I Think My VCR Is Dead

[AmanoAi]

I have a second-hand Sony SLV-777. Since last week, everything has started to went wrong about this VCR. Having poor digital tracking and low sound makes me think it's completely dead. And also, it makes weird sounds while playing a tape. What should I do? Should I clean the heads?

[themaster1]

Rest in peace VCR XXXX-2018 lived by the drum,n died by the drum

[JVRaines]

There is a problem with the tape transport. Open it up and watch it while it plays. Is the tape reasonably taut or is there slack? Where does the noise come from?

[amaipaipai]

If you care about it, it need to be serviced. Tracking issues can be anything, problems with the trape transport, guide misalignment with the drum... Other issues with old devices like this are dry out electrolytic capacitors that has a life span of about 15 years, so. There is nothing you can do by yourself and cleaning the drum heads wont do anything to make it better.

[Cornucopia]

PM me. I can help you (locally).

Scott

[AmanoAi]

Update: It doesn't happen everytime. It only happened when I inserted a old and extremely damaged tape. I think the damage is incorrectable. Screen goes black when I play the damaged portion of the tape. Also, sound is very low at some portions of the tape and at some portions, there's no sound. Maybe some professional tools like hi-end TBCs can correct that.

[lordsmurf]

That looks to be a low-end consumer deck, not worth fixing.
In fact, not worth using at all for video transfers, if you care about the quality.

[AmanoAi]

That looks to be a low-end consumer deck, not worth fixing.
In fact, not worth using at all for video transfers, if you care about the quality.

No, it wasn't a low-end deck. it was a prosumer deck. I didn't track the tape manually and turned off auto tracking during the playback to see the damage . If the picture and sound don't get better when I manually track the tape, there can be a serious problem. And that's what I'm afraid of.

[JVRaines]

No, that's a vanilla VHS deck and Sony consumer machines don't wear very well.

Stop playback during a damaged portion, eject the cassette, open the door, and have a look at the tape. If it's crinkled, that's your problem. Playing a damaged tape is hard on the video heads.