Playing my Old VHS library on New Equipment

[teoteodore]

OK, so for more years than I care to admit to I've had this 150+ VHS tape collection in the basement gathering dust. Some of the tapes are more than 25 years old and none are newer than 10 years. Some are factory produced; some homemade. When we moved to this new house a month ago and had a finished basement, I decided to organize the tapes and set up a VCR player. I decided to use my equally old Hitachi TV 19VR78 with built in VCR. The old tapes played perfectly!!!

I then decided to invest in a Sylvania DVD/VHS player DV220SL8A to use with my Philips/Magnavox TV TS2746101. One by one, I brought up the old pre-tested VCRs and attempted to play them. When I first tried, the VHS player on the Sylvania worked fine; I previewed three tapes. But after an hour, the tape seemed to stall, and the player automatically stopped. From that point on, re-inserting that tape or any other tape resulted in sound but only static for video. I tried tracking, but with no success and almost no change to the static. I checked the DVD part of the player and it worked fine. I assume, therefore, that the cables are OK. Needless to say, customer service was of no help.

I was able to get one or two tapes to play but only after I unplugged the TV and VCR player and let them cool down overnight ... but the problem came back soon.

To further compound my stupidity, I ordered a VHS to DVD converter kit (luckily for only $20), but realized too late that my computer works with DVD+R and my DVD player seems to only accept DVD-R discs.

[classfour]

You may have clogged the head on the VCR, or just have one that is finicky.

Here's my process: Panasonic AG-1980>>(if needed) DataVideo TBC1000 >>> (if needed) Elite Video BVP-4 >>>> Hauppauge PVR-150 capture card. Note the "if needed", as I rarely use either during a normal transfer. I do take time and clean the heads of the panny if I notice anything during playback - this usually clears up any issues without putting extra hardware in the train.

[billmac]

Before you do anything else .... anything ... especially buy more equipment... try
just one simple thing. Rewind and fast forward each tape a couple of times
before you attempt to play the tape. if they have been sitting for such a long time
I can say from personal experience that this is a mandatory first step.
Also it can help to have the tapes at the current room temperature for a few hours beforehand as well.
If you do this you just may find you dont have any issues at all ... or less than you may think!
Good luck.

[MOVIEGEEK]

To further compound my stupidity, I ordered a VHS to DVD converter kit (luckily for only $20), but realized too late that my computer works with DVD+R and my DVD player seems to only accept DVD-R discs.

Are you sure your writer only supports DVD+R?
Only first generation DVD+R writers(BenQ and NEC) supported DVD+R, if your PC or writer was made after 2006 it should support both.

As for your VHS players it sounds like the heads are dirty, get a head cleaner from BestBuy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Digital+Innovations+-+CleanDr+VHS+Video+Head+Cleaner/87891...=1205450856576

[teoteodore]

Thanks, Guys. I'll be cleaning the heads and playing with the tapes later, and let you know how it works. And yes, my Dell XPS is 2002+/- and only writes to +R.

[teoteodore]

I have adopted the routine of FFWD and REW 2x, followed by Head Cleaning (with a vintage Rocket tape, BTW) before every tape ... it seems to work great! Thanks

[Knightmessenger]

I'm not sure if you're aware but your old vcr probably has better playback quality. The new dvd/vcr combo units are made cheaply because no one will spend any money on vhs these days. If you're just using the combo unit for playback, no problem but if you want to capture off the tapes, you'll want to use an older vcr like the one you have.

[teoteodore]

Thanks for that ... I'm using the old one to review the tapes and to do the FWD/REW process because I realized the motor must be stronger. Indeed, the combo one is junk, but it serves the purpose of just watching old tapes.