Tape camcorders were made by the million, and plenty still work. The trouble is that a listing rarely tells you the thing you most need to know, which is whether the tape side of the camera works. This is the list we run through on every listing, from the first photo to the first tape you put in at home. Each model page adds the checks that are specific to that camera, so find yours in the catalog once you know what you're after.
"Powers on" isn't "tested"
A camcorder is really two machines in one box. There's the camera, which turns light into a picture, and the tape transport, which pulls tape out of the cassette, wraps it around a spinning head drum and winds it back. Sony's manuals even split them into separate modes, CAMERA for shooting and VTR or PLAYER for playing tapes. When a seller writes "powers on" and shows a live picture on the screen, they've proved the camera half. They haven't proved the half that wears out.
Nearly every tape problem only shows up with a cassette loaded and moving. Clogged heads, a camera that refuses to run because it senses moisture, a mechanism that won't load or eject, a tape that gets chewed: none of these appear until you press play. So the first question for any seller is simple. Has it recorded a tape and played it back? The best answer is a short video of playback on the camera's own screen. A seller who has the camera in front of them can do that in a minute.
Read the playback picture
A playback video tells you a lot about the heads. Sony's manuals describe what dirty heads look like, and it depends on the format. On analog Video8 and Hi8 cameras, the playback picture turns noisy or hard to see. On digital MiniDV and Digital8 cameras, you get blocky mosaic patterns, a frozen picture or a blue screen. A clean, steady picture from a recent recording is what you want.
A clog isn't always fatal. Sony's fix is a dry cleaning cassette, run for a few seconds, and its manuals say not to repeat it more than five times in one session and never to use a wet-type cleaning cassette, because it can damage the heads. But you don't want to buy a camera on the hope that cleaning will fix it. If the seller's video shows heavy snow or blocks, price it as a camera that needs work.
Error codes and condensation
Sony camcorders from the late 90s on show self-diagnosis codes, and they're worth asking about by name. Sony's manuals list C:21 for moisture condensation, C:22 for dirty heads, and C:31 or C:32 for other faults the owner can try to clear by reinserting the cassette or reconnecting the power. Codes starting with E, like E:61 and E:62, mean the camera needs service. A camera that shows a C:31 again and again is usually telling you something about tape loading.
Condensation catches people out. Sony warns that if you bring a camcorder from the cold into a warm room, tape can stick to the head drum and get damaged. When the camera senses moisture it shuts down everything but eject. The fix is to take the tape out and leave the camera for at least an hour. If your camera arrives on a cold day, let it sit before you load a tape.
Loading, eject and old tape
Ask whether the cassette loads and ejects smoothly. Every time a tape loads, the mechanism pulls tape out of the cassette, and when it ejects, the tape has to wind back in properly or it gets damaged. A door that sticks, a cassette that comes out slowly or a grinding noise are reasons to walk away or knock the price down.
Old tape is its own risk. The Council on Library and Information Resources notes that deteriorating tape binder can shed onto the heads, clog them and cause dropouts, and in bad cases stop a tape in the transport. So don't test a new-to-you camera with a tape you can't replace. Use a blank or a tape you don't care about first, and only then move on to the family archive.
Screens and viewfinder
Most camcorders here have a flip-out LCD, an electronic viewfinder you hold to your eye, or both. Some viewfinders are black and white, some color. Ask for a photo of the LCD showing a picture, and look for dark patches, lines, dead pixels or a dim, faded image. If the LCD is dead, the viewfinder can still prove the camera records and plays, and that matters more than the screen. The Sony DCR-TRV27, for example, has a 3.5-inch LCD and a color viewfinder, so one can stand in for the other.
The lens
Ask for a close photo of the front of the lens, ideally with a light shining into it from the side. You're looking for clear glass. A milky haze, fog or fine web-like threads inside the lens all spoil the picture and are hard to fix. Light scuffs on the front element matter less than anything you can see inside. On interchangeable-lens cameras like the Canon XL1, also check the lens is in the listing at all, because a body on its own can't record anything.
Battery and power
Assume the battery is tired. Rechargeable packs from these years have spent a long time in drawers, and an old pack may hold little or no charge. Check the listing shows the right family for that model, because Sony alone used several that don't swap: the CCD-TRV128 takes M-series InfoLithium packs, the DCR-HC42 takes the smaller P-series. Later Sony cameras flag a non-InfoLithium pack with a C:04 code.
The AC adapter matters more than the battery. On many Sony models it also charges the battery in the camera, and it lets you test the camera without a working pack. The Sony adapters we checked are rated for 100 or 110 up to 240 volts, so a foreign one will work with a plug adapter. A listing with no battery and no adapter is a camera you can't switch on until you buy one.
Model number and TV system
Check the model number on the label in the photos against the listing. It tells you the TV system, and that matters more than people expect. US camcorders record NTSC, and Sony says an NTSC camera's playback needs an NTSC TV. Sony's PAL model numbers end in E, so a DCR-TRV27E is the PAL version of the TRV27. A PAL camera is the right buy if you have PAL tapes to play, and the wrong one if you don't. Our guide to playing old family tapes covers the details.
The FireWire port
On a DV camera, the FireWire port (Sony calls it i.LINK, or DV IN/OUT) is how you get an exact digital copy of the tape onto a computer, so ask whether it has been used recently. Look closely at the port in the photos for bent pins or damage. On a few models the port isn't on the camera at all. The DCR-HC42 puts its DV and USB jacks on the supplied Handycam Station, so a listing without the station is missing its FireWire. Our guide to getting footage off a camcorder explains the rest of the capture chain.
What should come with it
Count the pieces in the photos. At a minimum you want the battery or AC adapter, and ideally both. Then the A/V cable, which is often a model-specific plug, a lens cap and, for some models, the dock, the remote or the interchangeable lens. Missing pieces aren't a dealbreaker, but each one should come off the price. Each of our model pages lists what came in the box where we could source it.
When it arrives
Let it sit at room temperature for an hour if it traveled in the cold. Charge it or plug it in, then record a minute on a blank tape and play it back. Check the picture, the sound and that the tape ejects cleanly. If everything works, it's safe to try your real tapes. If it doesn't, you're still inside the return window, so test it the day it arrives.
