I Scored a nice Sony CCD-TR73 at a thrift store for $1.69 (Yes One Dollar and Sixty-Nine Cents Lol!)
Unfortunately it seems to have a loose connection :( but for less then two dollars I took the chance and lost

The viewfinder and external Composite video and the stereo audio go crazy unless I press really hard on the cassette area It will play and record but not reliably with a loose connection does anyone have an idea of where to look for the loose or bad connection?
Does anyone know how to fix these things? I really like the camera (It is a Video 8 AKA 8MM Video Cassette Hi-Fi Stereo model) So I would really like to fix this

I found the Service Manual (http://elektrotanya.com/sony_ccd-tr36_tr73_tr76_tr83_tr93_tr100_tr560_tr600_tr670pk _tr880.pdf/download.html) but that is way over and beyond my skill level (The manual that is) I would not even know where to look in the manual for the problem that my unit has


Thanks

I have only briefly looked at a couple of camcorders, and those machines are probably nightmares to repair, without some nice test equipment and spare parts/boards/mechanisms and so on.

The only suggestions I could make are to do your best to narrow down how/where you have to push on the unit to "fix" it, and also to figure out if the problem is in play only or record and play. That manual should tell you how to start disassembling the unit, and that will be part of your search for the bad connection(s). Good luck.

I collect older camcorders. I don't understand what's going on inside them, but I have sent a few to this guy (http://www.ebay.com/usr/jasmine-vivian) in the past. He knows what he's doing and will refurbish w/ new parts.