When I have my PD-170 in camera mode I can see an image on the LCD screen (and through the eye piece) but when I go into playback mode, I only get a blank blue screen. The tape is moving inside the chassis, and I've tried viewing different tapes from various points in the recording. I've reset the camera and have left the battery out for a few hours, but when I set everything up again I have the same playback problem.

Does anyone know what the problem might be? Is this possible to fix at home, and if so, how?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

How many hours do you have on it, and when was the last time you cleaned the heads?

You know, I'm not sure how many hours I have on it... definitely a whole lot though.

I've actually never cleaned the heads. Do I just run a cleaning tape, or is there more to it than that?

Thanks for your help.

Try a cleaning tape first for about 10 seconds. You could repeat up to two more times but I wouldn't go more than 30 sec.

Otherwise the next step would be a professional cleaning.

Projected head life on these things is about 500 hours or so.

Great, I'll do just that. Thanks much.