My girlfriend ran a head cleaning tape in the PD170, thinking it was a standard tape. When I tried to get it out, the tape jammed. After tugging and pulling, a couple of plastic pieces broke off of the tape and settled down in the camcorder. The pieces came out, but I'm wondering whether the unit is damaged. How tough are these things?

Sure makes me hate the fact that we're still using tapes and tape mechanisms in the digital age.

The correct answer is, That Depends. It depends on where the bits got hung up and what bits got hung up. You don't say where the plastic parts came from originally on the cassette. That would provide many more clues.