Tascam234 /casset tape-4 track,

If you are experiencing issues with the playback on your Yashica Samurai Video 8 KX-77 Video Camera Recorder, here are a few troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Clean the playback heads: Use a head-cleaning cassette or a cotton swab moistened with isopropyl alcohol to gently clean the playback heads. Dirty heads can cause playback issues and poor picture quality.
2. Check the tapes: Ensure that the video tapes you are trying to play are in good condition and not damaged. Inspect the tape for any signs of damage or deformation that could affect playback. If the tapes are damaged, you may need to try a different tape or have the damaged tapes repaired.
3. Adjust the tracking: Use the tracking control on the camera recorder to adjust the playback tracking. The tracking control helps align the playback heads with the tape tracks for optimal playback quality. Experiment with adjusting the tracking to see if it improves the picture quality.
4. Test with different tapes: If possible, try playing different video tapes to see if the issue persists. This will help determine if the problem is specific to certain tapes or if it is a broader issue with the camera recorder itself.
5. Seek professional service: If the above steps do not resolve the issue, it may be necessary to seek professional repair or servicing for the camera recorder. Contact a reputable camera repair shop or the manufacturer's customer support for assistance.

Type: auto reverse, double compact cassette deck

Track System: 4-track, 2-channel stereo

Tape Speed: 4.8 cm/s

Heads: 1 x record/playback, 1 x playback, 1 x erase

Motor: 1 x capstan, 1 x reel, 1 x mechanism

Tape Type: type I, CrO2, Metal

Noise Reduction: B, C

Headroom Extension: HX Pro

Frequency Response: 20Hz to 17kHz (Metal tape)

Signal to Noise Ratio: 73dB (dolby C)

Wow and Flutter: 0.08%

Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.8%

Input: 80mV (line)

Output: 300V (line)

Dimensions: 435 x 133 x 328mm

Weight: 4.9kg

It is possible that until you finalize the disc, the only track that will play is the first one. Unfortunately, once you finalize the disc, you cannot record additional tracks to it. You can verify this by finalizing after recording the second track and seeing if they then both play. If that works, you can safely burn additional discs with confidence that they are burning correctly even if you cannot play each back after burning and must wait until finalization to test full burn.

When was the last time you ran the "head cleaning" tape in the machine? As tape collects dust and dirt - it gets deposited on the recording and playback heads. This ruins playback and recording quality. Also, since tape is magnetic - they tend to magnetize the heads, too (just like reel to reel, 8 track & cassette player / recorders). Demagnetizing them will help too. Here are links to both products:

head cleaner

head demagetizer

When's the last time you cleaned the recorder?

since it is cassete recorder,may be it has magnetize by your player the last time you play it and the result is erasure of 1st and secon track..maybe you should break the plastic cover 2 edge at the bottom of your favorite cassette tape

It's a 4-head reversable deck where the Forward tracks are arranged across the physical tape surface, front-to-back as follows:

ForwardLeft ReverseRight ForwardRight ReverseLeft

...so it sounds like the Reverse playback heads are engaged at the same time you play Forward, so you would hear those adjacent tracks backward. If you play the tape in the Reverse direction, is the Forward program audible (but backward)?

If so and in otherwise high fidelity, something in the Forward/Reverse head selection may be hosed.

Or, if the out-of-phase tracks are mushy and low volume, the physical tracking of the tape across the heads could be WA-A-A-A-Y bad. That would probably be visible as sideways distortion in the tape path. Shine a high-intensity light on the tape where is passes over the heads, then reverse it while watching where it sets up on the heads. It should be centered on the heads and not change its orientation when reversed. Compare where it tracks in motion with the probable visible wear marks (shiny bars across the heads perpendicular to the travel) where the tape has polished the heads over the years.

Or, the heads are so worn the coils pick up signals from their neighboring tracks.

yes depending on the machine it was recorded on tracks 1-3 will carry stereo sound if done on half track just plat it all four meters will come up

Have the same problem.  This is what I have found in trying to solve the problem.  It appears that it is a tracking problem and it appears that either your new "used" camera has the problem or your original camera had the problem.  
A simple test would be to take another camcorder and see if the tapes play. If they do, and a recently recorded tape DOES NOT, you may just need to get another camera. Or, see if the camera can be re-tracked at a repair shop. However, be sure you have copies of your most recent tapes recorded with the bad tracking

I have the CDR-200 and did not have the manual either. However, I did discover the same problem and found the solution. There is a "confirm" button on the front of the unit under the display area. After you press the record button "Record" will begin to flash in the display area and then you press "Confirm". It should start recording. Note however the following:

BURNING FROM EXTERNAL CASSETTE OR PHONO
Before starting this procedure make sure you have an AUDIO recording CD in the RECORDER tray of the CDR-200. A regular CD-R type of disc for computers is not going to work and may cause an annoying message on the display which does not go away until you put the right type of recording CD in the unit. It must be either an AUDIO CD-R or an AUDIO CD/RW.

