Is it possible, capturing procedure to damage the VCR?

[Phoebos]

I have bought a new VCR-DVD combo player, model SD-25VESE of Toshiba and have faced a very curious malfunction.

The VCR-DVD worked fine when connected to my TV set that is, both DVD and VHS signals were viewable on the TV screen (through SCART), but when I connected the VCR-DVD to my PC (capture card Fly TV Platinum ,Philips 7133 chipset) through an RCA cable, the video signal of the VHS player was lost after a few minutes of capturing. Trying to capture the DVD output worked fine, but when I returned to play mode of the a VHS cassette, the system never recovered, outputing a black screen. Audio is not affected in any way.

At first I thought it was a VCR problem so I returned back where I bought it from and picked up a new VCR-DVD player, same model. When I got back home I tried the same configuration again, that is, to capture the video signal from a VHS cassette, connected to my PC through an RCA cable and the picture was AGAIN lost after a few minutes of playing the cassette. I reconnected the VCR to my TV set through a SCART-SCART cable, but when I pressed PLAY on the VHS player, the only thing I got was a black picture. There was no video signal at all!
The DVD player works fine, either it's connected through a SCART-SCART cable to the TV set, or an RCA cable to the capture card of my PC. I cannot imagine what the problem might be.
It looks like the combination of capturing a video signal of a VHS cassette (when connecting the VCR to my PC through an RCA cable) is distructive.

Your opinion will be highly appreciated, this problem is getting me crazy....can't think of anything.

[canadateck]

Can you just play the VHS to the tv? If you can then i would say it is Macrovision.

[Phoebos]

No I cannot, only the VCRs TV tuner is ok. I can see the TV stations from VCR, but when I press PLAY only the sound from VHS cassete is ok..no picture. It was ok only for a few minutes...then it was gone.

Is it possible that the capture card was demanding for a higher voltage than the VCR could bear? I m not an expert in these things and dont know what to suspect.

[tedkunich]

Is it possible that the capture card was demanding for a higher voltage than the VCR could bear? I m not an expert in these things and dont know what to suspect.

Not possible... if the cap card was doing anything to load down the VCR output to the extent of damage, you never would have seen a picture. The problem sounds like there is an issue with the tape and head compatibility given the occurrence on two machines. Is this a S-VHS tape? They tend to be more abrasive that regular tape and can damage the heads of a regular VHS deck. What is the brand of VCR is this? I'd be wary of cheap decks as they tend to use inferior components.


T

[Phoebos]

No it is simple VHS. It is strange that this same cassete was being watched for weeks by the kids (on tv) before the problem appeared when I was trying to capture for 1st time ! Is it a coincidence that the damage happened at that point? Maby yes, a lot of strange things happen every day....

And yes it is a cheap device.....

So perhaps I sould replace againthe VCR and never use this tape again...
But I ll have to cross myfingers when I ll try another tape while capturing
to a 3rd machine in a week!!!!!!!!!!!

[Phoebos]

I tried the VCR today and it unexpectedly worked! I suppose that the VHS tape I used the other times was bad, because there was a difficulty in rewinding, as I checked today. But I cannot understand what caused the device to stop sending video signal and the next day to recover.
Do you suspect there is some kind of a protection mechanism that prevents destruction of the head?????????