Some Betamax tapes display as a blue screen

[nicestep]

I have a Toshiba DVD recorder. Using this recorder I have converted over a hundred Betamax tapes in my collection to DVDs. However, a handful of these tapes cannot be converted. When you play them into the DVD recorder what appears on the TV is a solid blue screen, just as if no video was coming in at all. When you fast forward the tape a picture does appear, and when you resume playing after the fast forward a good picture appears for just a moment.

The tapes themselves seem to be fine. I can play them directly to a TV and I have been able to make VHS copies of these tapes that work. I have tried using a SIMA Color Corrector to resolve this, as well as a device that is supposed to stabilize the picture to thwart copy protection. Neither one has had any effect.

[wulf109]

Have you tried making DVD from the VHS copies? I used to have a lot of beta vcr's and when this happened it was usually cause by a damaged control track. You say you can watch them on your TV. Does your TV have an audio/video output? Try recording from the TV's output jacks.
Do you have more than one beta vcr? What your encountering could also be a speed problem. I would run into this problem if I tryed to watch a beta I tape on deck that did not support beta I playback. Some Sony vcr's had a switch on hte back panel to engage beta I playback.

[Cornucopia]

You probably need to clean the heads. Sounds like they're gunked up.

Without a good head cleaning solvent (denatured alcohol) and non-linting swabs, you could try a head cleaning tape with solution.

If "wet" cleaning isn't possible for you right now, a temporary "dry" cleaning procedure is to put the offending tape in, hit play, and then run it in fast scan for a while (so you can see the picture while FF) and then fast reverse scan for a while. You'll notice that the visible lines of noise will diminish as a percentage of screen real estate, while the clearer picture will increase.

Note: this is a temporary solution until you actually get your head (and possibly the tape) cleaned with a good wet system. This really just dislodges the packed-in magnetic particles for a while.

Have done this many, many times. Hope if works for you.

Scott

[countzer0]

This is probably a Macrovision (tm) problem. On most better Hi-Fi Beta Units, Macrovision copy protection was included. Symptoms include Blue screen, but video in fast forward and rewind when pluged to devices that accept macrovision like your dvd recorder.

[wulf109]

Beta vcr's are immune from macrovision when recording. Retail beta tapes that include macrovsion would prevent a VHS vcr from copying.
The original post says he used a Sima SCC and a "stabilzer" so it seems unlikely this would be a macrovision problem. The Sima SCC has never failed to remove copy protection going to a vcr,of course with a DVD recorder you also have DCP. Few if any VHS tapes would have DCP and I doubt any beta tape would have it since production of beta pre-recorded tapes stopped before DCP existed.

[nicestep]

Have you tried making DVD from the VHS copies? I used to have a lot of beta vcr's and when this happened it was usually cause by a damaged control track. You say you can watch them on your TV. Does your TV have an audio/video output? Try recording from the TV's output jacks.
Do you have more than one beta vcr? What your encountering could also be a speed problem. I would run into this problem if I tryed to watch a beta I tape on deck that did not support beta I playback. Some Sony vcr's had a switch on the back panel to engage beta I playback.

The VHS copies, while playable on a TV, give a blue screen when played through the DVD recorder. When playing a VHS tape on my VCR the word "PLAY" appears briefly on the screen after you press the "Play" button. What's interesting is that the word PLAY seems to have a Vertical Hold problem even when the picture itself seems stable.

Recording from the TVs output jacks sounds interesting enough that I may try it eventually.

I do have more than one Beta VCR and this happens with both machines. The tapes in question are commercial tapes in Beta 2 format.

[Dr_Layne]

A time base corrector may help.

[Frobozz]

I've also read where people have used the pass-through feature of a DV camcorder to get a Pioneer DVD recorder to not have a black screen when recording from some poor quality VHS tapes. That might be an option here.