PD170 / tape krinkling during last 10 minutes of tape
 

This is a recent phenomena. At first I thought the tape was dropping pixels, after physically examining the tape,noticed intermittent tape krinkling during the last 10 minute stretch of recording on a 60 minute tape.

Have consistantly used Sony premium tapes. Haven't checked how many hours of recording time since purchased...guessing it's more than 40.

Cleaned the head for first time using the Sony head cleaning cassette. Gave it a couple 10 second "scrubs" after discovered krinkles the first time.

Then after reviewing last nights shoot still had some intermittent krinkling during the last 10 minutes of the tape.

Diagnosis ? Cure ?


thanks,

kb

This was a very common problem with the PD100 / TRV900 / TRV890. Just as you describe, the crinkling occurs in the last few minutes of a recorded tape, and a few 900s had their tape deck feed and take-up reels replaced.

Open your cassette door and with a powerful maglight take a look at the tape path Ken. Remember that the head cleaner tape does just that: cleans the heads. It does precious little for the mass of rollers, pin, guides, capstan and rubber pinch that the tape passes. If you see a brown ring of gunge a few mm up the capstan shaft that'll be your problem.

A tape path clean is what you'll need, and this has cured the crinkle problem for a lot of Sony owners. There's lots about it on the Beale site.

tom.

I recently have had a lot of problems with Sony premium tapes on the DSR-250, so much so that I sent the camera back to Sony. After examining the camera and finding nothing wrong with it I was advised to use Sony PDVM-40N tapes by their senior technician. It sounds like the future manuals of the DSR-250 at least, will be telling people not to use consumer tapes in it.

My problem, I believe came from the fact that I was getting my tapes from B&H and that they may have not been stored properly. Apparently DV tapes are very effected by moister and humidity, and the consumer tapes doubly so. What was happening with me was that the tape would start to stick to itself thus producing excess tension as it was pulled across the heads causing it warp and crinkle. We have all probably experienced this phenomenon on old VHS tapes where the tape keeps stopping while it is playing and it has to be fast forwarded and rewound before it will work.


I can't say that this is the problem in your case but it might be worth looking into.

So the morons just told you to buy 40 min tape instead?

The PDVM-40N is a 40min tape. They were trying to get you to use a shorter tape, so the problem that occurs 10 mins towards the end of 60min tapes would be averted.

I think you'll find 'near the end of a tape' applies whether it's a 10 minute tape or an 80 minute tape Stephen.

PDVM-40N is a 40-minute tape if recorded in DVCAM format, but it can also be used the same as a mini-DV tape with the same 60-minute time.

I always try to spin my tapes before using them to knock loose any possible settling due to temperature or long term storage. You don't know how long your tapes have been sitting in storage or what atmosphere they have been exposed to. The tape creasing was an issue for me in the fall of 2004 but with a PD-150. I have to say that it coincidentally happened if I tried to review footage when it was near the end of the tape and maybe slack was the problem. I stopped reviewing footage near the end of tapes and it didn't happen anymore.

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