I managed to extract a miniDV tape from a broken camcorder and now about 8 eight inches of tape is hanging out of the case. I can't seem to find a way to unlock the spools so I can rewind it? Anybody know how to do this? I've tried pushing every latch I can find and nothing works. Badly need the footage as it's B roll from a wedding we shot.

In between the two spools on the back there should be a little slot with a plastic slider in it. Slide that down with a small flathead screwdriver to unlock the spools.

Are you sure Edward? That was one of the first things I tried. It doesn't seem to work.

On the back of my tapes the slider is on the left. I'd pull that back to lift open the front lid, then insert a suitable flat blade into the hub of the spool with the most tape on it .. then wind that in.

When it's taught, hand wind past the 8" of tape and try playing from there. HTH

Cheers.

Have tried both these switches repeatedly. It does not work. Very puzzled about this.

Take it to a large cam repair shop, call first. Yrs ago we broke a open a betacam tape and lifted the tape spools and our hopes into an empty shell .. think that's how it went.

Don't try this at home.

Cheers.

Open the tape and do it manually...if you're patient you shouldn't have to worry about tape on the floor.