Are Basf chrome maxima suffer, of sticky shed syndrome?
Thanks,
Libra
Yes, but it often depends on storage How was it stored in the past0.
Ralf
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Yes, as Ralf saying.
In our recording rating are based on multiple recording and different batches (so also different storage).
We had als some tapes that were so bad that we had them throw away, but then we didn’t take them in the recording ratings.
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Thanks guys.
Libra
Found something enlightening on the repair bulletin:
SYMPTOM: PLAYBACK: DCC cassettes
CURE: Problem: DCC cassettes causing faults (a.o. drop outs, tape salad, clean head). Cause: DCC cassettes outside specification. REMARKS: The used DCC cassette is not according the DCC specification and so NOT released by Philips. (e.g. some of Maxell and Fuji cassettes) It is recommended to use released Philips DCC cassettes only.
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I notice that the Supertape SD90 tapes are marked as “no recording experience” (and as “ultra-rare”, which kind of surprises me, seeing as how I have at least a dozen of them!)… For what it’s worth, I can safely say that they produce perfectly-good recordings, at least as good as any of the Philips tapes do, in my DCC900. In fact, I’m about 99% sure that the Supertapes are Philips DCC90s, as the shells look exactly the same – even down to the two different styles of “thumb grip”, where some my SD90s have the smooth depression and some of them have the ridged one, just like the Philips tapes. (At least, like the Philips tapes I have; the 1st-generation ones with the abstract “pixelated” design on the shrinkwrap all have the ridged thumbgrip, while the 2nd-generation “water drop” design have the smooth depression.) I feel pretty sure that Philips OEMed these for Tandy, rather than Tandy manufacturing their own.
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@The_Nth_Doctor thanks for you insides, it makes sense to me.
Because I did no grown up with Tandy in the USA, the supertape was an ultra-rare find, so I will chang t to rare, and will fill in the recording experience as well.
Question, what is the color of the felt pad?
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Well, DCC in general could be considered “uncommon” here in the States, I think. 
Certainly, Radio Shack never went any further with it than their first-generation Optimus DCT-2000, and it’s surprisingly difficult to find any references to it or the blank tapes even in their annual catalogs from around that period.(*) (Though I do clearly remember seeing the DCT-2000 and tapes on prominent display in the local Radio Shacks at the time.)
From the looks of it, all of the felt pads on my Supertape SD90s are the white ones. (No issues with stick-and-slip squealing as yet, though!) However, after seeing your video on the pads, I’m no longer so sure that the ridged-vs-smooth thumbgrip marks 1st vs. 2nd-generation tapes, as it seems that some of my “smooth depression” Philips have the white pad as well… unless maybe they didn’t switch pads right away, and some 2nd-gen Philips might have white pads also?
I have three remaining Supertapes that are still sealed, so I’m not sure which pads they have. Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the same 1st-gen white pads also, though. I’ll make it a point to check next time I need to crack open a fresh tape for recording.
(*edit: I did some digging through an online archive of Radio Shack catalogs, and it looks like the DCT-2000 wasn’t added to the catalog until 1994. For some reason, I thought it’d come out earlier than that… Also, it looks like they only sold the Supertape SD90s for a couple of years; in the 1996 catalog, they still have the DCT-2000 listed, but they’re listing Scotch-branded 90-minute tapes as available accessories rather than their own-branded Supertapes. DCC vanishes completely in the 1997 catalog.)
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I added the blank tape list, based on the merged experiences.
Note: a few months ago I have check all my dcc tape, for felt pad check, but no 2nd had white pads.
@The_Nth_Doctor, you are new to on the forum, but not to the format, maybe you can share something here Share a picture of your DCC set up
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Maybe Philips changed the molding on the shells sometime during the 1st generation, then, and it’s just a coincidence that I could feel ridged vs. smooth depressions under the shrinkwraps on the Philips 1st and 2nd-gen tapes I have. I’ve only got a couple of each that are still sealed, so it’s not exactly a large sample size.
After closely examining the packaging on the Supertape SD90s, though, I’m pretty convinced they were made by Philips. My Philips tapes all say “Made in Austria”… and the Supertapes say (in teeny-tiny print along the spine of the insert card) “Custom Mfd. in Austria for Radio Shack.” Tandy sold off their Memtek Products unit in 1993, and that was their division that made magnetic tape, so they wouldn’t have had any in-house capacity to make DCC tapes themselves in 1994 anyway. (Memtek used to be Memorex’s consumer-products division; Burroughs acquired Memorex in 1981, then sold off the consumer-products business to Tandy in 1982. Tandy had its own magnetic-tape manufacturing prior to that, but they didn’t have the capacity to manufacture videotape and Memorex did, so they glommed it up and merged their tape business with Memorex’s, which is how Memorex went from being based in California to being based in Ft. Worth, where Tandy was.)
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Great scharing and keep us updated with you findings, is much appreciated
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Just my penny’s worth:
About the maxell tapes. They have a rather “hairy” feltpad. Which means that some fibres are sticking out sometimes. When new I had some serious trouble with dropouts because of that. Fibres could get stuck between the head and the tape, preventing a good signal transfer. Now the solution to that problem is really easy. Just take a pincer and draw those long fibres out. The problem is gone…
Positive fact about these tapes is that they wind very smooth. So even with a not so new belt on a dcc 170 the tape will rewind all the way.
