Tape is stuck in the machine, and I really need the tape!

This sounds to me like tape slack. Try to open the tape path of your cassette carefully and wind the loose tape back until you regain tension. Close back the cover and retry. In case the same effect happens again, the tape department of your ZR200 is faulty. Only well schooled stuff should open your Cam because of delicate parts inside!!!
Best wishes
Norbert

Do you still have this problem. If you do, I think it has somthing to do with tape slack.

The take-up reel should remove the slack from the tape. Try looking around that area for anything wrong. If it wasn't a new machine I would suggest a lot of things, but the only thing I can think of is either something got damaged in transit or a foreign object is in somewhere.

Excess tape slack and the drives are not able to correct due to age/ lack of service. See if you can get the cover off and verify that the machine is at least trying to shuttle the tape. If that's the case, the idlers need to be replaced...accordianman

Yeah, unscrew the 2 top screws. Underneath the lid, there's instructions on how to manually remove the tape. You're also going to have to pull out the tape tray. There's a metal piece holding it down that you can remove by taking out the 2 screws. Then it's a matter of pulling the tray out and turning the tiny gear at the front (not the 2 bigger ones on the side) until it makes the full motion path. Holy ****, that takes a long time. Once you have removed the tape, replace the tray, the holding bar, the 2 screws for that, and the cover.

Perhaps this will help some. I realized that this problem occurs on my Canon Optura 30 (consumer mini DV) when the tape is fully rewound. Tapes that are not rewound seem to work fine. If this situation applies to you, try the following, and make sure that in the future you don't fully rewind your tapes! Fast forward your tape in a tape deck or rewinder. It should play in the camcorder now. If you don't have a machine to do it for you, you can manually advance the tape with a pointy object and a pencil (the eraser--or your pinky!). On the back of the tape, near the top (that is, opposite the side where the tape is exposed), locate the notch between the two spools (the "wheels"). The notch will have a spring-loaded slider inside, which you can hold open to free the spools. Otherwise they are locked in place and you can't turn them. Holding the slider open with your pointy object, insert the eraser in the right-hand spool (i.e., when the exposed tape is pointing down and the "spine" of the tape is pointing up). Turn the spool slowly counterclockwise, making a few complete turns, to gather up a short length of tape, enough so you have a few seconds' worth of timecode. Be careful not to leave any slack. You can turn the other spool a little bit (clockwise) to catch any slack; lift the cover on the exposed tape (by holding back the little release) to make sure it is tight. If you're not sure which spool to turn, it's the one that does *not* have a window on the front side of the tape. (If the tape is fully rewound, the spool in the window should look full.) Hope that helps, and good luck. In the future, I'll heed the common advice to use the camcorder playback as little as possible, relying on a tape deck for RW/FFand making sure to transfer material to scratch disks ASAP and then just storing that footage away in a shoebox!!!

The unit must be opened to get your tape. Problem caused by the failure of the tape to "shuttle" back and forth to ensure no slack tape in the cassette...accordianman

Perhaps this will help some.

I realized that this problem occurs on my Canon Optura 30 (consumer mini DV) when the tape is fully rewound. Tapes that are not rewound seem to work fine. If this situation appears to apply to you, try the following, and make sure that in the future you don't fully rewind your tapes!

Fast forward your tape in a tape deck or rewinder. It should play in the camcorder now. If you don't have a machine to do it for you, you can manually advance the tape with a pointy object and a pencil (the eraser--or your pinky!). On the back of the tape, locate the notch between the two spools (the "wheels") near the top, that is, opposite the side where the tape is exposed. The notch will have a spring-loaded slider inside which you can hold open to free the spools. Otherwise they are locked in place and you can't turn them. Holding the slider open with your pointy object, insert the eraser in the right-hand spool (i.e., when the exposed tape is pointing down and the "spine" of the tape is pointing up). Turn the spool slowly counterclockwise, making a few complete turns, to gather up a short length of tape, enough so you have a few seconds' worth of timecode. Be careful not to leave any slack. You can turn the other spool a little bit (clockwise) to catch any slack; lift the cover on the exposed tape (by holding back the little release) to make sure it is tight. If you're not sure which spool to turn, it's the one that does *not* have a window on the front side of the tape. (If the tape is fully rewound, the spool in the window should look full.)

Hope that helps, and good luck. In the future, I'll heed the common advice to use the camcorder playback as little as possible, relying on a tape deck for RW/FFand making sure to transfer material to scratch disks ASAP and then just storing that footage away in a shoebox!!!

Hi friends. (Excuse my poor English). Well, i bought a SCD364 Samsung CamCoder that is physically and mechanically exactly as scd363. My scd364 also have the same problem. Because the warranty has expired, i discovered a solution. The problem ocurs due to a missing calibrati?n at tape motion mechanism then when the cam goes heat, the motor grazes with another part of the mechanism that this located very near (wax)causing a metallic noise, eating the battery and, finally the blinking "D" eject signal. I amazing when discovered that the solution is to open the tape compartment and place the opened camera infront of the air conditioning machine by 2 minutes in order to cool it. Once cold, the camera is ready to play or record again without noise and blinking "D".

Hi friends. (Excuse my poor English). Well, i bought a SCD364 Samsung CamCoder that is physically and mechanically exactly as scd363. My scd364 also have the same problem. Because the warranty has expired, i discovered a solution. The problem ocurs due to a missing calibrati?n at tape motion mechanism then when the cam goes heat, the motor grazes with another part of the mechanism that this located very near (wax)causing a metallic noise, eating the battery and, finally the blinking "D" eject signal. I amazing when discovered that the solution is to open the tape compartment and place the opened camera infront of the air conditioning machine by 2 minutes in order to cool it. Once cold, the camera is ready to play or record again without noise and blinking "D".