the exact same camera. UPDATE: I was able to get the camera up and running and I figured out that the issue with the camera is that the roller was missing. It had fell out while I took it apart and was working on it but I was able to find it and put it back in and now the camera runs like a charm.
Thanks man very much i was able to repair my parents camera that had some very cool recordings thx so much again and i wish you the best !!
12 voltvids how do you know which tape is analog or digital. they are all 8 mm. right.
Worked for me and I got to see my brother's highschool Spanish project.
This was my first camcorder i had for a couple of years; then a few years later i bought the Panasonic PV-GS500 Mini-DV, and NEVER went back to Sony and any of their Hi8 and or Digital 8 Camcorders.
I have used Panasonic and jvc cameras and neither came even close to my Sony cameras. I had professional models from all 3 companies. Big difference between home video and professional.
I had both a dcrvx1000 and hdrfx1 3ccd Mini DV and HDV camera. Both would blow away that Panasonic. I also had a canon gl2. It had a nice lens buy the camera front end was not as good as the vx1000 and the fx1 blew away the vx1000
@@12voltvids I can agree on the Sony HC3 which was a better Mini DV camcorder at the time, but the GS500 on sale was about $400 cheaper, and that fit my budget! Plus i was only using the Panasonic AY-DVM83PQ Tapes for mostly recording in clubs i was playing at. I still have the GS500, which has had zero issues, and the original battery still holds about a 90% charge.
@@jameswaddell3348
The HDR hc3 was an HD camera recording 1080i vs 480i if DV so yes it was superior. I have an hc3 and fx1.
The little black thing fell out and now wondering if there are supposed to be two of these. Just got excited though over your little screw driver.
The rubber pinch roller sometimes fall out. It is held in with a small piece of tubing pushed down over the center pin. 12voltvids has a video fixing that I think on a DCR-TRV120? Or 240.
There is only one black pinch roller in these devices.
Thank you!!! Do you by any chance do SHARP OR jVC older camcorders?
I do have a sharp viewcam and should have a JVC coming in any day.
I have the same problem with my TRV330 seeing how these cameras look so similar would the fix be the same as you executed in the video?
Probably.
@@12voltvids it worked thank you.
Hi ..
Something does not work correctly in my handy cam. There is no video on the LCD. Only a blue screen, even when i opened to eject the 8 mm cassette, there is no eject tone at all ...
would you please help me to fix this problem ..
Thank you
But the TRV140E from second hand had these C:31:22/C:31:23 errors but after moving the pinch roller a little and rewind a tape for a some time and have the mechanism and heads working I fixed that and now it can play and record tapes very well without dropouts.
I have a 2000 model DCR-TRV520 and also a 2001 DCR-TRV730 as you know the TRV520 is top loader, and the TRV730 is loaded from the bottom. Since they look very similar is size and design, are the inside boards and connectors interchangeable from one camera to another?
Good question!!! My guess is the inside components would be pretty much the same, as only being a year apart. Can't imagine Sony redesigning the entire camcorder mechanics in a year. I could be wrong?
I just received a second hand TRV 270e and was it was displaying the error code C31:22. I tried this fix of opening it up and replugging the cables shown and it solved the problem temporarily, I found that pressing the photo button would trigger the error message and ask me to reinsert the cassette. To solve this I would just reopen the device and plug the cables back in.
I turned the camera on today to attempt to export video and the error code redisplayed. I went in to the camera and have now replugged the cables in 3 times, after each attempt the error message still displays upon launch.
Do you have any advice on a potential fix/reason as to why this is happening?
To note: I have now noticed that the photo function seems to work as the screen will flash when the button is pressed behind the reinsert cassette error message.
I have the DCR-TRV19, getting error code 31.23. The little black thingy fell right out so is there only one supposed to be in there? Will this video show me how to put it back in? Without taking it all apart?
Are you referring to the tape door damper? That part is not necessary.
Great video, really helpful. Also thanks for the knowledge about the Sony cables, that would have caught me out for sure.
Thanks for the high-quality content👍
So the problem with visual is fixed but there is no sound. Would I need to do anything similar to fix the playback sound?
Im getting the same error on a Sony HVR-A1E. A hdv camcorder. Would it be the same issue of loose ribbon cables?
Possibly.
Didn't notice your voice panning left and right, did you change your mic setup?
No. Same camera.
any advice if the tape wont go in? I have the same camera and trying to recover my wedding video. I started with this error and did the repair as you showed here but now the tape slot is stuck out.
I hope you didn't damage the ribbon connector.
Thank you!! Your step by step instructions worked perfectly!!
Do you know if this is the same case for the sony miniDV camcorders?
