HDV Mini DV Digital Video Head Cleaning Tape

Mini DVCAM/ DV/ HDV compatible cleaning cassettes are usually dry digital video head cleaning tapes for all brands (due to being an open technology) of Mini DVCAM / DV / HDV video equipment, such as camcorders, handycams, video recorders and players. When the video heads are dirty, mosaic-like "noise" will appear here and there when tapes are played back and/or a bluish tone will permeate entire images. This can also show as lines across the screen. Very dirty heads cause a deterioration in the recording capability and at worst, they will make it impossible to record altogether.

The banding or striping of the image occurs when one head of the two on the scanner is clogged or otherwise unable to recover data. The image will show 10 horizontal bands or 12 in PAL with every other band showing the picture image and the alternate bands showing a freeze frame of a previous image, or of no image at all.  Most often this is due to a head clog, and cleaning the heads using a standard manufacturer's head cleaning tape is all that's required. It can also be caused by tape damage, or by a defective tape. If head cleaning and changing the tape used don't solve it, you may have a dead head or head problem and you will neeed a service by a qualified technician.