Help! "Unplayable Tape" message

[magicdavek]

For background on my problem, check out the following thread in this section:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Events;action=display;num=1101580919

At that time, I had a time code problem that I thought I corrected (see section). Now, I just recorded a family tape at Christmas on my DVX100A. I can't play it back on my DVX! At first, I just got a blue screen. The Timecode numbers moved along inconsistently. Every time I started the tape, I got the asterisk (*) next to the TC, but it quickly disappeared. Today, I tried it again and I got this bizarre effect where I got this strobing picture effect, no audio, and five black bars going horizonally across the screen (similar to what I and others reported in the thread cited above). Then, I got a bright red message across my LCD:

Unreadable Tape
(Other Format)

I popped in an old tape I did on the DVX, and it seemed to work well. I've only used the MQ tapes - never has anything but the MQ been used. On the other thread people suggested dirty heads - but there are none of the symptoms like the kinds of dropouts or digital noise that seem to characterize dirty heads.

Help!

 

[Soliton]

Re: Help! "Unplayable Tape" message

A stray shot in the dark here..(the dark, in this case is my meager knowledge of the internal workings of the DVX).

Have you charged the camera's internal battery as recommended in the manual? I know this seems an unlikely cause given the circumstances, but did not see a mention of it in the earlier discussion, but troublesome issues sometimes need to be re-worked from the basics.
Also, I think it was you that said the camera's reset button had been used without success to clear the problem, but that it also did not clear the personal or scene file settings?
Maybe if the battery is low the reset does not work correctly?
just my $.02

 

[magicdavek]

Re: Help! "Unplayable Tape" message

Great news! I was reading this thread by Barry S.:

http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Events;action=display;num=1091157196;start=0

I became convinced, based upon others reporting similar problems, that this WAS in fact an issue with dirty heads. While going against my intuitions, I just arrived back from Circuit City with a Panasonic AY-DVMCLA Digital Video Head Cleaner (unfortunately packaged with two Panasonic miniDV tapes I can't use because they are not MQs).

Anyway, the problem has cleared up, all of the tape that was considered "Unplayable" plays just fine. I realize that thread above is for cleaning it yourself, although the manual and the Panasonic people recommend using their cleaning tape. I had a hard time finding the stuff I needed for Barry S.'s do it yourself approach, but will get them for the future because although the head cleaner got me out of this current dilemma, I don't want to be using it much in the future because of the risks of tape damage.