Works great....eats a tape...now snowy on all other tapes

[elvis57]

Hi, I was getting ready to cue a tape to capture some old movies from 2002 when disaster struck. First time this happened to this camcorder. I rewound the tape, played a bit, image was clear. Fast forwarded a bit, hit play and was watching for about 1 minute then started getting fuzzy... Then counter stopped. I just knew that the tape was being cannibalized inside. Got the tape out.. It was cut as well as unspooled about a foot or so. Took the tape apart, reconnected the tape with some tuck tape about 1 inch long and thinner than tape widths. Wound the damage onto the spool a few wraps and put the tape back together. Tape immediately played snowy....ok touched it a bit so that recording area could be hooped. Ffw 10 minutes...same. 30 minutes...same. Ok, put in a another tape. Same. Recorded for 20 minutes, no change. Only thing I could think would be oil from my hands handling the original tape, or damage from tape unraveling inside. This is a 2000 hitachi VM-E565LA, cooked about 15 tapes in its life, always worked great. Never a jam or unspool until now but after watching a clear picture, tape glitches and jams up and now snow, snow, snow. I get sound ok and can see the taped image, it's just mixed with snowy screen( white/grey fuzz full screen). Any ideas from the audience? Thanks

[Cornucopia]

Your use of tuck (sp. - duct) tape gunked up the heads, maybe permanently.

Listen up (everybody who reads this): NEVER USE ANY ADHESIVE ON MAGNETIC TAPE EXCEPT APPROVED, DEDICATED SPLICING TAPE!

If it can be cleaned, you still need to have it be fixed so as not to eat tapes (unless that tape was pre-wrinkled and got caught). Might be worth it, might not.
Get an estimate and compare it to what you can get as a replacement from ebay/craigslist/etc.

Scott

[elvis57]

Thanks for the quick reply cornucopia. While I agree with your assessment on adhesives, I spliced that tape then wound it on by hand a few wraps, then put the tape back together and ffw'd the tape to put more wraps on before playing. If I'm missing something please throw it out but I'm sure the adhesive never seen the heads. Thansk

[Cornucopia]

Your "strip" may have been narrower than the mag tape, but the process of tensioning the reel "squeezed" the adhesive onto other layers (it can act like a liquid under pressure).

I have seen more than my share, so I'd bet money on it.

But if you are so sure that couldn't have happened here, the alternative is that the tape mangling shed oxide, or scratched the head.

Regardless, all of your solutions require professional servicing, or replacement.
BTW, do NOT put any more tapes in the deck as it is, it could be messing up those subsequent tapes.

Scott

<edit>one final user-fix you could attempt is to take a copy of a tape that you aren't concerned at all about and load it into the deck, then press [PLAY], then while playing, press/hold [FF] or [REW]. This has the effect of sometimes "scouring" the heads and dislodging oxide shed. Might work, might not.

[elvis57]

The only reason that i think the adhesive isnt on the heads is because the tape was previously rewound before the jam. While playing for that 30 seconds or so, as the tape jammed (or the reason that it did) the picture became snowy and a few seconds later stopped altogether. After taking the tape apart, and then splicing, i hand wound the splice a few turns around the empty reel. Once the tape was back together I put it in the camcorder and ffw the tape for a few seconds.Then i tried playing it so in theory all the bad tape would have stayed on the empty reel and been covered by the remaining wraps on the other reel while playing. Hence, the splice should not have ran over the heads. BUT...I still may have contaminated the tape somehow. I am away from home currently but I will try the play/ffw method soon as there was alot of damaged tape. If that doesnt work, Ill likely just buy a cheap replacement 8mm or hi8 to get these tapes digitized. Also the tapes are from early 2000's so getting brittle I would think, which may have contributed to the original jam. Ill post back my results. Thanks
BTW, if I cant rectify the oxide issue myself, would this issue require a new head or just professional cleaning?

[budwzr]

Clean the capstan and oil all the spindles. Or use a cleaning tape.

[elvis57]

Ok thanks, I am currently on the lookout for a wet head cleaning tape.

[Cornucopia]

Ok thanks, I am currently on the lookout for a wet head cleaning tape.

Again, another newbie, not good idea. (read past posts)

Scott

[elvis57]

After I posted I read that cleaning tapes may do more damage than good so I may attempt to try a DIY cleaning once I get the required items. If that fails, then I'll buy a used 8mm or hi8 and hopefully get the tapes I have digitized. That's the goal. I doubt that buying even a new drum from a dealer for a 13+ year old camcorder that's almost as outdated as vcrs ( and yes I know people still use them, my dad does exclusively), will cost well in excess of buying another used camcorder. But I'll give it a go and if I inadvertently messed this one up then so be it. Lesson learned. That's how we all got here anyway. Thanks for all the advice and hopefully I can resurrect this unit, it has done me well, and I'll now try my best to not screw it up any worse...

[Cornucopia]

IIWY, I'd go straight to getting a D8 camcorder/deck (one that plays Video8, Hi8, and Digital8, and automatically converts the analog signals to digital out via firewire). While also becoming obsolete, they are newer and should be more likely to be found than analog cams. Plus, you have the added benefit of the A/D conversion built in.
Don't waste your time throwing good money after bad.

Scott

[elvis57]

Hi, just wanted to give an update since I last posted. I was nervous about putting in another tape as I still did not have a head cleaner so I used the chamois wipe with 99% isopropyl and lightly wiped the head. Let it evaporate for a bit then threw a useless tape in. Bam. Worked perfect. Idk what the original issue was, there could have been contamination from the first tape being eaten or just 2 tapes that wouldn't read well. I'm still going to upgrade to digital but for now I'm transferring movies before these tapes deteriorate any more. Thanks to all for your help.

[budwzr]

OK. Glad that worked for you.