Do DAT tapes (4MM) freeze up or fail

April 20, 2009 - 8:12am

JIMV

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Joined: Jan 31 2008 - 1:46pm

Do DAT tapes (4MM) freeze up or fail

April 20, 2009 - 12:44pm

Editor

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Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 8:56am

Quote:
I broke out my old DAT recorder and it does not work, though it did when I stored it over a decade ago. Is it possible my old tapes have simply deteriorated past the point they work??

I don't know. Does the tape spool okay? I have a collection of DAT tapes that I am gradually transferring to hard drive, using either a Panasonic 3700 or a Sony TC-D7 portable. If you can send me a tape, I'll see if it will play on one of my machines. If it does, then there might be a problem with your DAT machine.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

April 20, 2009 - 1:10pm

JIMV

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Last seen: 6 years 2 months ago

Joined: Jan 31 2008 - 1:46pm

Actually, I have a very lightly played D7...All indications are the machine is OK...I get a good power reading, it loads OK, but when I hit play..it blinks 'load' a few times, then quits. It does the same thing with the cleaning tape..Very confusing...I doubt the D7 has a score of hours on it.

Fast forward and reverse also produce the same effect...

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