I have a Sony DCR-PC1000 which has a problem that I think might be a common problem(?). My hope is that there is a simple fix and I am posting the issue here to see if anyone else has fixed the issue and what was done.

The issue is this.

When you put the casette tape into the PC1000 the screen shows an error "reinsert the tape" when you open the door the motor seems to labor and in one or two tries the tape ejects, --and when it does it always has about 2" of tape sticking out of the cassette.

If you put the tape back in the same thing happens again.

An engineer friend, with help of the PC1000 repair manual, took the door assembly off and reassembled it and this seemed to fix the issue. Unfortunately after several opens and closes the system is back to having the same issue.

The error happened suddenly and never went away once it started. The camera was not dropped or injured in any way to my knowledge.

Any feedback or ideas?