VCR Playback = No Picture = Just Static

[LouAnne]

Hey guys - I have a JVC HR-S7800U purchased from eBay a while back. I got set up to capture as I used to do with another VCR and captured a few minutes of video without a problem. I looked at 4 or 5 other old tapes as well. Some of them would not play at all and the VCR just spit them back out. Others would play, I could hear audio, but the picture was nothing but black and white static (like an old tv set tuned to a non-station). When this happened, I assumed the tapes were too bad to play.

However, I haven't been able to get any tapes to play, even newer tapes. I took the vcr and plugged it into the tv to test video playback. I set up another, cheaper vcr as a standard. Once the cheap vcr was working, I unplugged the RCA cables from it and into the JVC machine....still got nothing but video static.....no hint of a picture. It does play audio from the tapes though, which sounds fine. The video playback did not get worse over time, it just quit suddenly.

So, I'm wondering if it could be a simple menu setting that I've screwed up or if it needs a thorough cleaning. I've been dreading this project due to the age of the tapes and fear of needing to clean the vcr.

Thanks!

[johns0]

Most likely the vcr heads got dirty from some bad tapes and needs a good cleaning.just be careful of the tapes you use cause if/when you get the heads cleaned then the problem will happen again if you use the bad tapes.