2008
I recently went on holiday to France and took my Sony DCR-HC19E Handycam along to capture the action. It’s a few years old now but hasn’t had that much use.
It has a fancy touchscreen colour LCD which flips out and rotates. I’ve always wondered how such movement is possible and I’d soon have the opportunity to answer my own question. Only a few days into the holiday and the LCD screen stopped working. Initially it was possible to view the screen when it was folded out to about 30 degrees. Opening it up to 90 degrees and the screen would simply switch off, it just went black. I knew the camera was still functional as the touch screen still worked – just I couldn’t see anything on it. The viewfinder in the camera still works too.
A quick look around the Internet turned up a whole load of people with the same problem. Some people suggested it could be the backlight in the LCD or a CCD Chip problem (Outlined here) but alas my model was not listed.
It was time to get the screwdriver and find the real cause of the problem. Removal of side panel on the camera was straight forward. It’s easy to slip and scratch the case, so I recommend using masking tape to cover the plastic to prevent damage. There are two small screws on the front of screen and one on the hinge. There are two further screws on the rear of the screen/hinge assembly which are only accessible by tilting the screen at an angle, then rotating it slightly. This allows removal of the LCD cover and you can inspect for loose ribbon cables. Mine looked fine so I had to move on to the main camera body.
The main body has about 4 or 5 really obvious screws holding the side on. There is one non obvious screw under the battery. As you remove this, it frees up a small piece of plastic which drops out (and is easily refitted afterwards). Now it’s just a case of carefully levering the side off. I used a small screwdriver, working my way from the bottom to the top of the camera body. It came free quite easily so don’t get too carried away with the levering. You need to be super careful at this point, as the side is still attached to the camera with several ribbon cables.
There should be enough room to look inside and see the back of the LCD hinge. At least two ribbon cables seem to disappear into the back of the hinge. There is a small strip of sticky felt covering two further screws on the back of the LCD hinge. Remove these two and you should be able to lift up the semi-circle wedge of plastic. I then levered out a smaller piece of plastic which had a ribbon cable clipped into it.
This gave me a good view of the ribbon cable from the screen, past the hinge and on into the camera. I inspected this area closely. That’s when I found the problem. There are two ribbon cables back-to-back which cross the hinge and enter the LCD screen. Just inside the camera, one of the cables in the back-to-back arrangement had clearly split – it looked like someone had cleanly cut the cable with a pair of scissors. This ribbon cable must be replaced in order to restore the LCD to a working condition. Unfortunately I have yet to find a source for this cable. So despite finding the problem I have yet to repair it. In theory with the right ribbon cable it would be a very easy repair.
This is clearly a design fault which has been caused by the rotating screen. Overtime the copper/plastic ribbon cable has become weak and split. I must say I am not best pleased with this and feel that Sony should repair the camera free of charge, although I also believe that given another few years the problem would reoccur, unless the quality of the plastic ribbon cable is improved.
Hi i have just completed the full repair on the flexible pcb i was able to get the part from partmaster.co.uk it was afairly tricky job in the end but it has all worked out fine .Link for partmaster is http://www.partmaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/product.pl?PID=1234259
I’ve had the exact same problem with my Sony DCR-SR200, with the LCD display only being usable when it’s open at an angle. I had been thinking to myself, “This can’t be any more than a loose or severed wire” – and Sony wanted to charge me a flat rate repair fee of $320!!! I’ve only had this camera in my possession for a month and that is complete madness.
If anyone finds a good fix (or even a replacement part using the fixes the poster so well described above) please feel free to post here. There has to be SOME way to get this repaired inexpensively…
Thanks ! Great info. Completed repair no problems. Bit fiddly trying to move the board to get the new cable in but otherwise not much of a problem.
Hi, i have the same problem with my camcorder sony dcr-sr72e.
I’m sure the cause of the problem is that “ribbon” cable, but unforunately i do not know where to find a spare. If any one have any ideas please let me know.
Thank You in advance,
Ernest
i have the same problem, have you had an luck sourcing a ribbon supplier ? Do we all bin our handycams and purchase new camcorders
I’m grateful that you have looked into the problem. I have a similar problem with an DCRSR62. After a year of infrequent use. Initially it worked while flashing, and then from 30 to 45 deg and nil at 90 degree. Now theres only a white screen at all angles. Thank you this was helpful. A higher quality cable is needed !
