Re: [ARSCLIST] DAT libraries and issues

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scott Phillips wrote:

> I admit I've had little trouble with DAT playback under controlled
conditions. That being, of > course, machines that were in a very high state of
service and adjustment on both the > record and playback side. That said, most
people paid little attention as long as the DAT > played back on the machine
that made it. Error rate, what is that???

It's something I was able to check only on the Panasonic 3700 of blessed memory
(it gave me ten good years, then just shut down last year). Anyone know if the
Tascam DA-20 and DA-30 have a secret menu for reading the error rates?

My very first DAT recorder was one of the very few consumer models, a JVC
purchased for me by Intersound so I could send my masters to them on DAT. Never
sold in Canada, and when I ran into problems with it JVC didn't want to know
about it in Canada or the US. The problems involved tapes that had error rates
that were off the map on other machines. That machine still functions just fine
as a playback unit when I need an extra (including playing back tapes recorded
at 32K, the long-play speed) but nobody was ever able to get the heads aligned
properly so it could record. Another odd thing..that machine would not take a
head-cleaner. It just wouldn't play it.

dl