The mechanics stripped to bare metal and rebuilt, the way we do the professional decks — for Sony 8mm, Hi-8 and Digital8.
Bullet Proofing is offered on select Sony 8mm, Hi-8 and Digital8 camcorders — the CCD-TR and CCD-TRV series, and the Digital8 DCR-TRV series.
Only those formats. If your camcorder is Mini-DV or high-definition, this service isn’t offered for it — we can still repair it, and the Camcorder Repair page covers what we service. Not sure which format you have? Email us your model and we’ll tell you straight.
Here for a Panasonic AG-1980 or AG-5710? That’s a different service at a different price — see the AG Bullet Proofing page →
Inside every one of these camcorders are what we call common failure or common wear parts — gears, idlers, levers, guides. They wear over time and with use, and as they do, the alignments begin to drift.
Your camcorder was designed to compensate for a little drift, which is why there’s usually no warning. But when those parts start going bad in earnest, it can’t compensate any longer. That’s when you get mechanical errors, or a problem in the picture, or in the sound — or all three at once. In every case, it traces back to worn parts in the mechanics.
The plastic doesn’t help. Nylon parts break down over the years, and where nylon was moulded around metal to make a gear or a reel table, the plastic shrinks and cracks — which then goes on to cause failures of its own.
It is not a repair. A repair means I open her up, replace the part or two that have failed, and put her back together. That gets you running again, and for a lot of machines it’s the right answer.
Bullet Proofing is the other thing entirely, and it’s the same process I use on the professional Panasonic AG decks. The mechanics come out of the camcorder. Then they’re stripped — every screw, washer, gear, spring, lever and clip — down to bare metal.
Every part is cleaned of the old dried grease. Badly worn parts are replaced or rebuilt, not just the ones that have already failed but the ones queuing up behind them. Fresh grease goes on. Then it all goes back together, and the alignments are done properly — mechanical and electrical both, back to factory specification.
Worn video heads are included. If yours are down, they’re part of the job at no extra cost.
The alignments are where this comes apart for most people. The proprietary jigs and the software needed to align these cameras cost thousands of dollars. Most shops don’t have them, which means most shops can’t align these cameras at all. Some that can, don’t bother.
You’ll see plenty of outfits — and no shortage of them on eBay — that change the one or two parts currently defective and hand it back. It might well work when it arrives. But the parts sitting right behind the ones that failed are still in there, and you’ll be back in a few months with the same fault or a new one, by which time the warranty is gone. Good for them. Not for you.
That is not how this works here. Fix it and fix it right, or don’t bother.
On the professional AG-1980 and AG-5710, Bullet Proofing includes replacing roughly 245 capacitors. That is not part of the camcorder service. These cameras don’t need it, and I’m not going to charge you for work your machine doesn’t require. Camcorder Bullet Proofing is a mechanical rebuild — which is why it costs a fraction of what the AG service does.
Bullet Proofing a Sony 8mm, Hi-8 or Digital8 camcorder is $650, plus shipping. That includes the video heads if yours are worn.
Turnaround is six to eight weeks. It takes that long because the work takes that long, and I’m one man at one bench.
The work is guaranteed for one full year — the entire unit, not just the parts I touched.
I don’t sell these outright, only service. If you’re looking to buy a rebuilt camcorder, I’m not your man.
Remember what this camera cost when it was new — near a thousand dollars, and the top of the line.
These were among the very best Sony ever built. They were made to last, and they were made to be serviced. Once she’s been through this, it’s typically years before she needs anything again — a heck of a lot longer than you’ll get out of a ‘refurbished’ camcorder off eBay.
Email us your exact model and we’ll tell you whether Bullet Proofing is offered for it — and what we’d recommend if it isn’t.
Email Us Your ModelReady to send it in? Fill out our request form and ship it along.
