I agree with your assessment.. these "smart machines" are an aggravation to
experimenters and reverse enginneer-type enthusiasts. The majority of it is
crap consumer stuff, some commercial/industrial stuff available as surplus
is versatile enough to use for other purposes.

Cheers
WB
..................

"RubbishRat" wrote in message
...

Leaving the tape door open is one trick that often works. Try
different variations with no tape in the cam.


Thanks for the input everyone, I got quite excited there for a minute but
this particular camcorder (It's a Telefunken 4300 ) switches the video off
the second the cassette door is opened. Damn piece of junk! Luckily I only
paid 4 GBP for it at a boot (trunk) sale. But I must say I think it's very
short sighted and unimaginative of the maker not to think that someone
might
want to use the camera in this way for a longer period of time than ten
minutes. Arrogant sob's.
Anyway thanks to all who took the time to reply, It's appreciated.
Pete