Date:         Thu, 3 Aug 2006 13:22:33 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         David Lennick <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Glitchy dats
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Karl Miller wrote:

> On Thu, 3 Aug 2006, David Lennick wrote:
>
> > I've been sent a load of DATs to transfer to CD for auditioning, and I find
> > that a number of them dating from 1996 have glitches. I don't know if there's
> > one brand more prone than others since I'm not monitoring consistently, but
> > they do seem to turn up on Sony PDP-124s. Anyone have similar experiences? Any
> > thoughts on whether this was a bad brand (I had problems with it myself) or if
> > it was a matter of us not thoroughly erasing the tapes before using them or not
> > fast forwarding or rewinding them before using them?
>
> I have had trouble with most DATs including the Sony 124s. I have found
> that adjusting the guides/alignment on the tape machine has made them
> playable.
>
> Karl

For what it's worth, the glitches were known to the sender..a couple were marked "bad
tape at beginning" so I doubt that it's a fault in my playback, although I'm going to
check the next one that turns up on a few different machines (these dubs are for
reference only, the programs aren't going to be re-syndicated). Too bad my Panasonic
3700 died (it was the only machine on which I could read error rates).

dl