Pansonic 3800 Head Error Counter

[mandarine]

Can someone help me with understanding the error counter display on the SV-3800 DAT? When in stop mode the error counter reads the max 9984. I cannot reset it to zero using the procedure in the manual. When the 3800 is in PLAY, the error counter reads anywhere from 0 to perhaps 60 or so and appears to refresh every few seconds. It appears the display is some sort of average over the previous time frame, as error counts will peak, then gradually reduce.

 

This behavior happens on all DAT tapes that I have tried. Does anyone have an understanding of how this error rate display works - and do all DAT tapes have a certain percentage of errors on playback?

[Anderton]

Not sure about the Panasonic specifics, but yes, all DATs have errors and robust error correction to deal with it. It's rare, however, that the errors are so numerous that the DAT can't reconstruct the original data stream.

[GY]

Dirty heads cause high eror readings. I would avoid the cleaning tapes. Learn how to clean the heads by hand or have a knowledgeable tech do it.

 

Eddie Ciletti has some great info on DAT head cleaning on his site.

 

http://www.tangible-technology.com/

 

Good luck!

[Anderton]

Thanks GY! Eddie is THE guy when it comes to DAT, ADAT, and other digital tape formats.

[mandarine]

Thanks for the info. I am familiar with Eddie's site.

 

The 3800's are very delicate animals, and cleaning is a risky propositin. The deck I am referring to was just serviced, so it was cleaned.

 

I was really wondering about the specifics of how the 3800 might display it's error rates versus time, and why they might be maxed out for a staionary tape.