I am in need of serious help. Today I went to look through some tapes using my vx2000 and i popped in some that I haven't looked at for a while. Surprisingly there was no timecode anywhere on the tape. I didn't thing it was that unusual because the tape was unmarked. However, once I started to view tapes that I *know* are full of video, nothing showed up. No video, no timecode, no nothing. I also tried recording, while the camera would say it was recording, it would move the tape and the light would come on, upon review it would show nothing. It would start moving the tape, but no timecode or video.

I do not have a cleaning-tape otherwise I would've tried that. The last time I used the camera was this wensday, so only 3 days ago, and then it was working fine. I have not switched brands of tape ever. I use panasonic professional. Although I have been using tapes put in decks that are used mainly with sony tapes. Could the lubricant problems transfer over to my camera this way? And if so would it cause a complete loss of ability to read/write?

I am freaked out because I cannot afford to pay for a complete head replacement, and also because I don't know what happened or what to do. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

-Jake

I can think of least several reasons why your tapes won't play:

battery is dead/no hydro
you didn't set the cam into playback mode
you stored your tapes near a magnet or heat
your cam's heads need some cleaning
your heads need replacement or something
your cam is completely shot

Is your cam able to record?

Thanks for your reply.

It's not the power issue as the camera turns on and functions normally in every respect aside from recording or playing back

None of tapes were exposed to high heat or magnetic fields. And even so, video should still show up if I record new video on to a tape.

So basically I'm starting to think my heads are completely messed up. Anyone have any suggestions on where to get it fixed?

If your warranty has run out, take it to a cam repair shop.

Some thoughts. Those very same tapes play back well on other equipment? If you go DV out to your PC, still nothing? Analogue out to your TV - any difference? The new recordings you've made (that don't replay) - anything show when played on another cam?

tom.

First off thanks for the reply Tom. I did take my tapes to a studio to try them out on MiniDV decks that are known to be working. Tapes that had video played well on the deck, but nothing showed up when they were played on the 2000. While I was there I did a recording test again with the vx2000. To my surprise it kept the timecode when I was done recording. I rewound and played back to see heavy heavy dropouts and Lines. THe video was barely viewable under all the erroring. I took the tape out and played it back in the deck. Instead of just gray dropout lines I had heavily pixelated multicolor filled lines with somewhat garbled video inbetween. I am now hoping that this is just a head cleaning issue and not a head alignment one. Insights?

Thanks, Jake

Have you tried using a head cleaning tape yet?

First off I must apologize for posting with an account using an alias as the username. Way back when i created it the rules were not so strict about using your real name for an account. And since for the past year or so all I've really done is just read it hasn't become an issue. So from now, this is me, no more papabryd.

As for the cleaning tape, I have ordered one but it will not be here until friday. If the video dept. here has a tape, I'll try that, but otherwise I'll just have to wait until Friday. Thanks!

-Jake

I had this happen on my PC100 camcorder, also a Sony although I've used many types of tapes with it. I used a simple $15 head cleaner twice and everything started to work just fine again.

Yes, the more I read, the more I think it's a head cleaning job that will be quickly sorted. Have you been mixing tapes in the camera Jacob? In which case it might be time for a tape path clean rather than a simple head clean. But try that first.

tom.

Thanks for the reply Tom. Yes, I did order a tape cleaner which is scheduled to be here on friday. The bigger questions is now on the tapes. I have never switched tape brands, I've always used panasonic AY-DVM63PQ tapes. However, at school we are forced to use standalone DV decks to do editing on the school computers and to present our work. And everyone at school is uses Sony tapes. I'm wondering if its possible that my panisonic tapes got gunked up by the DV decks, and then transferred that gunk to my VX2000. Let me know what you think.

-Jake

It is a possibility though not a probability. If you'd asked this question in 2000 the answer woul've been more positive, but it seems as if tape binders have become more compatible across brands in the last 3 years, and I hear of 'mixing' problems less and less.

If you take off the tape deck door (very easy, two screws) and get good strong sunlight pouring into the mechanism, what do you see up close? Good, bright, shiney components? No brown ring on the capstan? If you see any gunge marks at all then it could be tape path cleaning time.

