Video was there when I watched this morning, now it has vanished.

[mandalynn142]

Ok, I just came across this site and hope someone can help. I have a sony 8mm camcorder and have recorded numerous tapes without a problem. I have been recording on one particular tape for over 6 months now and have even watched it before. There was never anything wrong with the viewings. Now today, my husband watched the tape, and told me that it was at the end of the tape and we needed more 8mm tapes. So, I sat down and decided that I was going to watch the tape. I rewound the tape and when I pushed play I got sound but no picture. The screen was white. I have been trying to figure this out now and am incredibly upset. This video was the birth of our daughter and that first six months of her life. I am just devastated at the thought of this tape being ruined. Are there any suggestions out there on what my steps may be to figure out what has happened and possibly get the footage from this tape?? Please help, I can't imagine never being able to see all the "firsts" that my daughter has had through the last six months again!
Thank you!!
Amanda

[SingSing]

Swap in another 8mm tape ( the one that you don't care for ), and see is there any video. If there are no video, then your camcorder video head has just broken.

[Cornucopia]

That's possible, but doesn't necessarily mean that the tape's no good. (Hopefully, it's not) You may need to borrow another's camcorder/VCR. It would be prudent while you're at it to do a transfer to another format IMMEDIATELY! Like DVD.

Scott

[mandalynn142]

SingSing
Hi! I did that and there is video. My husband had just played the other video and I rewound it, and nothing, just sound. So I did pop in another video and it played fine. I even tried rewinding that one to see if that was the problem. (I know nothing about electronics!) And I hooked up the camcorder to the tv and played both, but the daughter one still did not play, just a white screen and sound. Can a professional get the video back or is it gone forever?
Thank you for you reply!!

[mandalynn142]

Is it possible that somehow my rewinding "erased" the tape?

[SingSing]

Don't worry, you can't erase the video and not the audio.

If you can play back with sound, but the sound level is low, then it is likely the tape casette mechanism is having probelm, like felt/backing/roller issue.

Get a blank or new 8mm tape, press the small button on the side, flip open the end flap, and look at the tape and its surrounding, then open the porblem tape, and compare.

You want to take note if some tiny part is missing, or there is a horizontal line across the tape. That can be fixed.

A real professonial can get it back maybe with some distortion, and you need to transfer it to DVD or VHS as soon as possible.

[lacywest]

Is it possible that somehow my rewinding "erased" the tape?

White screen and sound ... can you hear what this sound is ... is it your voice saying ... "what is wrong".

Do you hear background sounds that sounds like the kind of sounds you would be hearing while playing this video of your child.

Many many times I've recorded something ... rewind it back to look at it but I did not prepare my JVC to record the next ... whatever ... I stopped it and when I did my next video recording ... I recorded over something I didn't want to lose

I forgot to fast forward past the recording I made.

[SingSing]

That normally give you black screen(len cap is on) and sound.

[mandalynn142]

I do hear exactly what was being said while recording. I have watched the tape several times, so I know that there was video actually on there before. At the very end of the tape there is about 1 minute of video that actually plays, and when I rewind while it is playing, it just goes to the white screen, but yet the sound still continues as if nothing were wrong. I am just sick thinking that this video may be lost. I had planned on putting it on DVD as soon as the tape was completely used, which ironic enough was this morning! I just don't understand this at all!

[vhelp]

Hi.., happy Turkey-Eve to you all, hehe.. got out of work early today.

Anyways..

Another possible clue to look at is the magnetic tape itself.
I mean, using the (spoiled) tape and a good tape (tha thas video)
open each lid (carefully) and compare both. If one is dull, its
a good chance that the (spoiled) tape got twisted during the
rewind, and when you play it, you get weird'ness going on.

I don't know.. I'm just thinking that this could happen (has, to me)
and it could be an easy fix, by flipping the tape over, but you
would have to do this by winding back to the place where it was
*before* you re-forwar-wind it. Hope that made sense.

mandalynn142, don't feel bad. I think that just about everyone
goes through this. I know I have. It's always an phenominon-like
personal mystery and experence that we all go through, you know.

Take care.., drive safe, eat plenty, and be merry, hehe.

Good luck,
-vhelp 4126

[Cornucopia]

No matter what you do, DON'T try to record or play anything on this again until you've figured out (or use a TRULY KNOWLEDGEABLE video technician who can) how to proceed. That should probably include putting it in another deck for now, until you've verified the tape path.

It probably hasn't yet been lost irretrievably. The part about recording over is this:
8mm tape can use FM/PCM audio tracks when recording video. It sometimes has the capability of recording a separate set of tracks later on (for "commentary", etc). The set that is recorded with video is basically "folded-in" with the video signal, so a completely damaged/erased video signal would pretty much damage/erase the original audio of it as well. The "commentary" audio, OTOH, could play whether or not the original was crapped out.
--OR--
If new material over-wrote the old, you would have new audio+new video (whatever that may or maynot be).

But,
If you can still hear the ORIGINAL audio, it's just a matter of re-aligning/tweaking/etc to get the video back (since it should still be there).

Scott

[mandalynn142]

Thank you all for you replies! I am going to take it to someone that deals with these things after the holiday. You have given me a small amount of hope! I do hope that the video is still there. This is all the "firsts" of my daughter, which obviously is VERY important to me! Especially since it took us five years to get her!! It is just soooo strange, with my husband watching it minutes before I did. very odd.
Thank you all again!!
Mandy

[lacywest]

That normally give you black screen(len cap is on) and sound.

I've done that several times ... on purpose ... yep ... I reuse the DV tapes

[mateck]

Hello:

I have had the same problem with MANY of my customers tapes. We professionaly transfer tapes to DVD. (Probably about 2000-3000 tapes per year). I have only found this problem you are describing to with 8mm tapes. I have not seen it with any other format. The customer gives me a tape that is playing fine... the last time they used it... and no it is not playing at all. I have always thought that it had something to do with the rewind. Perhaps there is a chunk of dirt in side the 8mm tape that puts a scratch along the control track (perhaps so small that you can not see it when you filp up the cover of the outer shell). That is just my guess. I would be really interested to see if you can find anything out about this. I have never been able to fix the problem. I do really feel bad that you are having this problem. I know how precious my family videotape collection is. I would not play back any other tapes in the camera until you figure this out. Please post back! Let us know what you have found locally if you do bring it to a professional. Thanks. Matt Eckman. American Video Transfer Inc.

[jmkeuning]

You can also go over to www.camcorderinfo.com and see if there is a forum for your camera for for your type of camera generally.