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Hello ,

I have a Sony mini-DV tape that recorded badly on a recent job. It is a Sony Professional quality tape but it has pixelizing and wide grey horizontal stripes across the footage for 10 min. into the tape. The content is spoiled and I don’t know what to do – as it is for a promotional video for a client.

I am wondering what the problem was, as I had used the same type tapes on a job earlier in the week with no problems.

When I first put the tape in, my VX2000 gave the flashing “cleaning cassette” message. Did that and thought it was recording properly but when I reviewed the tape, I was shocked to see the problems

I am pretty sure it is because I had been using pansonic PQ tapes for a long time, then took a chance on these 4 Sony miniDVs from Walmart (yeah, I know, bad idea.) I did run 10 sec of my cleaning head tape, but I think it was at the end of the cleaning tape, so it probably did not clean the heads


Can the footage on this tape be fixed or read by some other mechanism?

Today a videographer told me to try running the tape through a Sony DVCAM recorder/player to see if it reads the tape .. has anyone heard of this or has any suggestions?

Many thanks,

Kim in Comfort (Texas)

Hi Kim,

That's happened to me a couple of times over the years and each time I took charge of the situation and informed the client that the tape was bad and not useable and asked if we could do a re-shoot. Each time they were very understanding and a re-shoot was not a problem. Remember,they are just as anxious to get a good video as you are to deliver it. So be upfront but not to "wordy" to what the problem was, they will thank you for your professionalism. I did the re-shoots but my profit took a big hit because of all the time and costs associated with doing it twice. Hope it works out for you.

Well, it could be your heads are dirty and causing this and in that case it might not be a problem on the tape at all.

If that is the case then playing it back in a different cam or deck will work fine.

However, if it the record heads were also dirty or misaligned and the problem is the tape or recorded onto the tape regardless of whether it's the heads or tape you are pretty well stuck with what you see.

A head cleaning tape might help, can even hurt, over use of the same can permanently wear out/damage the heads or might not help at all.

Sometimes if the heads and tape path are really fouled a professional hand cleaning is the only fix.

Also, as you mentioned it is a VX2000 which is a relatively old cam now a days you might be running into actually worn out heads.

These can be replaced, but it is not cheap, especially considering what the worth of the cam is now and what life expectancy you plan to try to squeeze out of the cam at this point.

You might be better buying a used replacement or moving on to investing in new technology cams if your problem is worn out heads.

Lots of possibilities and lots of possible solutions.

Paul and Tim,

thank you for your advice .... I really appreciate it.

Anyone got a camcorder for sale?!!!

Many Thanks, Kim

Anyone,

for those who are using minDV tapes are the Panasonic PQ tapes more realiable than the Sony brand?

Thanks, Kim Williamson

I've used 100s of Panasonic PQ tapes without a problem. As Tim mentioned, pixelization can stem from dirty heads. When this has occurred, I've run my head cleaning tape with success. However, it's best not to overuse these tapes as they do impact on head longevity. I can't speak for the Sony tapes.

I have heard horror stories about both, I have had no problems with either.

Thanks guys!

I believe the problem is Sony uses what they call "wet" tape or more lubercant. Panasonic uses "dry" tape or less lubercant. I had the same thing happen to me once and since then have only used Sony's with never another problem. The key is not to switch brands or at least not from wet to dry. Unfortunily, the footage you have will not be usable.

No, that wet/dry issue went away years and years ago.

I last ran into that gunk problem back in the bad ole Hi-8 days.

I have switched between Sony and Panasonic on the sam day and gig without running a head cleaner tape in between switches, without problems in my last seven cams over about eight years now, from DV to HDV without a single incident.

So no one is going to convince me it was that old bug a boo.

On the other hand, it is entirely possible to run into a defective batch of tape and I cannot think of a more likely source for this than Wal-Mart.

That said, it is just common sense that if you are using a brand without issue, stick with it.