Yes
Sure? These D8 models was a good improvement in quality compared to the early models from 1999/2000. Anyways these are more than 20 years old camcorders the heads or the pinch roller could not be good. In other case I have a DCR-TRV255E and when I was young I touched all the mechanism of the tape compartiment and all and it still working and playing back the tapes very well without dropouts and that impressed me because back in the time I touched very hard the heads and all the mechanism from there.
@12voltvids Hi, I’ve got a Sony handycam DCR-TRV14E and all the mechanism works but sometimes when it’s in camera mode, it just shows a black screen and if I shine a bright light in to the lens it flickers back to life and the picture returns, but if I have it with the picture in the screen sometimes it sorta glitches out and goes green and all droopy. Do you think it’s the connectors/connections on the board or is it something else? Thanks
Don't know.
@@12voltvids hmmm, I have a feeling it’s a ccd sensor problem which I hope it’s not because I don’t know how easy it is to get a new one but hopefully if I have to it won’t be that hard to get one
@@callumthomas6152
Could be. Chances of finding one are pretty slim. I have never see one fail myself though.
Your little videos that play in the intro are different... Idk what that spring thingy is but she's new!
Yip. Bottom left is VCR lacing a tape up.
Did you happen to add a lapel microphone mixed into the camera?
Scratch that haha, "spot" the change
Doing God's work by making these videos. Thanks!
Was it the lighting and or camera?
what's that tool you use for unscrewing the screws
Screw driver
I have error C:31:23 eating my tape.. any tape i put inside, it eating, and i hear that maybe tape dont go arround the video head :(
Is it a similar fix with a C:31:22 error?
I followed your tutorial and the error is gone. But unfortunately now the camera can't playback anything, i only got the blue screen and that's it. The tape is actually playing but i'm getting no signal. I think that something is wrong with the Head connector (the middle one) because if i press it i get some disturbed audio, but still no video. The cable seems ok though, no broken connection... Any advice?
Have you cleaned the head?
Do you provide repair services? TRV-280 . Doesn't playback tapes and throws error C31:23? Many tries to get the cassette to eject as well. Thanks
Yes I have repaired hundreds.
@@12voltvidsThank you for the reply. is there a website or an email address to reach you to discuss further?
@@bilalm4647 it's on the main page.
Did this and it works now. Thanks.
I have a trv480 throwing the exact same codes. i know its a different model but will this guide work for it too?
They are all very similar inside. Is it a top or bottom loader for the tape.
Thanks this worked for my Sony Video Hi 8. Great video!
my DCR-TRV350 was working great, then suddenly I get the C31:23 code. I checked the pinch roller, which popped off when I barely touched it. I put it back, but still get the error. Long story short, my edge connectors look different from yours and the ribbon REALLY doesn't want to come out. I can't see any "gate" to open or anything to make them come out. I finally forced the issue, but I still have the error code. Any ideas, anyone?
I was just using mine, watching a playback. I stopped the tape, hit rewind, then as I was watching the screen as it rewound, the counter stopped working. So I stopped it, hit play, and now it doesn't play back any video. It still rewinds, forwards, and I can hear it running when I hit play, but no counter and no video or sound. Been in storage for probably 8 years, pulled it out to watch some old videos, and badda bing, badda bip... worked for 2 minutes, then stopped!
Could be a head clog or caps exploded. There were sitting there all those years the corossive electrolytic eating away at the leads exiting to the board. You powered it up, they started to heat up, pressure builds and blows the corossive electrolytic all over the board.
@@12voltvids OK, guess I will have to buy a new one (used, new to me), thanks.
What does that mean that my old video cannot be play back in this camera?
Cool video! I buy and sell these cameras all the time! I've often bought broken ones and ended up throwing them away or selling them cheap for parts but I wish I was able to fix them like you. The only thing I know how to replace is the little white roll that keeps the pinch roller in place 🤣 Where can I find your guide?
Hi, I have a GV-D800 Digital 8 VCR with the error message C:31:42, any idea what that error is about?. I appreciate your input very much.
Edge connectors most likely. I have several videos showing this
@@12voltvids Tyvm. Follow up question, will a Hi8 cassette play on a Video 8 VCR? Assuming the cassettes were recorded on a NTSC format.
