Video Camcorder Error Message

OK all over the web when i type in thes question or ask someone I keep hearing this. I am neither recommending this or not recommending this, im just saying that this response is EVERYWHERE.

" Try smacking the side of the camera relatively hard with the palm of your hand. Eject the tape and reinsert. You may need to do this a couple of times."

A few other messages sound like this....
Here is what I've noticed:

My tapes (Sony brand) will hang up and I'll get that message EVERYTIME I leave a tape sitting in the camera for an extended period of time. i.e. more than a day or so.

I originally wondered if it was a tension problem. But I don't think so. Because, but I've found that simply removing my tapes after each shoot solves the problem. What's more, once a tape has gotten stuck, it will leave a visible line (shiny spot) on the tape. So I've been thinking it is a lubrication build up or something. But even a professional cleaning didn't fix the problem.

Once this has happened to a tape, it will continue to happen at that same spot. I can manually wind the tape past that point and get things working again in a pinch. But if I rewind the tape it will usually get stuck again at the same place. Sometimes it will stick during rewind, sometimes not. But it will always stop when playing or recording.

It's almost as though the camera has recorded a message on the tape that says "stop and display error message now". One exception to this is if I'm doing a capture to my NLE. Then the camera will play through the bad spot. So the error can be over-ridden. Go figure...

Obviously I've been dealing with this for some time. But the simple practice of removing tapes during down-time is an easy enough fix.

However, I'm encouraged by the previous report that switching to Panasonic tapes solved the problem. I'd been thinking for some time I'd do just that when I got to the right moment to make a global switch to a new brand.



So my best second suggestion would be to simply remove the tapes after each shoot helps solve the problem. OK all over the web when i type in thes question or ask someone I keep hearing this. I am neither recommending this or not recommending this, im just saying that this response is EVERYWHERE. " Try smacking the side of the camera relatively hard with the palm of your hand. Eject the tape and reinsert. You may need to do this a couple of times." A few other messages sound like this.... Here is what I've noticed: My tapes (Sony brand) will hang up and I'll get that message EVERYTIME I leave a tape sitting in the camera for an extended period of time. i.e. more than a day or so. I originally wondered if it was a tension problem. But I don't think so. Because, but I've found that simply removing my tapes after each shoot solves the problem. What's more, once a tape has gotten stuck, it will leave a visible line (shiny spot) on the tape. So I've been thinking it is a lubrication build up or something. But even a professional cleaning didn't fix the problem. Once this has happened to a tape, it will continue to happen at that same spot. I can manually wind the tape past that point and get things working again in a pinch. But if I rewind the tape it will usually get stuck again at the same place. Sometimes it will stick during rewind, sometimes not. But it will always stop when playing or recording. It's almost as though the camera has recorded a message on the tape that says "stop and display error message now". One exception to this is if I'm doing a capture to my NLE. Then the camera will play through the bad spot. So the error can be over-ridden. Go figure... Obviously I've been dealing with this for some time. But the simple practice of removing tapes during down-time is an easy enough fix. However, I'm encouraged by the previous report that switching to Panasonic tapes solved the problem. I'd been thinking for some time I'd do just that when I got to the right moment to make a global switch to a new brand. So my best second suggestion would be to simply remove the tapes after each shoot helps solve the problem.