Strange issue during capture of old Hi8 tape

[alegator]

I have this collection of Hi8 2 hour tapes that date from 1993/4. I'm using a Sony EV-C100 Hi8 VCR to capture them together with Canopus ADVC100 and Premiere Pro 2. During each capture sesssion I leave the setup capturing for the whole 2 hours without interruption checking ocasionally the Capture monitor in Premiere (that shows a live preview) and after checking success I continue with the next tape. During the capture of the last tape all of a sudden at about 1h24min after capturing the capture monitor started showing many artifacts in the video, sound was muted and after a while the capture was stopped. I saved the capture session up to that point, and then after fast forwarding and rewinding th tape back a few seconds before the point of interruption I restarted capture and the artifacts wouldn't show up, as if the tape or head would be "cleaned" by the ff/r action. A factor to consider is that since filmed in 1993/4 I played these tapes maybe 3 or 4 times, not more, in a span of 12 years, same goes with the usage of the Sony Hi8 VCR. So what can I do to avoid this in future tape captures? Will ff/r remove any possible dust that might interfere with the head of the VCR?

[edDV]

Do you mean the Premiere capture monitor? Or one on or connected to the tape deck?

Two quick thoughts,

Are you sure you didn't fill the disk partition?

If a tape issue, it is best to wind and rewind the tape fully before capture. Tapes get sticky over time and at 1h24min you are talking about the end of the tape that is most tightly wound.

[alegator]

I meant the Premiere Capture Monitor which I set to Preview the video during capture.
The disk partition has plenty of room, I'm using a 320Gb 7200rpm WD 2nd internal hard drive to capture, it is presently only 40% full and defragged.
Ok, I will wind/rewind fully each tape before capturing. Also, do you recommend using the tape head cleaner? I have 2 Sony head cleaner tapes specific for this VCR, but I read somewhere that one should avoid using tape cleaners unless absolutely necessary.

[edDV]

I meant the Premiere Capture Monitor which I set to Preview the video during capture.
The disk partition has plenty of room, I'm using a 320Gb 7200rpm WD 2nd internal hard drive to capture, it is presently only 40% full and defragged.
Ok, I will wind/rewind fully each tape before capturing. Also, do you recommend using the tape head cleaner? I have 2 Sony head cleaner tapes specific for this VCR, but I read somewhere that one should avoid using tape cleaners unless absolutely necessary.

I use head cleaning tapes periodicly. I haven't had serious dirty tape issues with Hi8 yet but it's a heavy issue with old VHS tapes leaving gunk on the heads and guides. It's even worse for my old reel to reel audio tapes which are much older and sticky.

Seek out advice from the pro duplication and restoration houses. They can do anyhing including dubbing from moldy or fire damaged tapes. One example
http://www.high-techproductions.com/tapetips.htm

[JohnnyMalaria]

I had a similar issue capturing some old Video 8 footage (early 90s) using a similar vintage Video 8 deck. Neither the tapes nor deck had been used for 10 years or so.

For the deck, I had to run a head cleaner through it quite a few times.

For the tapes, definitely wind forward then back before capturing.

With time, some of the adhesives could migrate to the surface of the tape and gunk up the head. Or the adhesives can be losing their effectiveness and metal is shedding.

You probably won't get the same quality as when the deck and tapes were new.