GL2 recording in stripes (half old half new)
 

Yesterday I decided to tape something and put in a tape that was still new (only recorded some test stuff on it) but rewound it to record over it, upon playback I get like 6 lines of the old with sound mixed with 6 lines of the new with sound so its just a mess.

I thought you could rewind and record over a dv tape no problem but guessing that's not the case or is this just a fluke?

The tape is a sony tdk dvm60 shot in 60 min mode (for both recordings).

Bill

Hi Bill, sounds like you need to run a head cleaning cassette (for about 5-10 seconds).

How old is the camera, and when was the last time it was sent to Canon factory service for a clean & check? This should be done at least once per year.

+1 on the head cleaner. You can use a cleaning tape that costs about $25 or ship it to Canon and get it reset to new. this could cost $60-$450 (plus shipping both ways) depending on the camera's age.

If you reuse any tape, which I suggest never doing, you should record all black over it start to finish (i.e. keep the lens cover on and sound off).

The GL2 heads get off track very often and this is a common problem with the GL2.

We had this problem 2 years ago just after we purchased this camera.

The solution(s) were provided by others at this site. The GL2 is a great camera but heads are touchy.

1) ALWAYS use the same brand of tape - no exception

2) Pack every tape before use(fast forward then rewind) - we do this on a handicam that we use as our playback machine. (to minimise wear and tear on the GL2 mechanism). This allows any loose tape material to be dislodged into the less fussy handicam.

3) Do not reuse tapes - they are cheap compared to a camera repair

4) If you are shooting lots of small footage segments where the tape does not get to run for long then do not leave the camera paused for long between the small shots. Leaving the camera in pause apparently leaves the head in contact with the tape - when you are not running t much this can lead to a build up of tape material on the head. This was a MAJOR importance item for us

We employed all these strategies and the problem went away. We did not need to use the head cleaning tape again after the first stripey episode!!!