chewd up camcorder tape

beattiesman

have a sony camcorder it has chewed up one of my recorded tapes. i was going to have it transferred on to a dvd.it has only chewed some of the tape a small amount could i still get it done to dvd & anyone know where :mad:

closed

you (or someone) could cut and splice it with sellotape.

paddyrg

What tape format is is - MiniDV? It is possible to cut around the damage and splice, slightly delicate job though as it could damage the player if you get it wrong.

fwor

closed wrote: »

you (or someone) could cut and splice it with sellotape.

They ~could~, but it's not what I'd recommend. Proper splicing tape is designed so that adhesive doesn't leak out at the edges and contaminate the heads. Sellotape is not.

beattiesman

dont want to do it myself as it is sentimental stuff on the tape tape dont mind paying to have it done .thanks anyway

Richie-from-the-Boro

How to .. .. and use very thin [ 25m, 1/4" ] splicing tape. You don't need any fancy splicing blocks etc, just a razor blade and proper tape. The worst you are going to do if you make a mistake is waste another two inches of already mangled tape.

spud17

[ 25m, 1/4" ] splicing tape

25 metres should last you ages!

Or did you mean 6mm, 1/4"?

Takes me back to making loops/over-dubbing with my 4 track Fergusson. :beer:

Inner_Zone

closed wrote: »

you (or someone) could cut and splice it with sellotape.

No, not recommended, soon clogs up,the heads. Might have worked OK on reel to reel recorders and audio cassettes but never on helical scanning heads.

closed

It won't touch the heads, it's on the back and the OP or pro who does it can wind past the damaged bit manually for a one off transfer, which also reduces the possibility of creasing

Inner_Zone

You have obviously never had to repair a VCR of which some one had done what you suggest. It's bad practice which ever way you look at it. You used to be able to (and probably still can) get special tape for the purpose for a reason.

paddyrg

A sellotape/splicingtape-less method is to use another cassette as a donor - dump/put aside the tape from it for a while, use the carcass and pinch pins on the spools to make one cassette of the good bits before the mashed bit, and another of the good bits after the mashed bit. You will need a steady hand and small pliers, but it is absolutely doable, no glue or tape anywhere, and job done. Allow maybe 45mins.

If you do it once, copy off what you want, then the donor cassette can get its own tape and spools back :-)