VCR: picture disappears, reappears in search mode

[RowRowYourBoat]

I'm archiving VHS tapes that were recorded on one of the old VHS camcorders, using a VCR and Elgato capture unit connected to my PC.

It had been going well, until today.

One tape had a long spot wherein it appeared the tracking was off, as the picture would flicker and shake. I remember tracking issues looked like that. As far as I can tell, this particular VCR has no tracking controls. I figured I'd try the tape with another player.

Then another tape was playing fine, but then I noticed the picture was gone, the screen was blue—usually a sign the tape was over, but it hadn't been playing very long. I pressed the FORWARD button the scan ahead, when the picture reappeared. I pressed PLAY, and the picture disappeared. I could see the video only when scanning forward.

Don't know if that means the tape is bad or the VCR is bad. We have one other unit in the house we can try, but it doesn't have stereo output. Those old camcorders were mono, anyway, right?

[DB83]

Tracking issues are normally seen as visible noise - lines of dots on the screen.

Flicker and shake to me indicates a damaged tape. Open the tape (without touching it) by pressing the clip at the side at the point where the problems appear. The tape could well have 'teeth'.

[RowRowYourBoat]

That would be the first tape I had problems with. But what about a tape that doesn't show a picture unless in fast forward search mode?

This is such a shame, as these are irreplaceable videos of our kids.

I just archived a commercially-produced VHS tape, and that worked fine.

[johns0]

Usually means the video heads are dirty and but the search heads aren't.

[hech54]

If this collection tape was made over a longer period of time, the user/creator of the collection MAY have had the machine set in SLP mode by mistake (or vise versa) while the previous portion of the tape was in SP mode. I've seen transitions like that really screw with "lesser" machines.

[RowRowYourBoat]

Well, I believe the VCR actually crapped out. This morning, it would not even play a commercially-produced tape (which played fine at work).

I pulled out another VCR from the closet, which tried to eat one of my tapes. So that one is headed toward the e-waste pile.

The online prices of VCRs are stupid expensive, even for used machines.

I went to the local Goodwill and found a Sharp VCR VC-A593, which supposedly supports S-VHS. It was $8, and the picture is better than the machine I was using.

So I'll probably go back and archive them all again.

And I'll look for a couple spares, just in case.