Tried to put a 6 year old DVCAM tape into the M15. No joy at all, just kept spitting it back. If I coaxed it right into the transport after a couple of second there was this clunk sound and nothing for a while and then it'd spit the tape back.
Tried banging the tape, opening the tape shutters, removed a label some dummy had stuck in the wrong place but zero joy. Took it to the shop and pulled out a DSR 45. Loaded the tape no sweat. Spooled the tape end to end, ejected it and tried to reload it. No go. Same problem as on my M15???
An old hand walks up, has a look, bangs it on the desk a few times, still no luck. So he pushes in the tape brake and spools a couple of feet of tape by hand. Tape loads and plays no problem. Brought it back to my place, pop it into the M15 and it's now capturing.
I've been told years ago Sony made a batch of DVCAM tapes that were missing the clear leader. When you rewind the tape the transport keeps winding until the physical end of tape and the tape gets wound very, very tight. When you try to load it the transport will not pull hard enough to unstick the tape as it tries to thread it, there's a mechanical safety on the pickup arms, that's what makes the clunk. Spooling a few feet of tape by hand frees the tape enough so the transport can thread the tape.
Just thought I'd pass this on. It's a pretty rare problem and a bit freaky when you hit it with a client's old master tape.
Bob.
Tried banging the tape, opening the tape shutters, removed a label some dummy had stuck in the wrong place but zero joy. Took it to the shop and pulled out a DSR 45. Loaded the tape no sweat. Spooled the tape end to end, ejected it and tried to reload it. No go. Same problem as on my M15???
An old hand walks up, has a look, bangs it on the desk a few times, still no luck. So he pushes in the tape brake and spools a couple of feet of tape by hand. Tape loads and plays no problem. Brought it back to my place, pop it into the M15 and it's now capturing.
I've been told years ago Sony made a batch of DVCAM tapes that were missing the clear leader. When you rewind the tape the transport keeps winding until the physical end of tape and the tape gets wound very, very tight. When you try to load it the transport will not pull hard enough to unstick the tape as it tries to thread it, there's a mechanical safety on the pickup arms, that's what makes the clunk. Spooling a few feet of tape by hand frees the tape enough so the transport can thread the tape.
Just thought I'd pass this on. It's a pretty rare problem and a bit freaky when you hit it with a client's old master tape.
Bob.