My mum taped Silent Witness for me last week on her VCR at home, but recorded on Long Play. I didn't know until I tried to watch it earlier and just got the blue background picture. Now my VCR wont play anything, even my own tapes which I recorded on Short Play. The picture is lined and blurry and what I can make out is not matched up to the sound. Anyone know what I can do to fix this problem? Are my tape heads needing re-aligned or something? Up until then there's been no problem with playback whatsoever. It's a decent Panasonic VCR with video plus etc.
2006-10-22 08:03:40 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Consumer Electronics ➔ Home Theater
wac - the VCR does determine the speed, its just that often something recorded on LP on one machine doesn't play in another. I always record on SP because of this so other people can borrow the tapes.
2006-10-22 08:19:06 · update #1
Klingon ba - afraid I've tried that too and no success
2006-10-22 08:32:16 · update #2
I think you're suffering from the age-old problem commonly known as shitty heads! Get a good head cleaner on them, then do some manual tracking with one of your old tapes.
Oh, and forget all this crap about VHS being 'so last year' - with tape you get a consistently good picture, but with DVD you can almost see it moving around in blocks. It's most noticeable when watching something like a moving journey scene - it 'staggers' along rather than glides. All very much like those who shouted 'Do away with vinyl, CDs forever' - and now they've come to realise that vinyl DOES give better sound, so don't ditch your vids just yet!
2006-10-22 08:23:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
the fact that the video was in long play should not have caused a problem with playing your own videos. your heads may need a good clean, sometimes tape head cleaners don't do the job. try using a cotton bud with head cleaning liquid and gently clean the head drum and audio/control heads. leave it for a while to properly dry before playing a tape. if this does not solve the issue then it could be the alignment is a bit off, but to me it sounds like the heads are the fault.
2006-10-22 08:39:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a strange problem as the recorded format (SP/LP) of whatever is recorded should not make any difference to the video, nor should it make any kind of fault. All videos nowadays play and record both SP and LP. The only thing I can suggest is to alter the tracking on your video, as a lined and blurry picture does suggest the tracking may have been altered to play the LP video which was recorded for you.
2006-10-22 08:14:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually I think the tape your mum did, had a little dirt on it. VCR's are very sensitive. Have you tried Cleaning the heads with a head cleaner? The symptoms you suggest are similar to somethign that happened to me. ... I hope it works out ok for you!
2006-10-22 08:11:12 · answer #4 · answered by madbrew2000 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the Head is dirty, use a good "head cleaning tape" but better still get someone that "knows how" to open the machine up and clean the head using a lint free cloth and some alchohol etc, don't do this if you have no experience as it is very easy to permanently damage the Heads.
2006-10-22 08:22:33 · answer #5 · answered by vinnie C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes.. get a head cleaning tape, the lp tape that you tried must have shed a load of oxide into your heads.
2006-10-22 08:29:06 · answer #6 · answered by jayktee96 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
see if you have an sp/lp selection button either on the remote or the vcr, really the vcr should be able to read what format it is in
2006-10-22 08:10:06 · answer #7 · answered by wac_coach 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Have you tried switching it off then back on again!
or a Head cleaner.....
Video is so last century dump it and buy a DVD recorder......
2006-10-22 08:12:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