HELP - how to fix a broken Mini DV
 

My camera jammed and when I took out the tape, the actual digital tape was hanging out about 2 inches and snapped in two.

CAN I FIX THIS??????

Yes... :thumbsup

ADG

I have also had this problem... Just once....the tape is sitting around.

ADG---- How exactly do we fix this?

Yes, you can fix it. It takes time, patience, and count on about 15 seconds before and after the break to be worthless.

You can usually pull the tape apart with an eyeglass or jewlers screwdriver, snip out the segment that's damaged, and tape it back together, using acid free clear tape. Make sure there is NO overlapping of the video tape OR the tape you use to mend it, and keep the mending tape to a minimum. keep the . Use a pair of grooming scissors if you have them. Manually rewind the tape , and feed it until it's looped around as many times as you feel are necessary to let the tape feed forward at a normal pace (all the way if you have to).
Try and pay attention to the time code, so that after you have rewound the tape, you can log and capture, but stop short of the break. Manually feed it forward, past the break, to the other side of it, and when you are far enough past, capture the rest of the tape.

The tape load mechanism error on some older Canon's (XL1/Gl1) were notorious for this, (particularly when using some sony tapes) and I've had to do it half a dozen times.

Good luck.

also, don't worry about the springs and stuff that cause the tapehead cover to snap back into place, btw. It's a waste of time, and wont provide make much difference. Here's a link to a diagram, btw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IMG_0699-800.jpg

The only time I had this occur, I sent the tape to a company that spliced the tape for me. They made a diagonal cut, used splicing tape and charged me $50. They recommended that I dub the spliced tape to another camera and then dump it to my hard drive right away.

There was some loss of footage, but since I shoot hardcore scenes with 2-3 cameras, that was no biggy, as I was more concerned about the sections on either side of the break.

If you Google Mini-DV +splice (or splicing) there are some DIY tips as well.

ADG

Some really useful info here. Thanks guys

It took me awhile to find the company, but this is the company that helped me out:

VMI Video

Good luck,

ADG

Thanks guys.

Too late for me. I already lost it and smashed the thing into 100 bits. I spliced it, taped it and it got garbled up in the camera and it took a while to get it out, only to find it broke again and was more a mess than before.

Oh well, 1 incredible hardcore transsexual bareback creampie scene down the shitter.

thats why you have to advance it, and not let the taped segment feed through the camera. sorry it didnt work out.
Loosing footage sucks, sorry man.

Bummer... sounds incredibly hot :(

Of course you can fix that with the help of some tools. Just be careful not to broke sensitive/delicate parts.

Better, If the unit still has warranty, send it to the service center for free fixing.

Thanks ADG!


Thanks for the info.

nice to know there are hope if I fuck up! :)