Canon miniDV camcorder problems?

Question

My sister recently borrowed my Canon camcorder two weeks ago for a weekend trip she took. She bought her own miniDV tape for it. She recently got in contact with me saying that the playback for the tape is all black, with the sound of myself and my friends (obviously some kind of old footage I took)

How is this possible, if she has a brand new miniDV tape she used for her footage? The camcorder doesn't use an internal memory feature for video taping, so I can't understand how old footage can somehow run over the new. Any way to explain this?

Answer 1

So she still has your camcorder? If she plays it back in the camera, what happens? Has anyone tried to hook the camera to a PC using firewire connection? I have never hooked my camera to my TV, so what cord is she using? The red/yellow/white?

Answer 2

It is possible that if the playback was on a computer the firewire cable or port is in poor condition. It is also possible that the screen on the camera was turned off/not working if the playback was on the camera.