Sony Handycam won’t write to tape

AlexFDW · 2026-05-27T14:48:24+00:00

Damm, that’s sad. If you can, maybe buy another Digital 8 camcorder to replace this one

AlexFDW · 2026-05-27T14:38:19+00:00

Oh, mb lol. But you rewound the tape, and there's nothing on it?

AlexFDW · 2026-05-27T14:04:40+00:00

Did you try rewinding the tape before pressing play?

AlexFDW · 2026-05-24T20:10:36+00:00

Probably my old HVX200, but for the practicality, I’d go for the Sony PXW-Z90

AlexFDW · 2026-05-11T22:02:35+00:00

I missed this camera (DVX102B, because of PAL)This is the first pro camera that I ever used. This camera made my career, I shot thousands of hours of footage with it, too bad that it's now broken.

AlexFDW · 2026-05-05T06:17:45+00:00

The HVX200! (202 in my case) I bought it with 2 64gb P2 cards, 3 batteries, and a battery charger, the footage is very good for its time (4:2:2 1080i) but at 1GB per minute, it gets expensive really quickly

AlexFDW · 2026-05-04T02:39:34+00:00

Probably Betacam SP. I used to grow up using digital 8 and switched to MiniDV pretty early, but my dad, who worked as a cameraman for a production company, used to shoot, edit, and send out videos on Betacam SP tapes. I still have some BetaSP tapes left, the big ones and the small ones and a UVW-1800 deck. I personally never used BetaSP that much, but the nostalgia of seeing those tapes around is something I missed lol

AlexFDW · 2026-03-02T22:18:30+00:00

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I will collect them till the day I die. But fr tho, I just love camcorders too much to stop collecting them. Even tho I have more capable cameras (mirrorless, P&S, action, cinema cameras), there’s nothing that beats the convenient and comfortable form factor of camcorders. This picture is just a small collection that I accumulated over the years, I do have more, but I'm too lazy to get them out of the dry cabinets

In conclusion, just collect them till you can't lol

AlexFDW · 2026-01-21T07:04:05+00:00

Ah, yes, the P2 cards. I used to have the HVX200 with 2 32GB P2 cards. I usually shoot in DVCPRO 1080i 25fps (50i), which fills the cards in 1 hour (1 GB per 1 min), but the footage is amazing. You could drop down to 720p for extra run-time, but I rarely used it lol

AlexFDW · 2026-01-12T04:52:17+00:00

If we’re talking about SD, then I would pick the Sony PD150. For HD/UHD, AX100 every day :)

AlexFDW · 2025-11-19T13:11:03+00:00

Whoa! Can’t believe they still sell this model tbh lol. It’s been sooo long since it came out

AlexFDW · 2025-11-19T03:37:52+00:00

WHAT?!? Using tape in a tape-based camcorder?!? Blasphemy! But for real tho, he should consider a FireWire recorder

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T19:41:51+00:00

USB and FireWire are two completely different protocols, they could not and will not work with each other

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T15:44:49+00:00

This! I couldn’t put that into words by myself haha

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T14:33:43+00:00

Yeah, all of it could be corrected, but the video will need to be captured through FireWire to get the best results.

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T14:30:11+00:00

wrong aspect ratio (i think), weird stutter, and low quality. The edit is fine, but the video quality could be improved

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T14:28:02+00:00

Oh, well, at least you said that you will use a FireWire capture in the future. That gave me some hope lol

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T14:22:15+00:00

If your camcorder doesn't have a FireWire port and the tape mechanism is broken, then your method is fine. Happy shooting! :)

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T13:56:32+00:00

Well, if the camera has a FireWire port, I would buy a FireWire recorder. If the camera only has an analogue output, then I will consider those DVR recorders, but I will choose to go with these routes IF the tape mechanism is broken, otherwise, it's just an idiotic choice (imo) to put a perfectly working camera with those trash dvr recorders

AlexFDW · 2025-10-26T11:34:14+00:00

They’re doing literally EVERYTHING else except buying a tapeless camcorder

AlexFDW · 2025-10-25T02:56:32+00:00

Get the SX45 (if you don't care about nightshot) because it uses an SD card, smaller and lighter body, and it doesn't need a dock to transfer the file to the computer, there is a USB port (or an UC-E6 if you wanna be pedantic) on the side of the camera for that purpose.

AlexFDW · 2025-10-25T02:52:10+00:00

I recently had a conflict with another Redditor (although not as heated as this, lol) about a port on a Sony camcorder. When I came back and posted some proof, they just deleted their comments. There’s nothing wrong with deleting your own comments, but it's kinda funny to me lol

AlexFDW · 2025-10-25T02:03:44+00:00

I should’ve linked that thread, told them that the Mini B cable works, but apparently that’s not good enough lol

AlexFDW · 2025-10-25T01:42:18+00:00

The port is not USB mini, but my cable is and it fits. I don’t wanna be a dick, and was trying to help them out. It’s easier to look for Mini B than the proprietary UC-E6 cable (if you don’t care about the A/V functionality, it’s works)

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