Fix Broken 8mm Tape

Propose: Repairing a damaged or broken tape in a 8mm tape cassette.

Tools:

May need a spare 8mm cassette.   Tools to open the cassette.

Scenarios:

1. Tape is broken at the start of the tape.
2. Tape is broken at the end of the tape.
3. Tape is broken in the middle of the tape.

When I refer to the start, end and middle of the tape I mean the point of  recorded information.  For example, if a 60 minute tape is broken in the at the 30 minute mark, and there is only 20 minutes on the tape, I would say this is scenario #2.  Otherwise if this 60 minute tape is broken at the 30 minute mark and it has 40 minutes on the tape, then we have scenario #3.

Tips:

The tape cassette has a lock to prevent the wheels from moving when the tape is outside the deck.  Sometimes one needs to move the tape or take up slack or whatever and therefore the lock needs to be opened.  This lock is located on the back face of the cassette in the centre about .5 cm from the spine.  Stick something in the hole and push toward the spine to release the lock.

Fixing:

Basically, the tape cannot be spliced together.  So, if the tape has been broken into two pieces, part A and B, we would move the two parts into two completely separate cassettes.  If there is multiple parts, we would move each part into it's own cassette.  Now if one of the parts has no information on the tape, we can throw that part away.

Steps (scenario #1 and #2):

1. Take the screws out of the damaged cassette.  Open the cassette carefully to make sure not to loose any parts.
2. If we are dealing with scenario #1 or #2 then take the wheel with the tape that can be tossed and pull any remaining tape off the wheel.
3. The end of the tape is held onto the wheel by a plastic clip that pushes the end of the tape into the wheel.  Use a small flat screw-driver to push (from the side) the clip out of the wheel.
4. Lay the good end of the tape from the other wheel onto the empty wheel and snap the clip into the wheel to lock the tape in place.
5. Close the cassette.  Careful of the tape guide and wheel etc.

Steps (scenario #3):

This is the same fixing the tape for scenarios #1 and #2 but in this case we cannot toss the tape left on the other wheel, we need to take the one wheel from the damaged cassette to a spare cassette and perform the fix twice (once on each cassette) as above.

Time (for each scenario):

1. About20 minutes.
2. About 20 minutes.
3. About 40 minutes.

Also, if the cassette is stuck, it typically takes about 5 minutes to free it.

8mm or Hi8 or Digital8 to DVD Transfer Procedure

(Buttons) are displayed in parenthesis and "Menu Items" are displayed in quotations Note: If you press (Content Menu) and a blank screen appears, simply press the button again

Steps:

1. Hookup Hi8 Camera (referred to as Hi8) to HDD / DVD Video Recorder (referred to as EDIT) via 3.5mm to RCA Cable
2. Ensure that tape write protection is on (red tab at bottom of cassette is closed)
3. Insert tape into Hi8 camera
4. Rewind tape to start
5. Press (HDD) on EDIT's front panel
6. Set Data rate on HDD - need to add more to this
7. Press (record) on EDIT and press (play) on Hi8
8. Estimate the play time on the Hi8 and check back when it might be done
9. When the recording is complete, press (stop) on EDIT and (stop) on Hi8
10. Check to make sure that the rest of Hi8 source is really empty, then rewind tape and eject
11. Put a transfer number sticker on the tape
12. On EDIT's remote control do the following to create a chapter without gross start and end (essentially trim the start and end of the clip):
    1. Press (Content Menu) then press (Quick Menu) and select "Chapter Function"->"Chapter Editing"
    2. Press (play) to seek to the beginning of the tape recording past any glitchy or gross spots
    3. To make fine adjustments, use the (Frame/Adjust) directional buttons to scrub back and forth
    4. Make sure the on-screen cursor has "Divide" selected and press (Enter) to create a chapter division
    5. Use the (main directional keys) to skip to the end of the recording and then press (play) to find the end of the recording just before the gross tape ending
    6. To jump in smaller increments, use the (Pciture Search) directional buttons to scrub slower than the (main directional keys)
    7. To make fine adjustments, use the (Frame/Adjust) directional buttons to scrub back and forth
    8. Make sure the on-screen cursor has "Divide" selected and press (Enter) to create a chapter division
13. On EDIT's remote control do the following to create a play-list to dub the non-gross section to DVD:
    1. Press (Content Menu) then press (Quick Menu) and select "Edit Function"->"Playlist Editing"
    2. Move cursor to the Original title that was recorded on EDIT and had chapter divisions inserted
    3. Press the (Green Button with the Star above it) to switch to chapter selection mode of that Original title
    4. Select the middle scene, the good stuff, and press (Enter)
    5. A red cursor will appear in the bottom part of the screen - press (Enter) again to insert the scene there
14. Insert a Blank Printable DVD-R into Toshiba recorder
15. Create chapter marks at specific intervals
    1. Press (Content Menu) then press (Quick Menu) and select "Chapter Function"
    2. Select "Auto Chapter create" from the menu
    3. Select the chapter interval (suggest 5 min)
16. On EDIT's remote control do the following to dub the Playlist onto the DVD:
    1. Press (Content Menu) then press (Quick Menu) and select "High Speed Dubing"
    2. Select "Copy" from the menu to copy the playlist to DVD
17. Press (DVD) on EDIT's front panel
18. On EDIT's remote control do the following to finalize the DVD:
    1. Flip open the lower panel and press (Edit Menu)
    2. Select "Finalize DVD"
    3. add options settings here
    4. explain how to enter dvd name here, press save to return
    5. detail last buttons to press in order to get the dvd finalized
19. Put the disc on the printing tray and insert it into the Epson Stylus R260 printer
20. Go to any computer capable of running Adobe Illustrator CS4
21. Open the file 'E:\TMM\Templates\Labels\Disc Surface\DVD Surface Template V2.2' or newer version
22. Design Five is the template for Transfers - Change the following Text: 'Transfer #??' , 'Project Title' (Usually last name + year of transfer) , 'Type of transfer' (ex: Hi8 to DVD transfer) , 'Length'
23. In Illustrator, click "File"->"Export" , choose file type "jpeg" , checkmark "Use Artboards" , enter a range of '5' and change save location to a place easily accessed over the network if you are not printing from the same computer, then click "Save"
24. In the next dialogue, make sure "Quality" is set to '10', "Color Model" is set to 'RGB', "Resolution" is set to 'High', "Anti-Alias" is checked, and "Embed ICC Profile" is checked, then click "OK"
25. If you see a dialogue that informs you that you are about to replace a file, click "Replace"
26. Go to any computer capable of printing to the Epson Stylus R260 from Epson Print CD
27. Open Epson Print CD
28. Assuming you are using Ritek discs, set your inner diameter to '20' and outer diameter to '117'
29. Drag the exported jpg from Illustrator onto the disc shape in Epson Print CD
30. If you get a dialogue asking to save changes to 'Untitled' click "No"
31. Click "File"->"Print" or click on the blue printer icon
32. Ensure that the Epson Stylus R260 on Sam is selected
33. Click "Print"
34. When a dialogue warns that the inner print diameter is too small, click "OK"