Video restoration for 10-20yrs old VHS tapes

[thegunstop]

My dad has many VHS tapes from 10-20 years ago. The tapes he has have lines and shakes. He gets these on all the VHS players he has. Is there anything simple us newbs could do to make it better? Thanks

[redwudz]

They could be the result of tracking adjustments, though if he has the problem on all players, that's not as likely. Tracking can be adjusted. But if they are part of the tape or the tapes are damaged, there's not a lot you can do to fix them.

If you want to preserve them, a DVD recorder is the simplest way to go at present. Once you have them in digital form, you may have some software options for making them look a little better. At least you will have them preserved and not have to worry about any further degradation.

And welcome to our forums.

[Marvingj]

Try playing the tapes on another VCR. That way you can pinpoint if its the tape or VCR. I would use a Sharp VCR they tend to have a very good tracking system. Or a VCR that has a Stabilizer Built in it...SVHS VCR..

[jlietz]

Although its hard to say without seeing it, I concur with using a stabilizer. JVC HR-S9911 has them. It can make a big difference.

[sanlyn]

If, as you say, all these tapes have playback problems, it's likely they were damaged on a poorly adjusted VCR to begin with. My dad has many old tapes with the same problem; many of them were ruined with one of those $25 tape rewinders (aka "tape destructors").

As for trying to use the stabilizer on JVC machines: I have three good JVC players, but all of them have terrific problems trying to track damaged tapes. I've seen a great many posts on the forum that seem to confirm this, and many posts suggesting that older JVC's from the mid-90's (HR-S6800, 6900, etc.) are far better at tracking damaged sources.

Of all my VCR's, my Panny PV-8661 from 1997 seems to do a creditable job of tracking physically damaged tapes. But the tape flow from such sources is still unsteady, so I find that using my Toshiba XS34 DVD recorder as a TBC pass-thru device helps some tapes, and adding an external full-frame TBC (AVT-8710) smooths many visual disturbances before the images get captured digitally.

You can also try "repacking" the tape -- that is, using a good VCR with a gentle rewind mechanism that repacks the tape more smoothly onto the reel. Allow the tape to "rest" for a day or so after repacking. You might have to repack more than once to get the tape smoothly rewound. NEVER -- repeat, NEVER -- try this on a VCR with a rapid-rewind feature. It also helps to clean the tape heads and rollers after repacking; damaged tapes leave residue that can cause scratches and new damage.

I've also had some old tapes that were so badly damaged they simply couldn't be recorded, period. For those, you need to send the tapes to a restoral service and pay mucho $$$$ for the work.

Be careful with physically damaged tapes; they can wreck the heads on any VCR.

[Datahead]

To bad VHS beat out BETA...LOL Boy I'm dating myself there.
And totally agree with the re-winder comment.
As to a quick fix there really isn't one, but will agree with the Sharp VCR comment.
Tape is tape, so there is not allot you can do.

[mikee55]

Whip the lid off the VCR, take a precision screwdriver and look around the circuit boards for "pots". I used to tweak VCRs back in their day, sometimes I'd get asked to turn the audio gain up on an old machine, or increase the video signal. That often removed a grainy picture. Also had machines play a dodgy tape perfect by adusting some of the mechanics. Have a look at the prong looking things that pull the tape around the head, to make sure the tape lines up nicely, ( Goes back to what Sanlyn said about repacking the tape), I've also improve tracking by adjusting the Atzimuth of the audio head. Bizzare, but worked, muffled the audio a bit, but that can be fixed later on a PC.
If you got track lines at the bottom, can you not crop that off, and resize?

Cheers

[lordsmurf]

I have to use a VCR from 1980 when I want to track a tape that has been abused badly.

[sanlyn]

If you got track lines at the bottom, can you not crop that off, and resize?

I've never found a decent way to resize VHS tape captures. Sizing-down can sometimes work, but if you crop and size-up you're in trouble. Tracking lines at the bottom take up only a couple of pixels; TMPGenc's encoder can replace it with a black border without trying to resize the whole frame -- besides, if you crop from one side and then resize, without cropping equally from the other three sides, you've just shot the hell out of your original image proportions.

A few pixels of noise at the edges of a video don't show up on a tv anyway.

