8mm Rewinders: Any Good?
William R. Cruce
the use of 8mm rewinders (actually any tape rewinders). He said he
had seen too many tapes destroyed by them. He said I would really have
to be belligerent to get him to sell me one!
He said that service men he had talked to had never had a camcorder
that needed repair from overuse of rewind (how could they tell, I wonder?)
Such unusual behavior from a salesman caused me to think seriously about
the use of rewinders. I have never had a bad experience with VHS and
BETA rewinders but I have always used pretty good ones from SOLIDEX
that have end dectectors and soft stops. SOLIDEX also makes one for
8mm.
I am soliciting input from the net about rewinders. Especially 8mm.
Does anyone use them? Good or bad experiences? Brands that are good
or bad?
Email or post, either is o.k.
--
BILL CRUCE, NE OHIO COLL OF MEDICINE----INTERNET: wl...@uhura.neoucom.edu
Neurobiology Dept., P.O. Box 95, Rootstown, OH 44272
"A poet engaged in film work must face a great
difficulty: A film must please at once." -Jean Cocteau
Igor Braslavsky
8mm rewinders as opposed to the camcorder itself.
I bet there is nothing wrong with using the camcorder to rewind tapes (except slower speed may be and
being able to use camcorder at the same time).
To any one suggesting that using the rewinder saves the motors in the camcorder I've got this question.
If the camcorder motor is bound to fail from "overuse", would you rather it failed sooner (while you still
have the original or extended warranty) or later (when you've got nothing).
- igor
Bill Mayhew
a number of dead rewinders brought to me for service. I'm
unimpressed with the tape handling. All the rewinders I've looked
at let the tape whack against the spool at the end of the tape,
then trigger a simplistic shut-off. Nasty! A good way to break
the leader off the tape if you aren't lucky.
Unless you're really, really impatient, I don't see any reason not
to go ahead and rewind the tape in the VCR. There is nothing in
VHS or 8mm transports that is subject to much wear or stress by
fast winding. Playing is a lot worse since the supply reel has to
be backtensioned and the the takeup hub tensioned with a slip
clutch. Maybe somebody will make a device that lets me play a tape
without putting it in my VCR :-). That would save a lot of head
wear too.
Beta transports are different becuase they leave the tape wrapped
loosely on the drum while fast winding. A boluxed up tape could
potentially do some nasty stuff if it broke while fast winding.
...but.... You take a chance ejecting a beta tape in the middle
away from the leader. The tape is much thinner and more fragile
than the leader, so you take a chance creasing the tape while
unwrapping the drum. If you have a beta tape, play it to the end,
eject it, then pop it in the sludge-O-matic munchmaster rewinder
for rewinding if you must.
Specifically about camcorders: Those little 8-mm camcorders all
have loaders that would make Rube Goldberg proud. I think I'd
avoid any unnecessary insert / eject of tapes. I've adjusted guide
posts on beta and VHS VCRs and that is a tedious and annoying job.
Just getting the cover off a little VHS-C or 8mm devil is
bewildering. I had a Sony TR7 apart to fix a switch problem. I
think I'll leave camcorder transport porblems to somebody else.
I think I'd pool the bucks that would have gone to a rewinder with
a few more bucks and buy an extended warranty. Camcorders and
large screen TVs are the only two home appliances I'd even give a
second thought for buying a service contract.
Bill
--
Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department
Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511
w...@uhura.neoucom.edu ....!uunet!aablue!neoucom!wtm
via internet: (140.220.001.001)
Adam Keith Levin-Delson - CATS
>I agree with CWO. I don't think much of tape rewinders. I've had
(description of VHS and 8mm tape rewinder action deleted)
>Beta transports are different becuase they leave the tape wrapped
>loosely on the drum while fast winding.
I've watched my Sony `701 (Hi8 camcorder) FF and REW tapes and it definately
holds it against the drum. In fact, the only time the tape is retracted into
the cassette is when the tape is about to be ejected or has been inserted with
power off.
