Hi, Shai,

You're a brave man doing video, too <smile>.

Ten years ago I heard of the same problem/practice with 3/4-inch U-Matic.

Twenty years ago (plus or minus) I had this issue with one box of 10 DAT 
tapes I bought new back then.

I have probably run fewer than twenty tapes in my DA-38.

With that said, binder hydrolysis is probably an issue with some runs of 
coated tape (though I would not expect it with metal evaporated tapes). 
So far, I have baked one DAT tape and that made it recoverable. Oddly, 
it was an Ampex tape.

Storage conditions make a huge difference. The Library of Congress is 
apparently NOT experiencing the need for increased baking times that 
other restorers and I have noted due to the fact that they are 
transferring their holdings which are stored in proper storage 
conditions (which I do not have the specifics for at the moment). Is it 
possible that your location in Israel is a dry one (I do recall a fair 
amount of desert there, though I also recall that much of the population 
is in the coastal region) which is reducing the amount of binder hydrolysis?

Trying to generate a "big picture" from all these data points is 
interesting and sometimes frustrating, and I do not think we'll ever 
know the complete picture due to the lot-to-lot chemistry changes and 
manufacturing tolerances that have been documented.

Cheers,

Richard

On 2012-09-20 1:26 AM, Shai Drori wrote:
> Hi Joe
> Why are you stopping many times to clean heads on 8mm and Hi8? That 
> never happens to me. I would check tape path or heads or try another 
> deck just to be sure. Sounds odd. Any one else has data on this?
> Shai

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada           (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.