Tape will not play back in camera or deck.
 

Ok, well for our school project we're using Sony DSR-250's. For our very first project we were just recording random stuff just to get familiar with the cameras. I tried to play back the tape with the camera but no video was showing up, even though the camera said it was playing back the tape. So I'm wondering if it recorded anything.

Well, the next day we gave her our tapes and she was able to play them all fine in her little miniDV camcorder. So I'm like, "Well, that's weird."

So then we're doing our real project. I go to capture the tape with my Canon XL2 and nothing is showing up like before! ARG!!!

So then I go up to our office to use our Sony DSR-25 deck and I'm like, "OK! Sony deck, this HAS to work."

Nothing is playing back. I have no idea what is going on. I use Canon XL2's for everything and I have never had any of these problems before. Is there some weird thing with the Sony that I'm being stupid about?

Well I can understand the Canon possibly not being able to play back the tape especially if you shot it in DVCam mode instead of DV mode. Even in DV mode the Canon might not have picked up the tape-different head alignment and all that.
Now for the shooting camera AND the Sony deck NOT to play the tapes back is really weird. I use a 250, 150 and used to use a JVC5000U and used a little JVC 1 chip cam to capture with and never had a problem doing so. That little cam would capture anything except DVCam.

Now this is going to sound downright stupid so I apolgize in advance but did you rewind the tape all the way to the beginning of the tape? I only ask because even after all these years I have caught myself swearing at my gear when in fact I was in a rush or lost traack of which tapes were rewound and tried to capture a tape that wasn't rewound and guess what...a pretty shade of blue and no capture. Of course I once tried to capture a completely unused tape that was in the job bag and marked even though it wasn't used. Shame on the cameraman for putting it there. (yep that would be me. It was late and I was tired)
Anyway like I said I'm just asking because it just doesn't sound right that the camera andthe deck won't capture.

Don

Everything should be playing right. Tape is rewound and everything. I tried changing several different things on the deck, but nothing is working. I can capture everything I get from my XL2 to my deck fine, its just the tapes from the DSR-250 will not play for me.

Well the only thing left to do is to try another deck or camera to capture the tapes cause frankly none of this sounds right.
Wait, were you shooting in DV or DVCam-if DVCam make sure the deck is set to DVCam (as you can tell I'm brainstorming-just throwing things out right now) If it's all the same DV to DV or DVCam to DVCam then try another camera or deck to capture. Thats about all I an think of UNLESS, hmmmm, perhaps a bad connection from the deck?
Like I said, just throwing things out to look at.

Good luck, let us know if and how you resolve this.
Don

I don't know if this has been tried or suggested buy use the exact dsr 250 to play the tape back and it might work.

Well, apparently the problem was nothing was recorded to the tape. I have no idea why, because on the DSR-250 I was pressing record and I saw the timer go off. The red light was on and everything. Why in the freaking world was it not recording anything to the tape? Is there some mysterious button that I have to press for it to confirm that, yes I'm sure I want to put this on a tape?

Hmmm, well it sounds like a camera problem alright ;-)

seriously though, there are a couple of things that might have caused this.

One would be a problem with the heads of the camera. How many hours of tape and drum run are on it? (menu button>ETC>hours)
If it's got around 8 or 9 hundred or more it might be time for repair/replacement but it sounds like the tape itself might not have been seated properly. Not thru any fault of your own but IIRC the early editions of the DSR 250 had a problem with seating the tape in the transport and again IIRC there were actually some posts here about that. This is going back a long time but again IF it's an early production model that could be the problem.

I know it doesn't help but it isn't something you did and there's no magic button to push.

Don