Tape Head Cleaner?

[Big Phil]

Hi guys,

Yesterday I took delivery of a shiny new HC3

£774.94 delivered from cameras2u.com. Next day delivery, no hassles.

That thread about the extra stuff you need came just in time - new NP-FP90 battery (well, a PowerMart compatible one), charger and HDMI lead arrived today from Ebay traders...memory stick, bag and software to come!

One thing missing from the list was a tape head cleaner

Can anyone recommend one? How often should they be used?

Thanks,

~Phil.

[lurcher]

Well Phil I may have been lucky but since starting useing camcorders (MS4/5 I think) in 1986 I have never used a head cleaner on a machine , with the exception of a VHS player.
Wouldnt worry about it , use same brand/make of tape.

[MarkE19]

Tape head cleaners are abrasive and therefore should only be used when the camcorder says you need to. If you use them on a regular basis you will not get any PQ advantages but will end up wearing out the heads a lot quicker than normal.
As already advised you should stick to the same tapes at all times as HDV heads seem a lot more prone to clogging when different tapes are used than on DV cams. Other than that I agree that head cleaning should not be an issue. My 8 year old camcorder has never needed the heads cleaned - I just use a brand new tape each time I record and the old tapes are kept in a clean, dry enviroment so are in good condition when I need to capture the footage from them. I assume this is still good advice for HDV.

Mark.

[evans]

yes Mark has a point ; my camcorder had dirty heads affecting the sound and picture although i only took 10 tapes of footage . its only on this forum that i have learnt mixing tapes is not a good idea.

I suspect some of my tapes (sony older ones) were the cause of the problems.

[Big Phil]

Cheers guys,

Lesson learnt: don't mix tapes and don't use tape head cleaners unless absolutely necessary

~Phil.

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