reviving old 3/4" tapes, any suggestions?

Tim O'Connor · January 2, 2008

I have some 3/4" (Umatic) tapes that I've pulled out and would like to edit some

of them now that with Final Cut Pro I have such great editing possibilities.

I started dubbing them to Mini-DV (that's what I use to capture) but the 3/4" tapes

have all sorts of hiccups in them. I've stretched them, as we used to say, and done

that with some of them several days in a row but when I play them they jump and

the signal gets lost.

These are tapes that have been sitting (vertically) for years, not exposed to harsh

temperatures. They were brand new tapes for their respective projects and have

been used once only for recording what's on them. They worked and played okay

before they were put away. I'd love to be able to retrieve some of the stuff on them.

Does anybody have any experience with this situation and any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hal Smith · January 2, 2008

Your tape has probably lost its lubrication. If you Google relubrication "recording tape" you'll get some hits on relubricating audio tape which might be helpful.

Alessandro Machi · January 6, 2008

.......I've stretched them, as we used to say, and done
that with some of them several days in a row but when I play them they jump and

the signal gets lost.

What do you mean by "stretched them"? Do you mean you fast forwarded to the end of the tape

and then rewound them? Or did you just play them all the way through and then rewound them?

Make sure your tracking and skew adjustments have been optimized. Some 3/4 decks

have an adjustment for both. You can optimize them by putting a professional television in cross pulse mode and then adjusting the skew and tracking until the lines along the cross pulse get as straight as they are going to get.

Additionally, you'll probably need a time base corrector and you'll need to send external sync to your 3/4 deck from the time base corrector as well. Although I have not heard of lubricating 3/4 tapes I have heard of baking them so they warm just enough and just long enough so any adhesive qualities the tape may have are eliminated.

I discovered years ago that older 3/4 tapes can leave deposits on the video heads as well. In a happy accident I was able to use unrecorded on Scotch 3/4 videotape to help "clean" the tape path and drum by just running them in the 3/4 deck for about 30 seconds to a minute, then I would put the older tape back in and go until it clogged the heads again.

For some reason unknown to me the new stock seemed to clear out the tape path in much the way a videotape cleaning cassette might.

Tim O'Connor · January 7, 2008

Thanks, guys, these are great suggestions that I will put to use right away!

"Stretching" a tape was a phrase I learned for the practice recommended by many people to

put the tape in and fast forward and completely rewind it before playing.

Matt Butler · January 14, 2008

I have also been "re-archiving" 3/4 umatics to mini-DV and have found the following techniques helpful as well.

Holding the cassette horizontally with "window" to the top tap firmly on both the left and right edges of the cassette tape. This helps to loosen the plastic tape supply and take-up spindles which can lock up otherwise.

Removing the umatic deck's cover should give you access to the spinning helical drum/head assembly and associated tape loading mechanism.

Turn 240/110 power OFF.

Carefully clean the recessed video heads, - I generally use a tightly wound cotton bud(not sure of US equivalent) dipped in cleaning alcohol and rub the heads gently in one direction only - NEVER BACK and FORTH. Do the same for guide rollers, rubber capstan, sound and sync. heads (if any) to remove the offending tape adhesive and other gunk.

Your umatic deck could also be out of alignment .... which will edge damage your tapes ...listen for a "crinkly' sound coming from inside the deck as the tape attempts to load and play.

I suggest you also contact your state library media archive curators, who probably have a few of their own techniques.

I guess we will all go through all this "re-archiving" with mini-DV tapes in 20-30 years time... " oh the horror!"

Paul Bruening · January 14, 2008

We used to pull the hatch and clean the heads with cotton knit (new, especially washed t-shirts) and freon. What can you use now that freon is a bad thing? Old tape sheds a lot of rust. He'll need to be able to clean frequently.