I have a 500 GB hard drive and a 1TB Time Capsule running on a MacBook Pro.  It was all working well until the MacBook went in for a repair a week or so ago.  Since then, TC will not perform a backup;  instead, it says the backup is too large for the disk

Since having my MacBook Pro repaired (for a video problem) Time Capsule returns the following message:  "This backup is too large for the backup disk. The backup requires 428.08 GB but only 192.14 GB are available."
I notice that there is also a new sparse bundle.
Since TC has my ONLY backup (going back about 4 years) I am reluctant to wipe it and start over fresh as I am afraid of losing files. 
Is there a way of dealing with this?
I am using Snow Leopard 10.6.8

The repair shop likely replaced a major circuit board on your MacBook Pro, so Time Machine thinks that you have a "new" computer and it wants to make a new complete backup of your Mac.
You are going to have to make a decision to either add another new Time Capsule....or USB drive to your existing Time Capsule....and in effect start over with a new backup of your Mac and then move forward again.
For "most" users, I think this is probably the best plan because you preserve all your old backups in case you need them at some point, and you start over again with a new Time Capsule so you have plenty of room for years of new backups.
Or, as you have mentioned, you have the option of erasing the Time Capsule drive and starting all over again. The upside is that you start over and have plenty of room for new backups. The downside is that you lose years of backups.
Another option....trying to manually delete old backups individually....is tricky business....and very time consuming. To get an idea of what is involved here, study this FAQ by Pondini, our resident Time Capsule and Time Machine expert on the Community Support area. In particular, study the pink box.
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/12.html
Once you look through this, I think you may agree that this type of surgery is not for the faint of heart.  I would suggest that you consider this only if one of the other options just cannot work for you.

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