And how come 'everyone at school uses Sony tapes' and you don't, huh? What tapes do you think the Sony developement engineers used when they ran 10000 hours through the machines in prototype guise? Right. Sony tapes :-)

tom.

>I'm wondering if its possible that my panisonic tapes got gunked up by the DV decks, and then transferred that gunk to my VX2000. Let me know what you think.<

What do I think? I think that by doing this you have mixed tapes---especially if those Sony tapes were "wet" while your Pana tapes were "dry." So it's very likely your heads are gummed up because of this. This is my opinion only, maybe Tom's is a better one. :)

Alright Tom thank you for the reply. First where exactly is the capstain so if I open the door up I know where to look. And second if I want to change my tape type to Sony, what steps should I take. And since I have a large library of Panasonic tapes, what should I do if i ever need to play those back?

Frank, those were my thoughts as well. Either way it looks like I'm going to have to kiss Panny tapes goodbye.

Sigh, thanks guys.

-Jake

EDIT- I just looked at the inside and forgive my ignorance, the large circular object which I would assume to be the drum, appeared clean and shiney. However the recesses below the smaller pins on either side of the large drum contained visible dust and small hairs or fibers. Will the tape cleaner remove this? Is this something I should deal with by using a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol? Thanks again for your reply's.

Jacob,

After reading your posts, I conclude you don't have enough experience to clean the heads yourself. Q-tips should never be used on a drum or video heads. One always uses Chamois-tiped sticks or something very similar. If you wipe up and down, the heads will break.

I suggest you find a local shop to clean the transport because you are right, hair and gunk do not belong in the head/drum assembly.

I tend to agree with Mike, but for some reading matter on this have a look at my article on tape path cleaning. The pictures will show you the capstan and pinch roller that actually drive the tape past those spinning heads.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~sl/trv900/cleaning.html

tom.

The problem with most inexperienced people cleaning tape transports is they tend to think that if a little is good, more is better.

They also use the wrong fluids as well as too much fluid. Not much sense in cleaning a capstain if they wash all the lubricant out of the bearings at the same time. Or put fluids on the pinch-roller that causes it to dry out.

Pluse everyone seems to think that cotton-tipped swabs are the natural tool to use. Ignoring the need for the foam covers that keep the strands of cotton out of the works. Or that chamois-tipped sticks or a small sheet of chamois is the best tool for cleaning heads and drums . . . upper and lower.

For most people, I strongly recommend having an experienced person clean their tape path.

If they are going to attempt a cleaning on their own, at least take the top off their VCR and practice on something a bit bigger and stronger before taking on a camcorder.

Tom, thanks for the link. The images have helped me identify the capstain and other sections of the transport. Unfortunately my capstan does have that telltale ring of emulsion. I have taken your advice Mike and am currently looking for a Sony Authorized repair center to do a cleaning and a head alignment. One place has quoted me around 70 dollars for the whole job. Is this reasonable?

Also, I have about 35 hours of tape recorded and then at least 5-10 Hrs worth of extra tape time spent seeking and striping. I know striping is a controversial issue but our teacher makes us do it for class. My question is, does this amount of tape warrant a whole head cleaning/alignment? Or is my situation unusual? I know the often quoted number for cleaning is after 50+ hours of tape, but then it is usually in reference to a quick cleaning with a head cleaning tape.

Thanks again for your responses. I really appreciate being able to learn from those with more experience.

There is no such thing as a head alignment on these cameras. A transport alignment, yes.

$70 is a reasonable price.

What you want them to do is check the alignment and if it is out, let you know before they correct it. If they align the transport, you might not be able to read recently recorded tapes.

I doubt if the transport is out of alignment. Sounds like it is just really dirty.

I have to mention that I believe that the best way to stay out of trouble like this is to use the tapes that are made by the camera manufacturer. I know people have had (so far) no trouble running tapes from other manufacturers. But frequently there are people like yourself that have problems.

I have 10 Sony DV cameras at the local college. Some of them almost 9 years old and none of them have ever had a tape head clog or a dirty transport. We do not allow anything but Sony tape in the cameras. We also don't clean the transports on a regular basis either.

You might ask whomever you have clean the camera to show you how to do it properly. It doesn't take too much in the way of tools and supplies. A properly sized screwdriver, cleaning fluid and two types of cleaning sticks will do it. With those tools, you can clean almost any set of heads. Done one, you can do them all.

