Major Sony DSR-11 problems
 

Hi there, some of you guys have this deck.

My friend got his last year and has used it as a rental. As a result, there are tons of hours logged onto it.

IT has problems now. At first, whenever anyone tried to batch capture with it, it would automatically do an end of tape search.

Now, it has problems powering up, it turns itself off right away.

Does anyone know what could be wrong? Has anyone had this happen to theirs? Any idea of the cost to fix?

Thanks

Hi,

I might not be able to pin point th solution. But there may be a chance depending n the NLE capture card you might ushin in conjunction with th Eiting S/w. Serch for an option where it states go end or begining if no in point is declared. try giving in and out point both & see what it does.

There may a be a setting in the menu of dsr 11(though i use DSR25 where it has one option of powering off after a certain ime period). check the same if there is such an option on ur recorder.

God Bless your DSR11 ... If these not work then may be a Sony rep/service centre should be the only resort.

They aren't terribly expensive to fix. I was quoted $425 flat rate for my DSR-20 (which at 1,000 hours hasn't needed anything yet) and that included a set of heads if necessary.

I always start with the simplest test first.

Disconnect the unit from any other device and power it up but don't put a tape in it. If it powers down then either it's a menu setting issue or it's just time to bring it in for servicing.

If the deck does not power down, then put a pre-recorded tape in it and hit play and see if it plays without shutting down. Part of the low cost of these decks is that they have virtually no visual meters on the front of the unit, but I'm assuming you will be able to tell if the tape is moving, somehow.

If the deck doesn't shut shut down when playing a pre-recorded tape when not hooked up to the computer, then it's probably a computer communication issue or a menu setting issue, if it shuts down without being connected to the computer, then it's either a menu setting issue or in need of servicing.

$400-500 dollars for a refurbishing the deck works out to 50 cents an hour, sounds like a bargain to me. If there is an "hours" meter on the unit I would notate that. Is it possible the machines require servicing every so often and the unit shuts down for that very reason? I doubt it but....