VHS quality got worse

[sirugo]

I have an old (from 1989, Mitsubishi HS-E41) VCR that I'm trying to keep alive for another year or so.

The picture has been next to perfect until some months ago.
The picture is not snowy or unsharp but there is some kind of flickering in all areas that give noisy tones to the picture (and yes, some feeling of an unsharp picture).

The best way to describe it is that the picture has flickering red/blue blobs or lines especially when the picture is dark. This pattern changes for every frame like a background flickering. When the picture is white the pattern is not really blue/red but changes to different colors.

What can be the source to this?
I have cleaned what can be cleaned and demagnetized what can be demagnetized. Could there be any another unit that is acting up?

[samijubal]

The heads are probably gone. That's a long time out of a set of heads, wonder they lasted that long.

[sirugo]

Actually the quality has been close to perfect all the time, better than most new VCRs I've seen.

Can I change a head?
Do you mean the head drum?
Do I have to find a head especially for this model or are they usually made for many models?
Where do I find a model # of the head (drum)?

[davideck]

Did you clean the heads on the head drum?
Sometimes it takes multiple attempts.

[sirugo]

I'm not sure what exactly are the "heads". I see a drum split in two where the lower part is fixed and the upper part is rotating. I cleaned both. Some years ago it made a difference but it doesn't seem to make much difference now.
I cleaned all other parts as well.
The drum itself seems very clean and does not leave dirt on to the cleaning brush as did the other parts.

[davideck]

http://www.fixer.com/osm/cleaning.html

FWIW, I've never been fond of VHS head cleaning tapes.

[sirugo]

I never used cleaning tapes. I always cleaned as described in your link.
But I still donät know the difference between the "drum" and the "heads".

[davideck]

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_5_1/diy6vcrcleaning.html

The video heads. Before I go into cleaning the video heads, let's take a look at the anatomy of the beast first. The video heads are located inside the video drum. A video drum is made up of two parts: the upper video drum that rotates, and, you guessed it, the lower video drum that is stationary. There are little slots that are on each side of the upper video drum. These slots house the video heads. The tips of the video heads stick out of these slots. That's the part of the video head that needs to be cleaned. Check to see how many heads your machine has. It can have two or up to four heads. Typically, if you have four heads, two are used for SLP (slow tape speed) mode and two are used for SP (fast tape speed) mode. Regardless of how many heads your machine has, they all need to be cleaned. Cleaning the video heads can show the biggest improvement in the way the video portion of your VCR performs.

[redwudz]

This is maybe a better tutorial as it has numerous photos.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/165

You have to be very careful trying to clean the actual recording/playback heads. They are usually made of a brittle ferrite material and rubbing them with a cotton swab could break them easily. That's permanent damage. One of the photos on page 4 show where they are located on the drum.

Most of the gunk in a VCR is on the guides and around the outside of the head drum, not the heads themselves. If you are in doubt, have a service clean them and take the responsibility in case they are damaged. If they have a calibration/test tape they can run to further check it, even better.

[sirugo]

OK, now I understand where they are. I will try again!

But if I fail - is it possible to replace a drum without any extra equipment?

[redwudz]

But if I fail - is it possible to replace a drum without any extra equipment?

Replacement, probably. But I imagine you would have to realign and calibrate the player. And that would likely require a service shop.