Mini DV dropout

[miamiparis]

I owned a camcorder Samsung SCD-6040. It worked fine. I dropped it and the video doesn't work anymore.
The problem is that I didn't transfer my miniDV tapes to my PC and I had 1 year of important souvenirs (especially, 1 month at the World cup in South Africa).
So I bought the same (same brand, same model) used camcorder on eBay. When I play my tapes on it and watch it on TV, there are dropout (small rectangles that appear on the image) for all my tapes! Before I dropped my camcorder, I saw my tapes on TV fine. So I thought that the new camcorder doesn't work well. But the eBay vendor told me that it worked fine before he sent it to me.
So I offer to do the following test: use 1 of his new tape and record 2 minutes of video, and replay it on TV. The 2 minutes were fine!
So now, I'm upset because I think that for about 1 year after the drop, my tapes were stored and somethiing happened to them.
Is there a hope that my tapes can be good or restored? It's hard to lose important souvenirs.
If the tapes are really damaged, how did it happen?

[aedipuss]

first i would buy a head cleaning tape and use it. them try your tapes again. it could be the cam has dirty heads and isn't tracking very well. or it could have misaligned heads and can only write/read tapes it makes.

[miamiparis]

I used a cleaning tape but there is still the same problem.

[aedipuss]

return it or sell it back on ebay and get something else. doesn't have to be a samsung, as they are about the bottom of the barrel for miniDV cams. a cheap sony might work better. i keep an old hc21 around because it will capture tapes recorded on all makes of cams without a problem.

[miamiparis]

I really thought that if I bought the same brand and model than the camcorder that recorded these tapes, I would have no problem. But I'm going to resell it on eBay and buy the HC21. I hope that it will work. Thanks.

[aedipuss]

any friends with a cam you could just borrow?

[miamiparis]

No, I don't have any good friends lol

[aedipuss]

sometimes the local public access tv stations will let you borrow equipment. check at the local high school, some are located there.

[turk690]

I owned a camcorder Samsung SCD-6040. It worked fine. I dropped it and the video doesn't work anymore.
The problem is that I didn't transfer my miniDV tapes to my PC and I had 1 year of important souvenirs (especially, 1 month at the World cup in South Africa).
So I bought the same (same brand, same model) used camcorder on eBay. When I play my tapes on it and watch it on TV, there are dropout (small rectangles that appear on the image) for all my tapes! Before I dropped my camcorder, I saw my tapes on TV fine. So I thought that the new camcorder doesn't work well. But the eBay vendor told me that it worked fine before he sent it to me.
So I offer to do the following test: use 1 of his new tape and record 2 minutes of video, and replay it on TV. The 2 minutes were fine!
So now, I'm upset because I think that for about 1 year after the drop, my tapes were stored and somethiing happened to them.
Is there a hope that my tapes can be good or restored? It's hard to lose important souvenirs.
If the tapes are really damaged, how did it happen?

My fingers are crossed your tapes are recorded SP. Whatever MiniDV camcorder it is you are going to get hold of next, tough if you will attempt to play LP on them.

[marotti]

Hello All

I have always been concerned with dropout. I use to use the less expensive tapes that I could pickup cheep at the big outlet stores, but it finally became too much.

I got so sick of wasting time, loosing good shots, and risking my business... it was like Russian Roulette.

I put together a video that tells my story and my solution here:

https://vimeo.com/48074316

Thanks!!

[aedipuss]

Hello All

I have always been concerned with dropout. I use to use the less expensive tapes that I could pickup cheep at the big outlet stores, but it finally became too much.

I got so sick of wasting time, loosing good shots, and risking my business... it was like Russian Roulette.

I put together a video that tells my story and my solution here:

https://vimeo.com/48074316

Thanks!!

not welcome. don't grave dig old threads. no one wants to watch your video.

[marotti]

Then don't watch it and get a life

[turk690]

Lol.... this is indeed an old thread. All points about using good tape (like the ones marotti talks about... and sells) are valid. But it's hard to tell what percentage of pros and consumers still use mini-DV presently. Maybe if he was mongering SD cards......

[marotti]

Hey turk690,

I don't have any tape cameras anymore, but I know a lot of people that still do.

I'm in NY but I work all over, and I was on a big job in Miami, over $60K for a corporate video, and luckily I purchased these tapes because the tapes I use to use would have never worked under the rigorous shooting schedule we were under.

It was so humid that my camera gear was dripping wet just from driving from a climate controlled area to the air conditioned job site. I was horrified, but I wiped the cameras down, inspected them and they worked just fine.

That taught me how to treat equipment under extreme conditions.

But as far as the tape goes, I can't believe I even considered using the lower quality tapes in the first place???

You live and you learn