HELP! My well-used Sony PC100 (not 1000,) just died while transferring video from camera to computer. Unfortunately, the tape is of a funeral (and I was the only one recording it,) so it is vitally important to get the tape out 'safely'. (It wasn't even kind enough to die during a 'lull', it was as one of the deceased's adult children was speaking!)

Does anyone know where on this camera to dismantle properly to get the tape out safely? (Obviously, the tape is still wound around the read/write heads, so I would like to manually 'back out' the tape just like the motorized eject would do.)

The camera was working just fine throughout the recording. I managed to get one of the two tapes copied to computer just fine. The second tape played back fine on the camera itself, but was 'stuttering' when transferring to computer, so I unplugged everything, ran a head cleaner tape through (just to be safe,) and plugged everything back in. It started to transfer fine, then the camera just turned off. I have tried multiple (known good mere hours earlier,) batteries, and even two (known good mere minutes earlier,) power cords. It refuses to even show a flicker of life.

The camera is old, so its loss is not a huge deal (although I wanted to at least wait for the Canon HF-100 to be available in retail,) but I would desperately like to get that tape out before Tuesday. (I would like to get at least a raw working video out to relatives before the first one leaves town on Wednesday, and I can always borrow another DV cam to import the video with.)

Have you tried Sony recommendation for stuck cassette inside the carriage or unresponsive cassette inside? According to the consumer Sony mini DV manuals, sometimes it’s caused by condensed moisture inside and other times electronics becomes jammed.

At any rate, if electronics becomes jammed and the carriage would not work, remove the battery and disconnect the AC power altogether and then try again see if the camcorder responds after reconnecting. And if the carriage door is already open, try to air it out with gentle air, and then try again by reconnecting.

TS

It's not "stuck" in the sense that the camera tries to eject it, and fails. It's "stuck" in the sense that the camera does not power up at all, and thus, will not even start to initiate the eject routine.

Yes, I tried everything I could relating to power, it didn't help. The camcorder is completely fried.

I ended up dismantling it completely to get the tape out. I did figure out how to work the 'rewind' motor by hand, and rewound to the beginning of the tape before ripping the tape holder apart, and finally got it out, with only a little creasing during and unimportant part.