Re: [ARSCLIST] Risk assessment tool Q3--DAT

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marie Azile O'Connell wrote:

> Before I left Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero in New Zealand, we had made it a
> priority to get everything off DAT and onto Mitsui Gold CD-R's.  As a small
> team most of us did this "in the background" whilst doing our main duties, mine
> being Tape Preservation.  From memory, we were using HHB DAT's and Sony, 120's
> was the norm.

HHB dats were among the most error-prone I ever used..thank you for reminding me.

> The machines were Panasonic's and the newer ones were Tascam,once again from
> memory.  The Panasonic's had been used with great demand and worn heads and
> errors and tape stoppage had begun.  They had all required servicing. John
> Kelcher would be able to give details on the servicing of the machines. In the
> newer machines sometimes the DAT's simply didn't play.  Once the word was out
> that DAT was not what it was cracked up to be we began our programme of getting
> the audio off that medium and onto CD-R.  I think this process began in about
> 1996-97.

A well-used Panasonic will give problems....you'll see the "head cleaning" light
start to flash, and this can occur when the head is dirty OR when the DAT itself
has a high error count (in which case, try a different machine if possible).
Incidentally, I've had one fairly new (bulk erased and re-recorded) dat tape make
awful noises in the DA-30. It played fine in the DA-20 where it was recorded, and I
haven't followed up to see if it was just that one tape or a problem with the
DA-30.

dl