DV tape damage during transfer

[syberkill]

HELP! Ok, I hope I can get an answer to this issue through this forun. I have a crisis. I was using my DV camcorder to transfer footage to a file on my PC using Nero. During the process, at the end of the transfer, the tape got screwed up in the camcorder and it shut down. I found the file I was making, and when I try to play it, I can't. It's in .avi format, and is physically there because it shows it is 10 GB in size. I know something happened with completing the file because the camcorder shut off. Is there anything I can do to make this file playable? It was my son's first bday party, and the tape is now ruined. Please help!

[aedipuss]

digital video repair.
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Digital_Video_Repair

[zoobie]

you may be surprised how little of the tape is actually ruined
since it's important, I'd drop it off at a shop

[JohnnyMalaria]

Is there anything I can do to make this file playable? It was my son's first bday party, and the tape is now ruined. Please help!

We have a repair tool specifically for malformed DV AVIs due to a missing header. You can get it here:

http://www.enosoft.net/dl.php?filename=EnoAVIRepairToolInstaller.msi

These problems occur when the capturing process is interrupted before Windows completes writing the file.

[syberkill]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't say that enough for your help! The repair program worked! Thankfully I got a good chunk of footage that is usable. It cut out and is distorted after about 20 minutes so that must be where the tape screwed up. However before that happened I got my son and his birthday cake so I'm happy. Thank you again I can't express how much this makes me feel better. BTW, the tape itself is torn because I tried to play Mr. Fix-it like an idiot, so I don't think repair is an option.

Oh, and since you guys are so helpful, I thought I would run this by you also. My camcorder will not play back any tapes now because of that one tape screwing up. I work at Best Buy, and the camera guy there said it seems that it can rewind and fast forward but playback is messed up from a possible video head damage. Since I'm so stupid and the one thing I've ever bought there without the extended warranty was that, I'm screwed getting it repaired. He said the cost of fixing a video head would be more than buying a new camcorder. Any opinion on this? Obviously nobody can look at it, but from what I described am I better off getting a new camcorder?

[JohnnyMalaria]

I don't think "just" head damage would cause that. I would suspect a mechanical issue. In play mode, the tape gets wrapped around the head by a couple arms that come forward and push the tape into place. In rewind/fast forward, the tape is pulled back from the head and the it travels much like in an audio cassette.

When the tape got mangled, were you able to remove the tape intact? Is there a chance that some tape is left in the mechanism?

Also, when the damage occurred, the mangled tape could have created some mechanical damage in the tape path. The tension on the tape when played has to be just right and anything that can affect that will cause the mechanism to refuse to load the tape to the head or to eject the tape completely.