@@AlexArba
Hi8 is a high band recording. The luminance carrier extends all the way to 7 MHz. Standard 8mm was only 5 MHz. A hi8 tape recorded in hi8 format will only play on a hi8 player or digital 8 player with analog playback capability. A hi8 tape recorded in regular video 8 will play on a regular 8mm player. Likewise a hi8 tape recorded in digital 8 will only play on a digital 8 player. That was the downside to digital 8. Because it used a standard 8mm tape, and yes you could record digital signals on a standard 8mm tape, they did not have to be a high eight tape however the signals will only play on a digital 8 machine. I had a customer a few years back they had a digital 8 camera and recorded everything from about 1990 forward in digital 8. They gave the old still functional 8mm camera to their son as he was getting interested in making videos. I think you know where this story is going. Since the analog 8mm camera could not play the recordings made on the digital 8 camera the son inadvertently erased about 80% of the digilite tapes to record skateboard videos and other things with his buddies when they were teenagers. He wiped family vacations to Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, Disneyland, Disney world in Florida, his sister's wedding, and all the birthdays and Christmas videos from the time they got me digital 8 camera. Only the earliest 8 mm tapes survived because he was able to see that there was something on the tape. I just simply transferred all 45 tapes and out of that there was only about four 2-hour tapes that had on them what was supposed to be on them the rest of them were mismatch of snippets of original recording and then footage of teenagers playing the skateboards and lighting fires and other things that dumb bored teenagers do. They were trying to make their own jackass video pretty certain. I'm sure the parents were not happy. I didn't say a word I just collected all the cash for the transfer but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they watch those DVDs and found that they didn't have what was supposed to be on it. It's not like the tape boxes were labeled they were all clearly labeled with what had been recorded on the tape but what was on the tape was not what was labeled on the box. I kind of felt bad for them because I know that if one of my kids had done that to my tapes of them I would have been just pissed. Fortunately for me being in the production business I was using big production cameras so I have lots of video of my kids that were shot on professional formats using cameras that were too complicated and big for them to use anyway. We're talking betacam SP.
Diagnosing am old Sony Sports Video 8. Powers all this the issue is way less while on camera and VTR. Any ideas? Thank You
Bad caps everywhere. The bin is where it belongs. No matter what you do it won't last. The caps lesk corossive crap on the boards and ruin them. You put time and money into something that 3bweeks later breaks again. Quit while you are ahead.
@@12voltvids thank you for saving me the Excedrin.
@@CalvertFitness pleasure is mine. I have made the mistake of accepting these nightmares over the years. I had a momentary lapse of reasoning last year when i allowed a fella to ship me an evw300 giving him no guarantees that I wpuldbbe able to fix it. Well he now bought and sent me a parts wrecker to pull parts off of and I am still miles and miles away from making this thing run properly. I have spent so much time on it and have made progress but I still need to change about 120 capacitors
I feel like a proper HI8 recording is pretty much indistinguishable from Digital 8. I simply cannot tell the difference between this footage and my camera's.
@Taco Digital just looks as if you were recording straight from a camera's a/v output, which tbh is not much better than using the built-in mechanism in analog mode.
The flat flex connectors disintegrated when i took my ps2 apart. That was "fun"!
And a fuse on the board died which drove me insane for an hour.
Every 3rd camera I buy has a ballet/play tape in it! I just found that funny!
I was given a camera that had someone's home porn on it.
@@12voltvids That is like the unicorn of video tapes. Haven't found one yet but I would like to return it to the owners if I did.
@@dmztrix01 it was a donated camera that came in with a box of other stuff and it was months before i got to it. Have no idea where it came from. Just erased the tape and tossed it.
It’s not just the low end ones,I have a Hvr-a1e which was expensive at the time and that’s throwing up those codes
They all do it.
@@12voltvids Yes I can imagine,Not as if Sony gear is cheap,I’ve got a lot of Sony gear I’ve collected over the years including a pair of Dev-5 recording binoculars,I bet there hard to work on.
The big problem with these connectors is that pesky element known as oxygen. It alone if responsible for so many problems in electronics and just material in general. Get rid of oxygen and things would last forever. Problem is nobody would be around to use them. 😗
@@12voltvids Interesting to know,thanks
Thank you so much!! Finally something that worked
Thanks for saving me money bro ur great 👍 God bless you
Where did you put all the junk that lay around on your bench?
Garbage can
@@12voltvids I bet you need that bit you through out tomorrow!!
What about the C:31:22 error?
I have a question which video quality is better? digital 8? minidv?
The tape quality is identical as they both record the same data stream. The ccd sensor however was low grade low resolution compared to the DV cameras. Sony did this to make sure digital 8 cameras didn't end up being used for broadcast like the DV cameras did. DV cameras were never intended for use in any broadcast applications but they were good enough that many did. They didn't want to make that mistake again so they intentionally put CCD chips in digital 8 that could barely do 250 lines of resolution. Needless to say you can see it in the image as the tape has enough resolution to record the limit of the chip and well beyond so you see the color filters on the chip when you record bright colored images such as flowers.
@@12voltvids this was amazing and interesting, i still have a question i can not find anywhere answered on the internet in video formats 8, hi8 when you write in lp modes the sound is distorted compared to sp as for example in the video the image changes to clear or blurred?
