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Gear / Technical Help => Photo / Video Recording => Topic started by: Massive Dynamic on December 28, 2010, 12:53:53 AM

Title: MiniDV cleaning tapes anybody?
Post by: Massive Dynamic on December 28, 2010, 12:53:53 AM

I was reviewing some recent tapes made of my kids' ball games, and I noticed some digital pixelation in the LCD viewfinder. The camera is about 9yo. and has shot about 50+ tapes. I'd like to get this resolved before doing any transfers to HDD.

Anyone use a dry cleaning tape? Seems the advice for DAT players was never to use a dry cleaning tape unless you started getting diginoise, or you would risk damaging the heads. Is it possible to do a wet cleaning, or is that better left to someone with experience? There is a Sony dealership in town and they did a good job cleaning my full-size VHS deck awhile back. Though $35 is a bit steep for a cleaning, it is far preferable than glitches during imports. A dry cleaning tape is cheaper still, though, if they work.

Title: Re: MiniDV cleaning tapes anybody?
Post by: Chris K on December 28, 2010, 10:20:53 AM

I would try a tape head cleaner. Amazon has them for less than $10. Here is a link to a sony tape cleaner. I love reading the reviews on Amazon, and it seems others have had similar problems as you are experiencing and the cleaning helped:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DVM12CLD-DVC-Cleaning-Tape/dp/B0000632H7

I have read that you should stick with one brand of minidv tape, as switching tape brands can lead to problems (flaking) which you may be experiencing. I use only panasonic tape in my gs300 and have not had any problems.

Title: Re: MiniDV cleaning tapes anybody?
Post by: willndmb on December 28, 2010, 10:02:27 PM

I have used one
They work
Even had one cam that would say dirty heads on the screen

The bad news is once you get to where you need the head cleaner the cam is o the way downhill
At least if you are recording things that you want to dubb or are important enough that you can't deal with the pixelation here and there

Title: Re: MiniDV cleaning tapes anybody?
Post by: Massive Dynamic on December 29, 2010, 12:26:57 AM

Guess I'll pick up one of these and see if that clears things up. And start shopping for a new camera. :-\  Unfortunately, it looks like miniDV camcorders are getting harder to find. Would anyone recommend moving to the current camcorders with a HDD/flash memory system instead of tape?

Title: Re: MiniDV cleaning tapes anybody?
Post by: beatkilla on December 29, 2010, 08:57:51 AM

I would recommend against a harddrive based camera because of heat and vibration issues.