[Mrsash]

Sorry to bring this topic back. I recently found some of my tapes which I had not converted to dvd. I capture most of them through my old canopus ADVC 1394 card. Some of the tapes worked fine however other tapes didnt. The video comes through fine but the audio is not there. I have tried these on two vcr's I have. The sharp VC-H705 and Panasonic NV-SJ400. They are good vcr's and still work. I may have to look for head cleaning tapes but am thinking this a tape issue. Was wondering any way the sound can be fixed?

[themaster1]

Did you try the AUDIO button on your remote (that's what i have on my jvc not sure for sharp & pana) to find a good audio track mono, stereo...

[lordsmurf]

How many? I'd suggest outsourcing those few to a reliable service the specializes in restoring video. It sounds like you've done as best you can for most of them. Most non-pros are going to come across tough tapes in their collection that they can't do without investing in a lot of equipment.

Cleaning tapes usually make a mess, that's a terrible way to actually clean a VCR.

[victoriabears]

Get a sharp vcr with super picture, would be $30-$40 at most, may be even at your thrift store, they are great for badly tracking tapes, the storage may have been bad as well.

Gently winding and rewinding may do wonders.

[johns0]

When some tapes are recorded in slp mode then they cant be properly tracked by all vcr's at times,if the tapes are like that then the only way to get tracking lines out of certain slp tapes is to adjust the head guides to match the tape.

Only do this method if the tapes are slp(some sp recorded tapes can be a problem tracking) and are undamaged and you know how to align tape guide heads.

[Mrsash]

Well the picture was perfect, sound was not present at all. Anyway good news is I got it working by just playing a good tape which from my experience I have encountered in the past(Oh the memories). After head scratching period, went through checking cables and replacing cables. Finally gave up after freting a lot and just let the tape play. Went back and checked it after 2 hrs and wiola sound works......

[sanlyn]

I may have to look for head cleaning tapes but am thinking this a tape issue. Was wondering any way the sound can be fixed?

Stay away from head cleaning tapes. I know some sites recommend them, but they're extremely harmful and many people who've used them managed to destroy their video heads in short order. I used a cleaning tape once, just once -- I'll never, never do it again. 30 seconds with that cleaning tape cost me $185 for new anamorphic heads plus labor, and the problem turned out to be a bad resistor, not dirty heads.

Running a brand-new high-quality blank tape for a few minutes is a better and safer cleaner. If you decide to try head cleaning fluid, NEVER use cloth or cotton swaps -- it will tear the tips off your video heads. There are special tools for that job that actually work. If you send your VCR to a shop for head cleaning, MAKE CERTAIN they don't just run a head cleaning tape thru the machine. If they do, the evidence will be there -- take 'em to court for ruining your machine.

[themaster1]

I never had a problem with head cleaning tapes. Just make sure a it's brand new one because the more you use it the more it can get eaten and ruin the heads.I guess that's what happened with sanlyn but he will not tell you.

All in all a hand cleaning is more effective.

[sanlyn]

I never had a problem with head cleaning tapes. Just make sure a it's brand new one because the more you use it the more it can get eaten and ruin the heads.I guess that's what happened with sanlyn but he will not tell you.

All in all a hand cleaning is more effective.

Nope. That ain't what happened. You wanna take a cleaning tape to a $750 VCR, go right ahead. With a $19.95 Walmart Special like the one themaster1 is using, there's no way anyone could tell the difference.

[Plarocks]

I may have to look for head cleaning tapes but am thinking this a tape issue. Was wondering any way the sound can be fixed?

Stay away from head cleaning tapes. I know some sites recommend them, but they're extremely harmful and many people who've used them managed to destroy their video heads in short order. I used a cleaning tape once, just once -- I'll never, never do it again. 30 seconds with that cleaning tape cost me $185 for new anamorphic heads plus labor, and the problem turned out to be a bad resistor, not dirty heads.

Would using the "American Recorder" cleaning fluid with Their special "Video Chamois Swabs" be OK for cleaning the videotape heads on my S-VHS and D-VHS vcr's?


https://www.americanrecorder.com/detail.php?id=947&d=44&start_pos=20

I actually just purchased the JVC D-VHS head cleaning tape (Dry head cleaner) for routine maintenance. After reading this, now I am afraid to use it.

[pirej]

I'm not an expert in vcr-head cleaning, i did it just 2 times with a piece of plain white paper and some pharmacy alcohol, and the result was excellent , big improvement of the picture.
This is probably not the best method for cleaning the heads but it worked for me, and by the way.. my vcr is very very cheap