Hey Fellas... sounds like Jacob has a dirty head problem but I have a question... would it be possible for the same "no rec'd no playback" to happen if only the monitor were broken or not getting signal. Loose contact or something? Just curious if this ever could be a possibility.

That said...I could only find Canon DV80 tapes. Never had good experience with longer tapes of any type. Too thin, poop out quickly, break, etc. I have always used Fuji products and after reading many threads here, links to articles, etc. decided that they were well thought of and went with that. I use a JVC GR30 to transfer footage to the computer. One day it worked fine. Then about a week later (few days ago) while trying to transfer YUCK! Suddenly broken image, junk on the screen and a message "use head cleaning tape".

OK..simple enough but here's the thing... I've used ONLY Fuji DVC 60's in that and my GL2. A transfer house put some 8mm footage from a client on Sony Premium DV stock. I just plain forgot to mention that I could provide a Fuji tape. It is the ONLY and I mean ONLY time anything but Fuji has touched the JVC. Within seconds the problems started. Also I only have a max of 15 hours on the heads. Barely used. Is it possible that the Sony tape gunked it up immediately? I will never do this again but WOW... what a mess. Just seems like pure tape stock up to this and only running the Sony tape about 1 minute shouldn't have *that* big of an effect. I'm baffled.

Ideas? Also Jeff wrote to me in another thread that the brand of cleaning tape does not matter. How can that be if the other tape stock is so important? Would also like to hear opinions about Sony, Pana and other stocks. May need to clean heads, switch and stick with a different brand if Fuji's are not the way to go. But earlier research said "Fuji is best" ??? Ideas, help... please ;) Thanks!

Hi Roze,

In response to the LCD Viewfinder question, all electronics of the 2000 work fine. The LCD shows video, it shows the little red dot when I press record, all buttons and systems work other than actually *putting* the video onto the tape. Or viewing it for that matter. This led Mike and Tom, and me as well, to think that it's time for a cleanin.'

I too am feeling the pain of trying to choose a tape brand to stick with after this cleaning is completed. I really do like panasonic stock, however some people will say Fuji, or TDK, or Sony. I really respect Mike's opinion so I am heavily considering a switch to Sony tape. My thread on this topic is here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16422 As far as which brand *you* should pick...well I have no idea. Thanks for your reply!

-Jake

Well I just got the camera back last night. After about 3 weeks and 168 dollars, my camcorder records just like new. I have decided to stick with panasonic tapes since if I switched to sony I would lose the ability to play all of my existing tapes back. Thanks to everyone who lent suggestions and helpful advice.

We get cameras in our shop to be repaired on a regular basis due to tape mixing. It is still an issue. I suggest that since the camera malfunctioned so bad that a manual head and transport cleaning is in order. You can't mix tapes. Go with Panasonic MQ's due to the dry lubricant. Also PQ's are now dry but not packed as tight as the MQ's.


<<<-- Originally posted by Tom Hardwick : It is a possibility though not a probability. If you'd asked this question in 2000 the answer woul've been more positive, but it seems as if tape binders have become more compatible across brands in the last 3 years, and I hear of 'mixing' problems less and less.

If you take off the tape deck door (very easy, two screws) and get good strong sunlight pouring into the mechanism, what do you see up close? Good, bright, shiney components? No brown ring on the capstan? If you see any gunge marks at all then it could be tape path cleaning time.

And how come 'everyone at school uses Sony tapes' and you don't, huh? What tapes do you think the Sony developement engineers used when they ran 10000 hours through the machines in prototype guise? Right. Sony tapes :-)

tom. -->>>

hi Lou,

I just got the camcorder back from the cleaning shop. I will now strictly use PQ's. If I wanted to switch to MQ's, would I still have to run a cleaning tape since they are dry? Also, If I run one of my PQ's through a machine that has Sony tapes in it all the time, should I consider that PQ contaminated?

Thanks,
Jake

My best advice is to stick with one brand/type. With Panny tapes it is not necessary to use a cleaning tape as they are ALL dry according to Panasonic.

ALSO-no matter what brand of tapes are utilized in the RECORDER, if the transport is dirty, the particles do adhere to a new tape. Good Luck. Let us know how it works out for you.

Lou Bruno