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OT – Help with damaged DVCPRO 50 cassette.
We did a shoot on DVCPRO 50 using Panasonic AJ-P66MP tapes. One of the recorded cassettes now will simply not load into a VCR. When loaded it goes in, sits for a moment and then is unceremoniously ejected. No jamming, no error messages, no loose tape spilling out — just no playback. Before I take the frightening step of opening the cassette myself and trying to repair it — does anyone know of a service that will do this and actually has some expertise with this kind of operation.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions -
4 Replies
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how many vtr’s to you try this tape in ? will it still load in the camera ok ?
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Make sure lables aren’t interfering with the tape door. Is the cassette damaged in any way? Inspect the deck carrage for foriegn objects.
joe
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Take the cover off of the top of deck and watch the tape loading. Make sure that the door on the cassette is getting flipped up and the tape is getting pulled out of the cassette and wrapped around the drum. Just watch the machine try to thread up. I’m guessing that something is preventing the cassette door from opening up, especially if other tapes will work. Also make sure, by opening the cassette door manually, that the tape hasn’t broke inside the cassette. You should be able to see it stretched from reel to reel within the cassette shell when the little door is flipped up. If the tape is broken, the machine will not be able to thread it up properly and the deck’s computer will kick it back out for safety. Tape within cassettes has been know to get severed or simply pulled loose from the supply or takeup reel during a hard rewind or fast forward. Also, is it the only tape that will not load. Will other tapes the same size and length load properly? Sometimes the sensors in the deck fail to recognize the size of the cassette and will not move the reel tables into the correct positions. This will cause an error as well and eject the cassette for safety. Finally, does the reels in the cassette turn freely. The tape could be jamed which will also prevent the deck from threading properly.
Tom -
Thanks to everyone for their help. It turned out the tape door wouldn’t open becuase there was a tiny piece of plastic jamming it closed. Alls well that ends well . Thanks again.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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