Will this play 8mm cassettes - Panasonic Palmcorder PV-GS15 Mini DV Digital Camcorder

Good to hear it.

You need an 8mm player or the camera that recorded the tapes. Connect the video and audio from the 8mm player/camera to a VHS recorder. Put the 8mm on play and the VHS on record.

Assuming this VCR is compatible with 8mm video then there is an internal fault that will require a technician to diagnose.

Al

DCR-TRV130 is not capable of playing back 8mm or Hi8 tapes recorded on analog camcorders. Digital recording playback only.

To the best of my knowledge 8mm VTR's have not been available for some time now. On the other hand there are plenty of Hi8 cameras and players available after market. eBay is a great source. Keep in mind that Hi8 cameras and decks will also play standard 8mm video tapes.
There are also many video tape transfer services that will transfer your 8mm tapes to DVD or other formats of your choice. Just Google "videotape transfer service"

I was having the exact same problems, and I read a post on this website somewhere recommending that I just record a few seconds of video on a blank portion of tape and then the camera should start playing video normally again.

I tried it, and IT WORKED!!

If you ran it through that many 8mm players, I'm going to say that the tape has something wrong with it.

You can see visually if there is anything wrong with the tape by releasing the cover by moving the tape and visually inspect the tape for anything that could be frayed. Usually you can see it on the bottom of the tape.

Sometimes the takeup can be messed up in the tape too. Once you release the tape cover, you can turn the white wheels to see if there is any slack in them.

Good luck on that.

For some reason, it just started working and is fine now. I think it hadn't been used in awhile and just was sluggish.

It's not tracking -- it's dirty heads -- you can purchase an 8mm head cleaning cassette and use it to cure these problems. Tapes recorded with the dirty heads may still have issues afterwards.

YOu may be confusing HI8 with 8mm. One being analog,the other being digital, and a slight difference in form factor