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The Latest News from Tom at TGrant Photo!
One VHS tape doesn't play properly

If all your other VHS tapes are playing well, except for one, then I'd expect that your "bad" tape has "sticky shed" syndrome, or it's missing oxide from being played too much. Other causes could be that the control track on the tape is damaged; or that the "bad" tape was recorded on an out-of-alignment VCR.

First, look closely at the audio/control head while the tape is playing (located just to the left of the rubber pinch roller) If the tape shows ripples at the very lower edge, then somehow the control track has been damaged.

"Sticky shed" problems often can be temporarily cured by baking the tape in a tape dehydrator.

Unfortunately most other problems are very hard to repair. Often the "bad" tape has been recorded on an out-of-alignment VCR. This sometimes happens when someone has a jammed tape. They fight with the mechanism to get it out, and in the process, some of the tape guides get twisted. After that, they continue recording, and as you'd expect, the tapes recorded on that "damaged" VCR will play back okay as long as they use the same VCR. However, every other correctly aligned VCR will exhibit playback problems with that tape. The only way to watch that "bad tape" would be to diddle around with the alignment on a cheap VCR, trying to get it to match the playback of the "bad tape".

Transferring tapes isn't as easy as most people think!

~ Tom Grant  Ocfrober 2024

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