On Fri, 27 Jul 2001 00:09:27 GMT, Sum wrote:

>I have a Sony PC9 that I bought and I experimented with a month now
>using Fuji tapes. Now that I am ready to record for real I want to use
>real Sony tapes. Someone told me I need to clean the heads first. Can
>someone explain to me how to do this?
>
>I opened the cassette and I see a lot of pins and a large tilted drum
>looking thingie. I assume that is the head. Now do I take a Q tip and
>dip in pure ethanol and just start rubbing against it? Do I clean all
>the way around this head? Any need to clean other parts?

DO NOT MESS AROUND IN THOSE INNARDS UNLESS YOU _KNOW_ WHAT
YOU ARE DOING!!!
It may be best at this point to continue using Fuji tapes
(only!), though if you have used only one or two, you *may*
get away with switching now to Sony (or whatever...).
You will see no difference in image or sound quality with
the Sony tape, but mixing tapes *may* result in
head-clogging and high dropout rate from mixing incompatible
lubricants (this *may* no longer be an issue, but no one
seems to reliably know). If you feel you must switch, maybe
using a Sony cleaning tape (sparingly - perhaps 3 passes of
5-seconds each in playback mode, with 30-second "rests"
between, one time only) will help avoid problems, but the
best way to avoid problems is to never switch tape brands.
Others may reasonably disagree, and relate OK experience
mixing brands, but I suspect that some people are more
sensitive than others to DV dropouts, and that they are
more visible in hand-held work than in tripod work since
the dropout correction works by replacing bad spots in
the image with material from the previous frame, and
if this has not changed (by motion), the dropout may be
there, but the correction will be invisible.