moldy and old vhs tapes

[valred]

Just learned how to dub vhs to dvd. First vhs tape looked fine. 1992 however. DVD movie came out dark and shaky on t.v.

A lot of other tapes I have what looks like mold (gray color) on the tape. Any easy way to clean these? (a Machine or something?)

I was told (not by a professional) that if I tried dubbing those or even playing the tapes I can mess up the heads on the vhs badly.

I have a couple tapes very sentimental to me but from searching online looks pretty expensive to convert them. That's why I got this machine in the first place. thanks for any directions to take!

[filmboss80]

Are they one-of-a-kind tapes, with no other copies in existence? If so, are they worth the risk of destroying your VHS deck? If there is mold directly on the play side of the magnetic tape, I doubt that a picture will lock up. Most DVD recorders will not even record poor video signals.

I had heard of machines that clean video tape, but never saw or used one. (I think they were supplied to rental houses and professional duplicators in the VHS days.) Doubtful about finding one. Your best option is to leave the dupe job to a professional service. Do a search. There are some duplicators who specialize in salvaging damaged tapes.

If you MUST attempt to make a copy on your own, here are some things I would suggest:

If you can find a 2-direction VHS rewinder, you should fast forward and rewind the tape to shake off as much debris as possible from the tape.

Be sure to have some sort of VHS head cleaner on hand to clean clogged video heads.

Even with those preparations, I doubt you'll have much success. But you never know...

[minidv2dvd]

you might try something like this
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/319462-REG/Kinyo_UV230C_UV_230C_2_Way_VHS_S_VHS_Tape.html

[valred]

That looks very interesting. I could try that with a cheaper dvd player I have.

To answer other post yes I only have one copy of the vhs. I maybe should leave those to a professional. thanks, for 15.95 I could invest in that. Used to have an old vhs head cleaner. God, I am soo out of date. I have vhs' that my mom made 25 years ago. should have taken better care of them. they have been through moving and God knows where I have stored them over the years.

[AlanHK]

I was told (not by a professional) that if I tried dubbing those or even playing the tapes I can mess up the heads on the vhs badly.

I had some mouldy tapes (in Hong Kong summer it takes only a few months before EVERYTHING is mouldy).
I opened the cassette shell and wiped what I could see away with a cloth dampened with alcohol. Then tried playing them.

After about 10 minutes the picture went dead. Had to take the machine in for a cleaning.

So I threw all my mouldy tapes away. I can replace them all digitally anyway.

[lordsmurf]

Moldy tapes need to be professionally restored. Contact me (via PM) for a referral to a reliable USA service.