1. When copying from an external cassette deck, you should set the source (press source button) until the setting is "Analog".

2. The "Dual" button should not be in effect. In the lower right portion of the screen you should only see a small number "1" with a circle around it. This indicates the CDs currently being used by the burner. In "dual" mode you can copy from the Playback CD of the CDR-200 to the Recorder CD. In dual mode you see "1" and "2" with circles around them. The active CD tray will flash on the display.

3. When copying from an external cassette unit, you use the "Record" button to start the recording. At the end of the cassette track you MUST press the STOP button by the CD Recorder tray. After you press STOP the unit will say "Update" which indicates it is closing out the track on the CD-R. You can continue to write tracks by pressing RECORD again, then CONFIRM when the tape is positioned at the right PLAYBACK track. It is usually helpful to have a few seconds of blank tape at the start of the PLAYBACK track before pressing RECORD. Press play on the cassette deck, then RECORD followed by CONFIRM on the CD burner.

4. When the track has finished burning you must press STOP to close the track on the CD-R. After you press STOP, the unit will display "Update" to indicate it is updating or closing the track. When the process completes, the unit will display the tracks it has written to the CD-R and will be ready for you to copy another track or FINALIZE the CD-R. When the unit is waiting after the STOP, you can change the cassette tape, reposition to a playback track and ready the playback tape for more recording. When the PLAYBACK tape is ready repeat STEP 3. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have about 14 or 15 tracks on the CD-R.

5. When you have finished recording about 14 or 15 tracks onto the CD-R, you will want to finalize the CD-R. Press the FINALIZE button, and then press the CONFIRM button. You will see the the unit start to display the progress of the finalize by advancing the level meters of the left and right channels in the display. When the unit is finished finalizing it will return to the number of tracks display for the CD-R. After finalizing the CD-R you can play it back to make sure the burn was successful. Be sure to wait for the tracks display before removing or playing the CD-R after the finalize is done. Removing before the finalize is done may damage the unit and may render the CD-R bad.

BURNING FROM THE PLAYBACK CD
Before starting this procedure make sure you have an AUDIO recording CD in the RECORDER tray of the CDR-200. A regular CD-R type of disc for computers is not going to work and may cause an annoying message on the display which does not go away until you put the right type of recording CD in the unit. It must be either an AUDIO CD-R or an AUDIO CD/RW.

1. Set the unit to "Dual" mode. As described above, you will see "1" and "2" with small circles in the lower right portion of the display.

2. Make sure the "Source" mode is set to "Analog" by repeatedly pressing the SOURCE button until it shows "Analog".
3. When copying from the PLAYBACK CD tray you will not use the RECORD button by the CD Burner tray. You will use the 'DUB" button just to the right of the display.

4. Put an audio CD in the PLAYBACK CD tray and press the skip track button ">>" until you arrive at the track you wish to record from. If the track you want to start at is track 1, then you don't need to skip tracks.

5. When positioned at the correct playback track, press the DUB button. The unit will show "CDR" and then "DUB" on the display. When it says "DUB" press the CONFIRM button. The unit will start recording. You can adjust the record level during the first few seconds to make sure you don't have the recording volume level set too high.

6. When the track is finished, you should see the unit indicate on the display "Update". This indicates it is closing the track and it should do this automatically. If it does not do this you may have to press STOP near the RECORDER Tray to force closing of the track. Usually the unit indicates "AUTO" in the display area and I believe that is what controls the automatic track numbering feature. I am not sure how the AUTO feature is turned on. I noticed on the CDR-200 it is on by default.

7. After the UPDATE is complete, the unit will display the number of tracks it has written to the CD-R. You can at this point change the PLAYBACK CD to another one or advance to another track for continued recording. When at the correct track simply go back to step 5 and continue.

8. When you are all done copying tracks from one or more CDs, and you wish to finalize the CD press FINALIZE and then press CONFIRM to start the finalize process. I noticed on the CDR-200 if you wait too long after recording a track the unit may start the finalize process automatically. This happened after at least 5 minutes. It is best to try and stay with the copy process to monitor what is happening. The finalize can also start if you have written to many tracks to the CD-R and it runs out of space. Typically, your safe if you burn about 14 to 15 tracks to a CD-R at a time. You might be able to fit more if the tracks are very short (2-3 minutes each).

One last note about the connections on the back of the unit. Read the labels of the connections on the back very carefully. The CDR-200 and probably the 201 have separate outputs for the PLAYBACK CD (CD) and BURNER CD (CDR). You will want to connect these to seperate inputs on your audio amplifier. Or you might also wish to merge them using adapters into one input on your audio amplifier. If you keep them separate you will need to change sources on the audio amplifier to hear each tray. For example, you might need to switch to "CD/TAPE" for the CD, and "AUX" for the CDR. It is probably easier to merge the two using audio adapters which can be readily obtained from RadioShack.

I hope this helps!