I have a tape that will not show me any footage when being played, the time code does not move in real time, but when I hit stop it jumps to where it is on the tape. If I fast forward while "playing" the video scrubs and I can see its there, but when I push play I go to nothing again.

This tape had about 5 seconds of footage recorded in DV format, then I stopped recording and switched to HDV.

I have since gone back and recorded over the first 2 minutes in HDV in hopes of "fixing" the problem, but still no luck.

Camera: HV20 Tape: Maxell

Any Ideas?

Sorry I can't offer a solution, but I can tell you I've had this exact same problem with a Sony HDR-HC1 HDV cam, so at least you know your issue is not unique. In my case it started off as a few missing seconds, but further attempts to recover the video made the problem grow.

I never found out what my problems fix is but I had exactly the same problem with my HV20 about a year ago. I think I still have a couple tapes that will only show in fast forward. I'd love to recover what's on those tapes but I gave up.

Well, in a sense I go t"lucky" because it was the 3rd camera in a 3 camera shoot, and the 1st tape is not critical. I am however hesitant to use it again, and am more scared about my family footage in the future being shot on it.

Did both of you guys start in SD and then switch to HDV on the same tape?

Has anyone else had this problem?