Strange Betacam error I need help with

[Snootchies]

Hello everyone. I've got quite a head scratching mystery regarding some Betacam players and Betacam SP tapes. A colleague suggested I post my conundrum here to see if anyone could help. So here goes...

 

I'm digitising a large number of archive videos for a client, converting them to mp4 format via a USB capture card. I've done hundreds of VHS tapes, and now we have moved onto the Betacam SP tapes they have. I purchased two Sony DVW-A500 players. When they arrived, I tested them to see if they worked OK. The first player I tried worked perfectly. I quickly tested perhaps half a dozen tapes from my batch of nearly 2 hundred. I then used the same tapes to test the other player. I immediately noticed some static banding appear - a couple of lines across the screen. Similar to a tracking issue reminiscent to the old VHS days. After a few seconds the player stopped and on it's display it stated 'Error 03'. The player pretty much became unresponsive at the point. None of the function buttons (play, fast forward etc) worked. Not even eject. Only when switching off the player, and then on again does it come back to life and the eject button works so I can get the tape out again. Ah, well I thought - at least I have one working player which will get me by till I get the other replaced.

 

However the very next day when I started in earnest with the player that worked, I got the same 'Error 03' on it's display, and the static banding. Player becomes unresponsive and I have to switch it off and on again. I then made sure I tested the same half a dozen tapes that were fine on it the day before, and they no longer worked.

 

I contacted the guy I purchased the players from (he has a AV sales business specializing in older formats). And said it would be quite a coincidence that both players had a problem since he tested both before sending, and said it likely would be the tapes, but regardless was happy to send me a replacement two players (same make - DVW-A500) which I thought was extremely reasonable of him.

 

When the two newer players arrived, essentially the same thing happened. I only had time to quickly rig one of the players up on the day they arrived, but it played the few tapes I grabbed perfectly. Until the next morning when I planned to properly get started, and found the 'error 03' once more etc. And on the other player which I had then opened and setup also.

 

I've moved the players and tapes around the building. Let them settle in a different place for a few days to rule out temperature etc. But still I get the error. When you look up what 'error 03' means, it states "The slack or breaking of the tape is detected in playback mode, or either of the lock of the supply or take-up reel is detected, and then tape protection is done. Detected when the FG frequency at a supply or take-up reel is zero (0), or when the tension detected from a tension sensor is less than 15g".

 

When I realised I was getting the same error across all four players, I contacted the chap I bought them from again, and he said it was impossible all four players are faulty. Indeed the second two he sent me were his own which he then replaced. They had been solid players without fault. He doesn't understand why this is happening.

 

The batch of 200 Betacam SP tapes I have consist of ten boxes, I've not tested every tape, but been pretty thorough in testing a good selection from every box.

 

Any suggestions on what could be the issue here?

[Brian]

Sounds like stiction. I'll bet that the tapes have been stored in less than ideal conditions and that damp has permeated between the winds. As the tape moves past the drum it gradually sticks to the non-moving lower part and causes the reel error.

[Snootchies]

Thanks Brian, that does make some sense.

[paulears]

Brian is correct. 03 is a pretty common one to be honest on Betacam and Betacam SP. There are tape tension sensors that are kind of spring loaded 'scales' if they can deflect the tape from the straight path by more than a certain amount, they trigger the fault and the machine usually stops - it prevents the common problem of the take up spool not running at the same speed as the tape, and causing looping, or the reverse, too much tension on the play out spool. The line on the screen suggests the tape is lifting as it passes over the heads - so I would suspect one of the tapes has shed some oxide in one of the guides and the tape path is not clear. It was common to run these with the top cover removed and a can of Colclene on hand with some buds, wipes and lint free cloths on standby. The stickyness Brian mentions is often a result of condensation on the tape, then storage. Many people involved in old archiving make a point of always storing their tapes at the end - because if they jam on loading, then end is empty - the beginning usually critical, and most worn.

