Tape jam . . . 1st time for everything I guess

Caruso wrote on 1/27/2002, 11:56 AM
Came home expecting a 90-minute Hi8 --> Digi8 dub to be finished so that I could capture to Vegas only to find that my brand new, 1st time out of the wrapper Sony SP90 cassette had somehow fowled in my camcorder. It took several attempts and more than a little coaxing to convince my camcorder to even open its door so that I could carefully extract the mess.

Anyone else experience this problem. It's an absolute first for me in all my years of using the 8mm format (I've experienced it all too often in VHS machines, though).

Fortunately, the tape was empty. I'd be really frosted if this had been one of my archive copies.

The thing had to have jammed in the first two or three seconds.

Any suggestions as to cause/prevention?

Thanks.

Caruso

Comments

rwsjr wrote on 1/27/2002, 4:20 PM
That happened to me once. If another tape doesn't work, have the camera/recorder checked out. Sadly, the event signaled the demise of my old 8mm camcorder. A mechanical problem in the camcorder was causing the problems with the tape.
FadeToBlack wrote on 1/27/2002, 4:26 PM
Caruso wrote on 1/28/2002, 7:21 PM
This tape had been sitting on my shelf for about a week. My room temperature is constant at about 72 degrees F.

The only part of your advice I did not follow was the fast forward rewind part. Looks like I'll have to start doing that . . . that was a $10.00 tape, too.

Since the only damage occurred in the first few seconds, I figured a careful respooling would allow me to use the balance of the tape.

Not so. When I insert it, my camera gives me an error message, and, getting the tape out again (even though there is now no physical jam) is a challenge (my cam compartment doesn't want to open to eject that tape).

I don't want to press my luck. All other cassettes are working ok.

Caruso
FadeToBlack wrote on 1/28/2002, 7:38 PM
Caruso wrote on 1/29/2002, 6:26 PM
Actually, I did preroll. The preroll wrapped itself up inside my cam. I guess the circuitry in the camcorder sensed the error and shut the mechanism down before any permanent damage was done.

I think I'm going to take that tape back to the store where I bought it and ask for a replacement.

Caruso