DV tape

[2000lux]

I've been using Sony Excelence DV tapes in my JVC GY-DV500. Recently I had to have the heads replaced on it because it had the mother of all head clogs. Now I'm considering switching brands. Does any one using this or a similar camera have a sugestion? I'm thinking about Fuji, may be Panasonic.

[rgbcamera]

"heads replaced on it because it had the mother of all head clogs" jeez what happened did the tape wrap itself around the drum? cos in my 15+ years of repairing video tape recording devices ive never know of a head need changing just cos it had a bad clog.. as for tapes i personally stick to sony all the time never had a problem..

for future reference there is a solution to severly clogged heads- take a piece of a4 paper tear off a 1 inch strip soak it in isopropanol or mineralized methylated spirits place it against the heads applying light pressure with one finger then you turn the heads with your free hand , changing the paper every 10 revolutions of the head until no more crud appears on the paper, leave the head to dry out and it should be fine , just a suggestion that may save you the cost of a head replacement for no other reason than it needs a little TLC

Steve

[dinosaur]

Also, it may not be in your best interest to switch tape brands from now on. If you have been switching between "dry" (Panasonic) & "wet" (Sony) lubricated tape brands that may be the reason for the "mother of all tape clogs". It is literally gumming up your camcorder. By cleaning just the heads alone you are not getting all of the "gunk" out. The tape guides and rollers will have accumulated lubricant "gunk" on them too. You need to completely clean the entire tape path. Since you live in Boston, it would be a good idea to take your camera over to Roger Macie for a thorough tape path cleaning.

As far as the tape stock that you decide to use in the future, ALWAYS stick with one brand of the highest quality tape you can buy. Then don't use anything else, ever.

The Sony consumer brand "Excellence" is only excellent because it is cheap. You will see much better results with a "broadcast quality" tape like Sony's PDVM-40ME or PHDVM-63DM. They may cost 3x as much, but you are getting a much higher level of quality controled tape stock that probably wont disintegrate in your camcorder. Even though these tapes are marked "DVCAM" they will work just fine in any miniDV camera. The same goes for Panasonic brand tapes. Pick the highest quality you can buy and always stick (pardon the pun) with that one specific type of tape.

[ September 30, 2005, 07:42 AM: Message edited by: dinosaur ]

[2000lux]

I started off with DV-CAM tapes because they were available to me free. Then I moved down to the Excellence tapes when I started buying my own stock because they're cheaper, but allegedly better than the Premium ones. I have only used Sony. I haven't used any other brand.

What happened was I put an old (5 years) DV-CAM tape in the camera. I just wanted to shoot a short raw package to practice on Final Cut Pro with. When I tried to cue that tape up I noticed the image was covered in blocks. I took the tape out, ran the head cleaning tape, and then put in a tape that was only a couple of years old. That looked bad too, but not as bad, so I ran the head cleaning tape again and put in a brand new tape. That was getting ugly hits on it too. I really needed some raw footage to edit because I had some one coming over to teach me FCP in an hour. I ran the head cleaning tape again and recorded some stuff. It was a mess, and the audio was out of sync, but at least I had some thing to work with for the lesson. Think I used the head cleaning tape once again after I had looked at the first few shots. A couple of times when I played the head cleaning tape, it stopped and gave me a head clog message on the side screen. If I had stoped after the first couple of tries I might have been ok. Who knows.

The next day I took it to Macie Video here in Boston. They were the ones who decided it needed new heads and I trusted their judgement.

The heads come in a cartrige like assembly. I assume that means they replaced the whole tape transport system. Do you think it's ok to switch brands, or is there still Sony residue in there?

The JVC GY-DV500 has a little hole to drop the tapes through like a toaster. There's no gull wing door that opens up to expose the heads. I would have had to take the camera apart to clean it my self. I'll keep that sand paper trick filed away for when I'm working with other gear though. Thanks!

[rgbcamera]

LOL !! not sand paper - A4 paper the stuff in your printer (wouldnt want you tp ruin anyones machine

Steve

[2000lux]

Well I certainly wasn't going to try it on MINE first! :D

I've never heard of it refered to as A4. Why didn't you just say printer paper?

[canuckcam]

Isn't A4 paper the UK sized "letter paper?"

I wouldn't touch those DV heads spinning at 9000rpm. Wouldn't taking something as abrasive as printer paper shear the heads right off because they protrude from the drum a fraction of an inch? It's not like taking a business card to a 3/4" machine to clean it.