MiniDVs degrading - can anything be done

[Tony Carroll]

Hi

I have just found 12 Old Mini DV tapes from 2002 and wanted to put them onto my hardrive. There are 5 panasonic, 5 sony premiums and 2 fuji's.
The Panasonic and the fuji ones are absolutely fine, however all the sony ones seem to have degraded, there is no sound or sporadic sound and the image is pixilated. When I try to play the sony ones the camcorder puts up the message "your tape heads need cleaning" however it always plays the panasonic ones and the fuji ones fine.
Are these memory's gone forever or is there a way of recovering the data??#

Info:
I Have cleaned the heads, it makes no difference.
The tapes were simply in and old bag in the back of the wardrobe and have not been stored in any extreme environments.
All the Sony's were in perfect watchable condition when last viewed about 8 years ago

The camcorder is an old JVC GR DVX 707 would trying the tapes in a more sophisticated machine help?
If I simply take the tapes to a photo shop to put them on a disc are they likely to have more luck or will I just be charged for un-watchable video?

Any advice would be appreciated.. Thanks

[Tony Carroll]

Here is an example of the problem.

[JVRaines]

Try cleaning the entire tape path, not just the heads. Wind the Sony cassettes all the way from head to tail and back before trying again. Your JVC could be out of alignment in a way that only reveals itself with the Sonys. Try playing them in another MiniDV deck.

[Tony Carroll]

You were exactly right, borrowed a Samsung camcorder and they all played fine in there, Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

Just to clarify, the tapes were not degrading.
And 2002 isn't really "old".

[lordsmurf]

Just to clarify, the tapes were not degrading.
And 2002 isn't really "old".

[Tony Carroll]

That's absolutely right lordsmurf, the tapes hadn't degraded.
My camcorder is acting weird playing all my cassettes absolutely fine except those 5 really old Sony's; I think you can see why I assumed it was the cassettes at fault. A really good post from JVRaines pointed my in the right direction.

Oh, and just to clarify, time is relative and 2002 is really old when talking within time frame that I have owned a camcorder. In fact, there is someone right now somewhere in the world sat in a pub with a beer that was 5 years old in 2002. For them it is practically prehistoric!!

[ron spencer]

will they degrade? eventually? What is the lifespan?

[lordsmurf]

will they degrade? eventually? What is the lifespan?

It depends on the environment.

A typical home or office, with air conditioning and/or heating to maintain a fairly stable temperature, will let tape last about 65 years.

If you live in a mud hut in the rain forest, it'll be less.