What is the reason behind why a lot of my miniDV tapes have bad quality?

[videoconverter11]

Hi everyone,

I recently took to the task of converting a bunch of miniDV tapes I have. I noticed that around 50% of them have some sort of noise interference in them. What I mean is that there will be these digital blocks all over the place and/or horizontal lines. The video is very choppy and often times the video just seems to have a bunch of interference. I cleaned my minDV camcorder and realized it wasn't its problem, as some videos play without error. I then remembered that my camcorder I used to record everything may have had issues. It is possible that a faulty recording miniDV camcorder head is the problem? Additionally, is there any other possibility as to why some of my tapes have play issues? I have a ton of Video8 films taken almost 30 years ago and they all play fine, but the miniDV tapes which were recorded within 8 years have all sorts of issues. Thanks!

[smrpix]

It is possible that a faulty recording miniDV camcorder head is the problem? Additionally, is there any other possibility as to why some of my tapes have play issues?

Yes. If the problem areas are always on the same part of the tape, dirty or faulty recording heads are likely the problem. It could also be physical tape damage. If the problems occur at different places with each viewing, the playback heads/device are at fault. If the tapes are recorded at slower than SP speeds, errors are more likely because a shorter length of tape has to hold the same amount of data.

[Cornucopia]

Are you reusing your tapes (too much])?

Scott

[videoconverter11]

thanks for the replies, i will look into that. as far as reusing the tapes, I did notice some bad parts were when someone accidentally recorded over parts, could that be a reason?

[Cornucopia]

Yes, especially if they aren't the highest quality (tape formulation) to begin with.

Scott