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Hi, The majority of the problems I have encountered with DAT tapes had to do with alignment of the heads on the DAT machine - the alignment is unforgiving. So...if the DAT was recorded with a machine that was misaligned (which commonly happened over time), it would only play back on the same machine _without_ it having been serviced or the heads re-aligned. If it turns out that your whole collection isn't playing back, I would suspect that the machine(s) your working with may have misaligned heads. Best to bring one of the machines to a repair person and see if that corrects the problem. The "physical" problems I have encountered with DAT tapes, have been digital dropouts - that, I'm afraid, I don't know what, if anything, can be done about; and they are, as many of you know, more significant than analogue dropouts. Yep, digital... Best, Alyssa. ___________ Alyssa Ryvers Composer / Sound Engineer Music North www.musicnorth.com On 6-Feb-06, at 6:39 PM, seva wrote: > i've read many threads on issues surrounding playability. the one > looming now, for many people, are DAT tapes. > > after completing a large archival transfer of hundreds of analog > tapes, and having very little trouble (only a few needed baking, they > were Ampex 407), i found it ironic to consider the next phase for most > collections. when mentioning the analog tape transfers, many > non-professional friends immediately wondered "wow! they were > playable?", and i mentioned that they were very much so, and that my > worries were much more toward the digital age media. > > some who got the point mentioned that their early digital video tapes > were not playing well, and even the high-density 8mm and Hi-8 video > tapes... i think these were evaporated metal or metal particle, not > sure, but certainly different from Scotch 111 or 207... > > i wouldn't be asking for a discussion if i'd found an archived thread > on this, so please forgive me if i overlooked it. > > are there any known methods for playing DATs which don't want to play > even on the original recording machine? > > anyone willing to mention competent DAT repair places, DAT machines > which seem to be more tolerant, and more gentle, to the tapes? > > etc. > > > > -- > w/best regards, > seva > mastering engineer > http://www.soundcurrent.com > > > || | | | | | | | > Things are not what they seem to be; nor are they otherwise. > -- Lankavatara Sutra >