I’ve cursed them, but grown to love them!
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thanks for you inside, and your are correct about the winding.
I did some feltpad swops and the problem @ recording was gone.
Cornelis’ question about the PDM tapes over on another thread reminded me that I’d been making a point to examine my various DCCs as I came across them, to try to determine their true origins.
My conclusions so far – based on the claimed countries of origin on the packaging, and on the identical molding of the cassette shells (right down to the font styles used for the embossed lettering, and the positioning of the various depressions, thumbgrips, windows, etc.) – is that there were, at most, only three actual manufacturers of DCC cassettes. Based on the samples I have here:
Group 1: Philips, Scotch, PDM, and Supertape (Radio Shack)
All have identical shell molding, all come in the same slipcase type, and all say “Made in Austria.” (Or in the case of the Supertape SD90s, “Custom Mfd. in Austria for Radio Shack”, which amounts to the same thing.)
Group 2: Fuji, JVC, Panasonic, Maxell
All have identical shell moldings and case styles (a hinged flip-case, rather than the slipcases used by the others), and all say “Made in Japan.” (If I had to guess, I’d say Fuji was the actual manufacturer; they would have had the capability.) It’s also notable that all of these have a shell which is held together by five screws, rather than the ultrasonically-welded shells of the first group.
Also likely group 2: TDK
The flip-case is different – “squared” edges, like an analog-cassette case, rather than the rounded-off corners of the other three above – but the cassette shell itself is identical to the Fuji/JVC/Panasonic style, and it too says “Made in Japan”, so I suspect it belongs with that group; TDK may have supplied their own cases, but the same manufacturer made the actual tape as the other three. (Come to think of it, it’s also possible TDK was the manufacturer for this group; they too had a strong presence in magnetic media back in the day.)
Group 3(?): BASF
These are the outliers. The “Digital Maximas” in the blue shrinkwrap appear to be identical to Group 1; same shell molding, same slipcase type. They list their origins as “Tape made in Germany, assembled in Austria.” So… possibly, these belong with Group 1, which might mean BASF made the actual blank tape itself, and Philips assembled it into the shells and them OEMed the assembled tapes to those other brands as well as under their own name.
The “DCC Maximas” in the grey shrinkwrap with the pixelated-rainbow motif, on the other hand, have a slipcase which is slightly different in design than the “normal” one, and a shell molding which is quite different from either of the above. (It’s more similar to the Group 2 case, in that it has the large window with the supply reel visible, but it too is a welded case rather than the five-screw design, and the molded lettering is different.) These, annoyingly enough, do not have any country-of-origin information anywhere that I can find – but since BASF easily had the capability to make their own tapes (they were big into just about every kind of magnetic media there was, back then), and no other tapes I have on hand have exactly this same shell and case style, it seems likely to me that these were made by BASF themselves.
Of course, this is all conjecture on my part, so I could be completely wrong. 
Also note that this is based only on the blank tapes I actually have in my possession; there are some listed in the Museum’s “blank tape” collection that I don’t have. If I had to venture a guess, though, I’d say the Axias and Victors belong with Group 2 (based on the description of “a slim line case”, and that both are known to be Japanese brands), and that the Memorexes are most likely Group 1 due to their having “components and tape made in Austria” on the packaging in the photos. The 3M Blackwatch tapes, I have no idea, but given that Scotch is a sub-brand of 3M, I’m going to go out on a limb and say these were group-1s as well.)
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Group 2 would explain the “Japanese” quality issues.
Interesting survey and very nice to read.
@drdcc do you know if some of the original crew of dcc designers could have more knowledge about the manufacterers of blank dcc tapes?
According to several people at Philips, all tape was BASF
Shells and internals are different, but the tape came from the same plant.
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Really? Now that’s interesting in itself… 3M and BASF were huge rivals in the magnetic-media space back then; they were both offering magnetic tape (and other media) in just about every format there was, and BASF at least should have had the capability to make their own DCC tapes since the formula (from what I’ve read, anyway) was essentially the same as what was being used in Beta and VHS videotape, so it’s a bit of a surprise to hear that BASF was buying the tape stock from 3M instead of rolling their own…
(I just assumed BASF was the tape manufacturer based on the “tape made in Germany” labeling, which implied BASF to me – though I suppose there’s no reason 3M couldn’t have had a magnetic-media production facility in Germany as well, really; they’re just not the first company that comes to mind when I think “German company that makes magnetic tape” 
)
Incidentally, from looking at the “Blank Tapes” portion of the Museum, it looks like I actually have a variant in my collection which you guys don’t have listed on the Museum page(!) – a 60-minute version of the Panasonic with the black length-indicator tag, model RT-D60A. (You guys have the 90-minute RT-90A listed, but not the 60-minute version.) I have a few of them which are still sealed; would you guys be interested in having one for the Museum?
Also, if there is any interest in photographs of the actual cassettes themselves, to further document the differences and similarities between the different brands, let me know and I’ll see if I can find some time to break out the good digital camera and take some photos for posterity.
It was BASF only.
Sorry about the confusion.
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