Tame jammed with only s scenes left to film!Please help!

S

Sam Clayton

Member
Hello everyone

I learned much in my time browsing these forums as a guest and have yet to encounter a problem that I couldn't solve with a search.......until today!

I am nearing the end of shooting a short horror film on a dvx 100A I got second hand a month ago. Its my first proper effort and its been a real challenge so far, much harder than I expected but we are close to finishing now and plan on entering the film to a horror film festival on Jan 31.

A couple of days ago I captured some footage and tried to eject the tape but it was stuck in the deck. I closed it up and tried again but same thing happened. The tape can rewind, play and record/capture normally but will not pull free when I try to remove it. It is loose and comes up about half a centimetre/ quarter of an inch when I open it up but then it snags. Its as if the tape itself is somehow trapped. It reminds me of when a VCR player chews up a video tape and it wont come free when you eject.

Can anyone advise me on this problem? Is it something I can fix myself or will I need to send off for repair? How much is this likely to cost?

My situation is that there are 2 short scenes left to complete the film, will I get away with filming these on the jammed tape without damaging my camera (ive already filmed one other like this and its captured ok and camera seems fine). We’ve all worked so hard on it and it would be a real demoraliser to send the camera off for repair and miss the submission deadline.

Thanks for any help!

Sam
 
When you push down the tape holder the threading mechanism starts into action.
It pulls the tape door open, grabs the tape in a couple places and pulls it down into the transport area so the tape wraps around the spinning head.

When you push the button to eject the threading mechanism starts into action, effectively in reverse.

So, by what you've said here, we can presume the threading mechanism has returned the tape to the cassette (because you can FF RW the tape.)
This is a good sign.

that you can play and record is another good sign.

BUT- what's hanging up the cassette from a complete ejection (tape in hand)?

Can you do anything about it? Maybe.

When the door pops open (not the carriage itself)- do you see it coming completely open? I mean, is it hanging up on anything? Is there anything impinging upon it's full open status?
Look closely at the hinge points, or maybe something has gotten skewed or rubs up against the door itself?

Now, look at the carriage (the metal part that says- DON'T PUSH THIS TOO HARD (whatever).
Same story, is there anything bothering that from completely opening up and releasing the cassette?

Sometimes the little door opening levers in the tape thread mechanism can hang up on the tape door. I've seen this before.
It could be the tape (cassette) fault, or the thread mechanism has gotten slightly out of adjustment.

I'll be painfully honest with you; more than likely someone or another (somewhere along the life of the camera) has tried to shut the door before the tape has been fully threaded and something got bent.
Really, these things don't go out all on their own.

CAN YOU FIX IT YOURSELF?
only from the outside- and only if you understand (comprehend) the process and mechanism.

MAYBE- if you can remove the door (couple of screws is all it takes, probably) you can get a better view of what the hang up is.

May not be much help- but a start.
Find a local electronics repair place and see if they can do a quick look at the thing (you're in the middle of a production after all...)

Good luck.
 
Possible solution

Possible solution

In a pinch, you could record directly to disk via the firewire cable.

Another solution is to download the current scenes on the tape, re-record with the lens cap on (to "erase" the tape), then record your new scenes.

Good luck!

Tac
 
Thats a great idea! Just one scene left now but I'l use that system in future anyway.

Thanks for all your help and advice, I'l let you know how it goes.

Sam
 
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