DV tape repair house in NYC? at DVinfo.net

July 25th, 2003, 04:00 PM

Hi. Does anyone know where I can get DV tapes repaired in the New York area? I'd be willing to ship, too, if possible. My client's tape got eaten by a deck before it got to me. The tape didn't snap, but it is "squished" in the shielding mechanism.

thanks,
-Aaron

Jeff Donald · July 26th, 2003, 02:00 PM

Almost any post house should be able to splice a tape. You to understand that the damaged portion of the tape needs to be cut out (physically cut with a knife). The two clean ends are then spliced together with a special splicing tape. The DV tape should then be duplicated to another DV tape. There is no loss of quality, because the duplication is all digital (just copying zeros and ones).

Why make a copy? No matter how thin the splicing tape is, it is still an irregularity in the tape surface and must be moved across the fragile video and audio heads. The slight irregularity of the splice can break one or more of the heads. That is a very costly repair.

Playing the damaged portion is a big risk. The crinkled portion can very easily break a head because it will not transport smoothly. Cutting it out is the only way to get a playable copy.

Bill Pryor · July 27th, 2003, 02:29 PM

You can splice the tape yourself. Find a professional audio supply place and get a quarter inch tape splicing kit. You may have to trim the tape a bit with an Xacto knife--I don't know if it's slightly wider or slightly narrower than DV tape; if it's slightly narrower, that's cool. Make sure you splice it on the back (shiny) side because you don't want the tape running across your heads.
You can also do it with ordinary Scotch tape (the "invisible" kind). Pull out the offending part of your DV tape, cut out he bad part, overlap the two ends and make another cut so you'll have ends that butt up together evenly. Lay the tape down on a flat surface, tape the ends down with a piec of tape half an inch or so away from the cut, to hold them in place so you can tape the cut ends together. Trim the excess tape very closely with an Xacto knife and thereyago. THEN, copy the tape from one deck to another because it's not a good idea to run a splice through your deck lots of times--you can get by with it a few times, but eventually it may stretch and/or break.

July 29th, 2003, 10:40 PM

Thanks guys!

July 25th, 2003, 04:00 PM	#1
Guest Posts: n/a	DV tape repair house in NYC? Hi. Does anyone know where I can get DV tapes repaired in the New York area? I'd be willing to ship, too, if possible. My client's tape got eaten by a deck before it got to me. The tape didn't snap, but it is "squished" in the shielding mechanism. thanks, -Aaron

July 26th, 2003, 02:00 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Almost any post house should be able to splice a tape. You to understand that the damaged portion of the tape needs to be cut out (physically cut with a knife). The two clean ends are then spliced together with a special splicing tape. The DV tape should then be duplicated to another DV tape. There is no loss of quality, because the duplication is all digital (just copying zeros and ones). Why make a copy? No matter how thin the splicing tape is, it is still an irregularity in the tape surface and must be moved across the fragile video and audio heads. The slight irregularity of the splice can break one or more of the heads. That is a very costly repair. Playing the damaged portion is a big risk. The crinkled portion can very easily break a head because it will not transport smoothly. Cutting it out is the only way to get a playable copy. __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

July 27th, 2003, 02:29 PM	#3
Bill Pryor Contributor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 4,449	You can splice the tape yourself. Find a professional audio supply place and get a quarter inch tape splicing kit. You may have to trim the tape a bit with an Xacto knife--I don't know if it's slightly wider or slightly narrower than DV tape; if it's slightly narrower, that's cool. Make sure you splice it on the back (shiny) side because you don't want the tape running across your heads. You can also do it with ordinary Scotch tape (the "invisible" kind). Pull out the offending part of your DV tape, cut out he bad part, overlap the two ends and make another cut so you'll have ends that butt up together evenly. Lay the tape down on a flat surface, tape the ends down with a piec of tape half an inch or so away from the cut, to hold them in place so you can tape the cut ends together. Trim the excess tape very closely with an Xacto knife and thereyago. THEN, copy the tape from one deck to another because it's not a good idea to run a splice through your deck lots of times--you can get by with it a few times, but eventually it may stretch and/or break.