DVD recorder says my tape is copy protected.

[Andy1254]

Having a problem transferring my 8mm videos to DVD. All was well until my source tape started showing three horizontal lines intermittantly. Every time they appear NO COPY is displayed on my Philips DVDR 3480 and recording is paused then when they disappear on a scene change it starts recording again.Anyone have any ideas why this is and/or how I can get around the problem? Please

Best regards
Andy

 

[JayCee]

The 3 lines are likely to be either a damaged tape or dirt on the video tape heads...try cleaning the heads and try again.

 

[nvingo]

Anyone have any ideas why this is and/or how I can get around the problem? Please

Best regards
Andy

Most DVD recorders will pause recording when the input video sync is "unstable", and will probably suggest that is due to copy protection which is designed to upset the sync signal.

In the case of Video8/Hi8, the small size of the camcorders was made possible by reducing the size of the spinning head drum, and fitting additional heads to it.
Thus where in a normal VCR the heads are switched between frames - each frame occupies one diagonal track across the tape, in a camcorder the heads are also switched mid-frame.

As JayCee says try cleaning the camcorder heads, beyond that it may be economic to consider replacing it - I don't know if there's any workshop adjustments that could improve it.

 

[Andy1254]

Thank you both for your replies. Unfortunatly the tapes are coming to the end of their life as they were used to record in 1994. The lines are tape degradation and no fault of the video camera heads. It looks as if my DVDR will continue to think my tapes are copy protected. I will have to try and copy them through my laptop but, in my experience, the quality is not the same as tape direct to dvdr ( maybe my capture program is not the best?).
Thanks again
Andy

 

[nvingo]

Thank you both for your replies. Unfortunatly the tapes are coming to the end of their life as they were used to record in 1994. The lines are tape degradation and no fault of the video camera heads. It looks as if my DVDR will continue to think my tapes are copy protected. I will have to try and copy them through my laptop but, in my experience, the quality is not the same as tape direct to dvdr ( maybe my capture program is not the best?).
Thanks again
Andy

Then I suggest finding a device to insert between the camcorder's output and the DVDR's input, to clean up/re-insert the sync pulse. Something like this ought to do it if anything can.

 

[Suggers]

Andy - I ve had good success transfering my old video8 tapes to my laptop - bought a Canopus ADVC-100 for about £80 off good old fleabay - a little box of tricks that fools the computer into thinking it's receiving a digital signal - lovely clean result. There seems to be quite a few of these about as people move into being totally digital.
All the best.