Repairing DV Media

Question

Anyone out there able to tell me how to repair pinched mini dv tape?
Am trying to save what I can of memorable trip and tape is hung up about
15 minutes in.

Answer 1

I just did this last night. It wasn't fun.
Looking down on the tape, with the business end facing away from you, on the right hand side (on sony tapes anyway) there is a little lever that if you pull it toward you will allow the cover that protects the tape to slide up. Do this and then examine what the problem is.
If the tape is wrinkled, but not jammed on either side, that is good news.
In that case, turn the tape up side down. Between the rollers there should be a hole near the label. If you put the tip of a scissors or a screw driver in there it will allow you to turn the reels. Crank the wrinkle onto the feeder side. Get it on there a fair bit, as the tape is pulled out as it threads and you don't want that wrinkle near your heads.
Put in into the deck and note the time code.
Rewind.
Dub to something else immediately.
Stop the dub when you reach the afore mentioned time code.
Eject the tape and hand wind it past the wrinkle.
Dub the tape from that point onward.
If you run the wrinkle over your machine's heads it won't be good for anyone.
Going back a few steps – if the tape is snagged in the plastic – your job is a bit tougher. This took me twenty five minutes last night, but I'm a butter fingers, and I was scared to death of losing the material on the tape.
Gentlly pop the protection piece from the front. Try to save the little sping on the lever side. This step might not be strictly neccessary, but it was for me.
Use a small flat head screw driver to gently leverage the plastic apart, then carefully guide the tape back onto the guide. Use a vise to keep the cassette still, and tweezers to pull on the tape.
Pray.
If you are successful, it is harder to get the protective cover back on than it is to get it off. I had to use the screw driver again to pry the plastic apart to reinsert the tabs. I had no success with the spring. I didn't have enough hands. This is not needed for playback, and once my dub was done, I marked the tape for what it was (NFG) and put it on the shelf so it would still be there in case some other unlikely disaster struck and I needed to dub it again. I look forward to throwing it away.
Good luck.
Tom