I have the same problem on my DCR-SR200, the screen has gone blank. I have not managed to locate a ribbon cable for the unit. Any suggestions
Has anyone been able to find a suitable fix for the DCR-SR200 black LCD? I have the same problem; the screen of my camera went bad while I was on vacation, my wife was devastated. I am not to happy with Sony especially when they want to charge $320 for a repair that is the result of their poor design.
Really helpful exactly the same problem as original French Holiday maker.
Not used much but the camera screen started to go red then packed up all the features worked when screen closed and thankfully I remembered where the rewind button was on the black screen.
I took it for a quotation which cost me £15 and the quote was £180 for repair and service though how much the service cost was not specified!
I’m going to have a go at your invitation. Thanks for your help
I have the same problem with my DCR-SR200! First the screen went red, but you could still see images. Today the screen is blank. Not black, but blank blue. The touch screen still seems to work so I could transfer recent pictures onto my computer before sending it to be serviced, but I would like to find someone in the US who can fix it or send the ribbon cable necessary for me to fix it myself. Anybody know a US connection? Sony wants almost $300 to fix it! How disappointing! No more Sony for me!
how the hell do you unplug the ribbon cable from the main pcb board ?? i cant see how you take it out
Thanx 4 the info.. I had the same problem too with my video recorder… This type video recorder really doesnt work nicely
part number for sony dcr-sr72 ribbon cable is 1-871-457-11 yes mine has gone too it cost £30 inc postage to me and its a very fidly job to fit as it wraps around the hinge and has a small clip to fit , i am still trying to do the job lol , parts available from http://www.camtronics.co.uk but if you quote the part number try anywhere, lee
@ Wayne B – yeah i know just got to that stage! help! the ribbon cable disappears under the pcb board.
oh jeez its all in pieces an i dont want to break it!
please someone, anyone, anywhere, help! lol
and also where it passes from camera to screen it goes under a little metal rod, and seems too wide to just thread through and underneath it.
bollocks.
A-HA! i have sussed it!
-to get to the connector under the pcb board you must loosen the front of the camera by removing the two screws near the lens cover switch. ( when it is loose you should be careful not to scratch the lens)
it gets quite fiddly and a bit complicated at this point…
before you remove the old ribbon look at the way its routed. take note.
- first i had to work out how to get the old one out of the bloody thing.
you need to take take the grey cover off the screen hinge and inspect closely. you should notice that as you slowly flip the screen there will be a point at which you will be able to slot the ribbon through a gap.
when you have removed the ribbon inspect that closely as well. Notice how it has been folded and compare that to the new ribbon which is unfolded. On the new ribbon there will be little white and clear tabs. The clear tabs are where the folds are meant to be and the white tabs need to be peeled off (sticky underneath) to hold it in place.
[...] removed with a few screws. This picture shows the ribbon connection (the wide brown strip). Sony DCR-HC19E Handycam LCD Repair (black screen) | Insert name here or maybe: My Fix Tips How to replace a broken LCD screen for Sony DCR-H26 camcorder Please be [...]
Greetings from Spain and thanks for sharing this wealth of information! Using your directions I got my HC-19E disassembled to discover that my offending ribbon was the same as yours. I was happy with this camera but so many faulty Sony cameras makes me think if I should move to another brand.
Kind regards
I have the same problem on my Sony DCR-SR200. Hard Disk Drive Camcorder. It still works including the touchscreen, but the backlighting ceased to function some time ago. Sony got sued in a class action case. I had a Cyber Shot and it turns out the CCD or picture chip was embedded in resin (cheaper) rather than ceramic, and so failed. Class actions are basically worthless to the consumer, and mine was returned “uneconomical to repair” Bogus excuse. I should have sent a letter to the Judge in their case. I am not happy with Sony cameras and camcorders after 2 failures of devices.
I have the same problem with the same model… only one more problem… after opening everything, and concluding the same problem as you did, I closed the whole camera and thought: ok, i will use the viewfinder for the rest of the holiday and send the camera for repair, but apparently i did something wrong when putting things back, because the viewfinder is not working anymore now as well
…. i think it has something to do with the small brown piece (about 1 x 0,5 cm in size) next to the LCD-attachment, with a small silver box on it where a black piece sticks out that registers the open-or-closedness of the lcd-panel. But I can not get things working again. anyone any idea? maybe an option to ALWAYS set the viewfinder ON?