Hitachi Camcorder VM E220A - After load cassette "TAPE" error

There is a pulley that breaks inside but as these have been obsolete for over 20 years, I doubt it is repairable any more.
Fully working VM-D66p for £30 on amazon or fleabay.

Hi,

Did you try cleaning the tape head?

If your camcorder experiences an error, you may be presented with a ?Remove the Cassette? message. There are several reasons that this message may appear, but it is essentially a safety warning that is designed to protect the camcorder and/or tape from damage. The camcorder?s tape drive mechanism is made up of many precision components that, once damaged, may cause further problems if the mechanism continues to operate. When a problem is detected the safety mechanism is activated. The ?Remove the Cassette? warning and the camcorder?s safety mode may be activated by a variety of conditions such as: 1. Condensation is detected ? If condensation is detected by the camcorder, the ?Remove the Cassette? warning may occur. 2. Component failure ? If an electrical or mechanical component in the camcorder fails, the safety mode may activate to prevent any further damage to the camcorder. 3. Sand or grit damage ? The camcorder?s tape drive mechanism consists of many tiny gears. Sand or grit can cause a gear to jam and stop turning. This will cause the camcorder's safety mode to activate. 4. Impact damage ? If a camcorder is accidentally dropped or bumped against a hard surface, it is possible that a misalignment of the tape drive mechanism may occur. 5. Liquid damage ? If either the camcorder or the tape is exposed to water or any other liquid, a variety of malfunctions may result. Please avoid this situation. 6. Improper videotape insertion ? If a tape is forced into the cassette compartment, or if the cassette compartment is pressed down while the tape is loading, damage may occur to the tape drive mechanism. Please refer to the User's Manual. 7. Damaged or defective tape ? If a tape becomes damaged, please discontinue its use. Operational Recovery Steps Depending on the conditions that caused this message to appear, it is possible that the camcorder operation may recover. Please follow these steps: 1. Eject the videotape Insert a new or known good videotape. If the message does not persist, it is possible that the tape was damaged. If the camcorder still displays the message with a new tape, please proceed to step 2. 2. If condensation had been detected causing the Remove the Cassette warning, remove the cassette, and allow at least one hour for the moisture to dry. If the "Remove the Cassette" message continues, the camcorder may require service. Please contact Canon USA's Tech Support Center at 1 (800) 828-4040. Technical support hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 12:00 midnight; and Saturday 10:00am - 8:00pm (all times EST). Alternatively, if electronic support is preferred, please send your email to [email protected].

You may try the following troubleshooting steps:
Remove the battery of the Camcorder for one minute and re-insert the battery to check whether it works.
You may try resetting the Camcorder by pressing the RESET button located on it.
You may also check whether the issue occurs for all the tapes.
If the issue occurs with all the Tapes then it seems that internal parts of the Camcorder are malfunctioning.
Hence, the Camcorder requires service.

Sorry but the only way to transfer the tape is to be able to play it in a compatible camcorder or player. Then use one of the analog to digital converters "available on the internet" to transfer it to a PC.
Best bet is to ask some friends if they have an old camcorder that will be able to play that video cassette for you.
Sidenote: If the cassette is fairly new it might already be recorded in digital format, in which case you only need a compatible camcorder or player and a USB or Firewire cable to import it into your Mac

Hope this helps, don't forget to vote if the answers you seek are helpful.

HI, this is a mechanism fault beep you are hearing. the mechanism and load motor is damaged. you will need to send this unit to the Handy cam repair depot for this repair. you will need a new load motor and loading dock mechanism as well.

E01 means Mechanism has not fully loaded up to the stop position
E06 meansTape drive motor is not rotating or stalled.
Thses two faults indicate a tape jam. please remove the cassette and insert a new cassette.

1. Condensation is detected – If condensation is detected by the camcorder, the “Remove the Cassette” warning may occur.
2. Component failure – If an electrical or mechanical component in the camcorder fails, the safety mode may activate to prevent any further damage to the camcorder.
3. Sand or grit damage – The camcorder’s tape drive mechanism consists of many tiny gears. Sand or grit can cause a gear to jam and stop turning. This will cause the camcorder's safety mode to activate.
4. Impact damage – If a camcorder is accidentally dropped or bumped against a hard surface, it is possible that a misalignment of the tape drive mechanism may occur.
5. Liquid damage – If either the camcorder or the tape is exposed to water or any other liquid, a variety of malfunctions may result. Please avoid this situation.
6. Improper videotape insertion – If a tape is forced into the cassette compartment, or if the cassette compartment is pressed down while the tape is loading, damage may occur to the tape drive mechanism. Please refer to the User's Manual.
7. Damaged or defective tape – If a tape becomes damaged, please discontinue its use.

Operational Recovery Steps
Depending on the conditions that caused this message to appear, it is possible that the camcorder operation may recover. Please follow these steps:

1. Eject the videotape
   Insert a new or known good videotape. If the message does not persist, it is possible that the tape was damaged. If the camcorder still displays the message with a new tape, please proceed to step 2.
2. If condensation had been detected causing the Remove the Cassette warning, remove the cassette, and allow at least one hour for the moisture to dry.

Hi
See if this works--If you are on battery there may not be enough power .Charge the battery or use the the mains power through the transformer and see if it works.
Hope this helps
Jay

use cleaning cassette , before a brand new blank tape ( may have a worn or damaged tape in your library ) ;