 

Winding a tape end to end at least a couple of times is good practice on old tapes - before they get used in play mode.

 

EDIT

I just looked up the tension in the manual for my machine and it's low - just 15g at the sensor, and any binding or tape path obstruction could trigger this one.

 

I think all the machines you have now need a good clean to remove any of the debris, then a wiz through with the lid off so you can look and find the one shedding oxide, and set that tape aside, as it's clearly causing the problem. Sadly, these machines in normal use rarely stay working long enough to warrant putting the lids back on. Nothing wrong with the machines - but the tapes continually shed their oxide and cleaning is the first job every morning, or shift start.

[Snootchies]

Thanks Paulears, that's really helpful.

[p.k.roberts]

The google term that might 'shed' some light on the tape issue is 'sticky shed'

[paulears]

Proper sticky shed was mainly an analogue reel to reel problem where the actual binder layer and the magnetisable layer chemically reacted badly. It gave the recording world a good shake when valuable and rare tapes became a sticky mess. Baking in the oven allowed a copy to be made, with fingers crossed. The video tape problem here is 'stick' caused by poor or just damp storage and to be honest, was always present to a small degree. First tape of the morning with a warm tape or warm machine and cold tape would soon have even a decent tape dumping the surface onto anything it touched including the heads and filing the gap with crud causing dropouts. Even a tiny bit of guide misalignment wild scour the edges. To be fair u-matic and then betacam was better than domestic vhs and beta due to more metal no less plastic and of course tape speed, but contamination of one dodgy tape to the machine and then to other cassettes was a day to day problem.

[Roderick]

Sticky tape syndrome is equally possible with video tapes as it is with audio tapes.

Don't forget that Betacam is a very old format and tapes can very easily have developed the same problems. I work a lot with 1/2" reel to reel video that requires backing, sometimes several days, to be playable. But whatever you do, DO NOT STICK YOUR TAPES IN THE KITCHEN OVEN! Apologies for the shouting.

To bake a tape you need to dehydrate the tape at 56°C for an extended period of time. Because of the cassette shells it will take longer than reel to reel tapes.

 

Also, the DVW-A500's are Digital Betacam machines with analogue playback. Be extremely careful cleaning around the heads, don't touch the drum it is very sensitive.

Best way to clean the tape path and heads is to use a known good DigiBeta tape and let that run for an hour or so.

[paulears]

The guy I worked with swore that a wooden cocktail stick, with the end squished with the butt end of a screwdriver had just the shape to safely remove a head clog. I however, having proven hamfistness skills was not allowed to do the same!

[Snootchies]

Thanks again everyone

[Jivemaster]

I dry things with a dehumidifier, use a huge box, put things inside and put the dehumidifier inside (set to continuous) leave running for 12+ hours.

[sandall]

The guy I worked with swore that a wooden cocktail stick, with the end squished with the butt end of a screwdriver had just the shape to safely remove a head clog. I however, having proven hamfistness skills was not allowed to do the same!

In the days of good old 2" tape a thumb-nail against the spinning heads did the trick when on-air, but it wasn't for the faint-hearted, & it did tend to leave a groove in the nail.

[alistermorton]

I remember the finger against the head block trick too.

[paulears]

Back when I was very young, we were shown 2" quad editing and painting the tape to see the tracks and then cutting at just the rate place to keep the sync steady. Nowdays nobody would believe this kind of thing - like leaning on the guides to keep a misaligned machine's head switching band out of vision when it was the only machine left running!

[dbuckley]

Nowdays nobody would believe this kind of thing...

 

On Reddit recently someone posted a pic of a quarter inch splice block and tape and stuff, and few folks were familiar with this stuff. We're quite lucky; we've lived through the eras of really.... "difficult" technology, and now appreciate how good this modern stuff is, and how hard it is to screw up in ways that were once so easy. I've never worked with quad VTRs, but I know about the need to do the cut at just the right place...