Here's what happens when you insert a tape with the POWER switch in
its different positions:
In "OFF" mode, nothing happens.
In "VTR" mode, the tape is immediately extracted from the cassette
and wound around the drum.
In "CAMERA" mode with the standby switch in the LOCK position,
nothing happens. As soon as you move the switch to the STANDBY
position, the tape is extracted from the cassette and wound
around the drum.
So if you've been recording in CAMERA mode or doing either recording or
playing back in VTR mode and switch the power OFF, the tape remains held
against the drum.
--
Adam Levin-Delson Commodore Applications and Technical Support BIX: aklevin
Mail: 1200 Wilson Drive / West Chester, PA 19380 USA Phone: (215) 431-9180
UUCP: ...{rutgers|uunet}!cbmvax!adam USENET: ad...@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com
Elmer Robles
up my valuable footage four times, before I realized what was going
on. The first one I got was from The Good Guys...it was a terrible
piece of plastic machinery. You had to make sure you aligned the
Tape perfectly so that as you pushed the tape down, a little lever
pushed the tape protector up. So now, the 8mm tape is fully exposed
--until you closed the cover. There wasn't even a mechanism that
prevented you from rewinding while the cover was up. That little
rewinder ruined my Hi8 footage by conveniently wrinkling
the tape surface. I now have a Solidex rewinder...which has a
much better design. But I wouldn't trust it with master footage.
I only rewind copies and regular 8mm tapes with it--and even with
the end of tape sensors, the unit still stops abruptly...making me
wonder if the tape is being stretched. I have VHS tape rewinders,
and have used them without any problems...perhaps 8mm tapes are
too dainty to be subjected to the torture of rewinders.
-------------------
Elmer Robles rob...@rdac.hac.com
Jay Keller
(William R. Cruce) writes:
>A salesman at Camera World of Oregon said he STRONGLY advised against
>the use of 8mm rewinders (actually any tape rewinders). He said he
>had seen too many tapes destroyed by them. He said I would really have
>to be belligerent to get him to sell me one!
>He said that service men he had talked to had never had a camcorder
>that needed repair from overuse of rewind (how could they tell, I wonder?)
>
>Such unusual behavior from a salesman caused me to think seriously about
>the use of rewinders. I have never had a bad experience with VHS and
>BETA rewinders but I have always used pretty good ones from SOLIDEX
>that have end dectectors and soft stops. SOLIDEX also makes one for
>8mm.
>
>I am soliciting input from the net about rewinders. Especially 8mm.
>Does anyone use them? Good or bad experiences? Brands that are good
>or bad?
I really want one of these, and it has nothing to do with saving wear on
my camcorder. It simply costs me too much time to rewind diligently while
I am in an editing session.
Generally, there's a "current" tape in the camcorder, with the tape counter
reading the current position. So I remove the current tape and begin editing
with other source tapes. Then I reset the counter to zero (I keep them all
rewound to the beginning). After using the tape, I rewind it, which can take
several minutes. Then after I am all done, I replace the current tape, rewind
it, and reset the tape counter. Then I FF it to the current position. All
this adds a lot of time to my editing sessions. So I would really like to get
a rewinder.
But I wouldn't trust my tapes to any off-brands. I intend to someday break
down and buy the Sony 8mm rewinder, which is called BE-V8. It also is
capable of erasing tapes during FF or rewind. The damned thing costs real
money, however, over $100. I would trust that the Sony unit would not abuse
my tapes. It uses 4 AA batteries or an external 6V power supply.
I've seen 3 other 8mm units besides the Solidex, by Azden, Lenmar, and Ambico.
At least the first two have some means of sensing the end of the tape so
they may be fairly safe. But all three are kind of ugly and they all cost
about $40.
You can see all 3 of these 3rd-party machines in the Planet Electronicss
catalog, 800-542-8811.
Being a Sony-phile, and valuing my tapes, I'll probably someday wind up with
a Sony winder.
Regards,
Jay Keller
Santa Clara, California, USA
Internet: bad...@netcom.com