Any VCR experts out there?

#1
KoachKrab127

KoachKrab127

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#1
My dad let me have his VCR (it's not that old, really, it's a VCR/DVD combo from about 2006, probably), and I've been watching very old VHS tapes lately, from the 80s and 90s. Sometimes, the sound is really bad. It seems to only get bad when the recorded footage is on LP or SLP speed. However, sometimes the sound is fine on all speeds. I think it has to do with the tracking, but I'm not sure. It's all auto-tracking, so I don't know how to fix the sound when it's bad. Any advice?
 
#2
#2
KoachKrab127 said:
My dad let me have his VCR (it's not that old, really, it's a VCR/DVD combo from about 2006, probably), and I've been watching very old VHS tapes lately, from the 80s and 90s. Sometimes, the sound is really bad. It seems to only get bad when the recorded footage is on LP or SLP speed. However, sometimes the sound is fine on all speeds. I think it has to do with the tracking, but I'm not sure. It's all auto-tracking, so I don't know how to fix the sound when it's bad. Any advice?
Click to expand...

I’m not an expert, but the tapes are analog/magnetic rather than digital and lose their quality over time.
 
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#3
#3
Thunder Good-Oil said:
I’m not an expert, but the tapes are analog/magnetic rather than digital and lose their quality over time.
Click to expand...

Oh, of course. No doubt about it, that has happened a bit. One tape, though, sounded great one day. I watched it again a few weeks later, and the sound was very low and muffled, with lots of static. Then I tried it again today, a few months after it sounded poor, and it was normal again. I’m just trying to figure out why sometimes it sounds good, and sometimes it doesn’t. At first, I thought it was the speed of the recording, but with the sound improving on the same tape today, that makes me think it’s something different. Maybe the audio heads were dusty, and after playing a few more different tapes, they are better now? Are there separate heads for audio and video? I don’t know how VCR’s work.

The thing is, all the videos look great. Only the sound is inconsistent.
 
#7
#7
I think I'd just take everything and get it converted to digital to preserve it.
 
#9
#9
when the sound goes bad stop the tape and take it out. open the little flip and look at the tape. If it's wrinkled or warped.... that's your problem. If not, then you should at least clean the head, like two or three times. If not that it may be that the motor is going, and that would be more difficult.
 
#10
#10
IluvdoubleD's said:
when the sound goes bad stop the tape and take it out. open the little flip and look at the tape. If it's wrinkled or warped.... that's your problem. If not, then you should at least clean the head, like two or three times. If not that it may be that the motor is going, and that would be more difficult.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Yes, I have one of those tapes that you put cleaning solution on to clean the heads. I used it a while back when the sound first went bad. It didn’t help back then, and for a few months, LP and SLP videos sounded pretty bad. Now, they seem to be doing okay. So, I’ll just consider myself lucky for the moment, and make digital copies while it’s sounding good.

I’ve heard good and bad things about those tapes that clean the VCR heads. Of course everything on the internet has mixed reviews.

I’ve also heard that new VCRs don’t play videos recorded on LP speed very well because new VCRs only have SP and SLP recording options.
 
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