@@amatorev well first and foremost LP speed should never be used under any circumstances. Now you might wonder why was the speed even included? That's a good question and the reason is because of competition. When Sony first introduced 8 mm and for that matter minidv and digital 8 there was only one speed. Ntsc cameras could record 2 hours on 8 mm what hour on DV and 1 hour on digital 8. Other companies that manufacture the formats, namely JVC and Hitachi, JVC making mini DV and Hitachi making 8 mm and high eight needed something to differentiate themselves from King Sony. So they brought in a slower speed, now you can get 4 hours on your little 8 mm cassette. 90 minutes on the mini DV format. So now the competition has a feature that Sony never intended to put on their camera but because the competition had it they had to counter with the same speed. The first digital 8 cameras only had one speed. Hitachi launched their version and put the lp speed on their camera so Sony countered the next year with LP on their camera. The problem with the lp speed is that each video track that is recorded but each had is half overwritten by the next field. So in effect you are erasing half of the track that you just laid down to place the next track over top of it. Because the angles were slightly different, the A head recorded at + 7 degrees and the B head at - 7 degrees the signal from the opposite head having 14° difference in the azimuth the odd track will be attenuated by approximately 30 DB. This allowed enough signal to be recovered for the original track on the original head but there was still the opposite track in the background and because it's recorded at the same frequency there's no way to eliminate it. This caused color crosstalk and because the audio was recorded as an FM carrier you've got background noise that made the sound distorted. The limited signal being the strongest was the least affected but the AFM audio and the chroma being a weaker signal to begin with the crosstalk was much more apparent. Sony on every digital 8 camera and mini DV camera they sold, in the operator's manual page 2 write down at the bottom there was a note regarding use of the lp speed. And it said, and I'm paraphrasing here because I don't remember the exact wording, tapes recorded in the lp speed are not guaranteed to play back on any camera other than the camera that made the original recording. Strong words to warn people the speed is there you are advised not to use it. You don't know how many people I've had to disappoint when they brought me their collection of mini DV or digital 8 tapes recorded in LP and they no longer have the original camera because it broke or was stolen or they bought a new one. Most times I cannot get a good recovery from the lp speed there's macro blocking freezes you name it and there's just no way to recover. No amount of tweaking my playback deck will fix this and that is why Sony had that big warning. I do have owners manual with that paragraph highlighted so that when I get one of these tapes that's in the lp speed and it won't play I can show it to the customer pointed out and basically say too bad so sad you should have read the f..king manual! I had one woman that was almost in tears because they had recorded everything in the lp mode and had pictures of family members that had passed away and she wanted to have everything put on DVD and of course the tapes every one of them was glitching. There was nothing I or anyone could do, I showed her the tape playing in multiple machines and they all played the same constant banding every few seconds throughout the picture and that would have been avoided had they used the sp speed. Worse were those people that copied their tapes to VHS in the SLP speed and reused their camera tape. Now they want to archive their second generation tape recorded at the worst speed and wonder why their digital files or DVDs look so bad. One client even asked for his money back because the quality was "shit" as he put it. I said too bad so sad, garbage in garbage out.
@@12voltvids Thank you very much for the analysis you gave me in the answer, I really like experimenting with sound and analog image and so I have connected my computer to the input of my Sony ccd vx1 camcorder microphone and I am recording music from my computer digitally wav files on videocassettes video 8, hi8 and I like the distorted sound that the camera makes when it writes at low speed lp the sound becomes distorted and heats up something like a warm analog sound effect
@@12voltvids Didn't Sony / Panasonic and other mfg make ENG cameras for miniDV? Seems like they did? ~Jack, VEG
Well another one saved :-D
i'm sure the owner will be happy.
No i didnt' notice the light
Well the owner is me. It was donated to the channel for a project.
Hi there I have the same problem error code I repeated your steps and nothing help I still get the error message can you help me with the problem im trying to fix my Sony DCR-TRV480 to transfer all the tapes to a usb hard drive I don’t know if you could help me with that
Yes i transfer tapes to hard drive. That's actually my business. People think I fix stuff as my business. That's just a side gig my main business is archiving videotape and home movie film. I have all the formats VHS, svhs, 8mm, hi8, digital 8, miniDV, HDV, betamax, betacam, betacam SP, betacam SX, umatic, umatic SP, 8mn and super8 movie film, audio format cassette Dolby B C and dbx, reel to reel, everything from half track mono 15/16ips through 15 ips 4 track, 8 track cartridge, DAT, minidisc and CD to .wav, flac or mp3 hi bit rate.
@@12voltvids can you help me with my error code with my cam
How much is the cost of transfer tapes to hard drive
Contact me by email
@@12voltvids what’s your email
trés bon conseil ,very good ,thanks
12 voltvids, can it be replaced for a led.?
What the light bulb? I don't see why not. Would need a driver for it.
Any way to fix the 31:11 error?
I cannot thank you enough, worked perfectly 😊
PayPal.me/12voltvids 😁