Problem Converting from VHS to DVD (20 yr old tape)

[KeyTeacher]

Hello,

Not sure if I'm in exactly the right forum, but since Video Conversion is what I'm trying to do, hope I'm in the right spot.

After procrastinating for far too long, I am finally copying family VHS tapes onto DVD's. My VCR is a Panasonic PV-V4523S, and my DVD Recorder is a Panasonic DMR-ES15. Don't know their ages, just thankful they work.

Aside from having to watch the 1999 family tape once through, writing down subjects and timings, and then copying them onto DVD's, everything worked fine. I just didn't think it would take so long.

Moving to our 1993 family tape (our oldest one), I find that I am missing a 3-minute section. The tape plays fine for about 20 seconds (from the beginning of the tape) and then I get a blue screen and the tape meter stops. I stop the tape, restart it, and I'll get about a second of what's there, and then we're back to the blue screen. Oddly enough, if I play this tape section and press the FF key, it will show the tape section that doesn't show when played normally, but of course, at a faster speed and without audio.

After about 3 minutes, audio and video resume and play normally for several more minutes before quitting where I stopped recording with this particular tape. The rest of the tape is fuzz, indicating that I had recorded on it but erased it afterwards. I don't need to "unerase" that portion, I just want my 3 minutes near the start of the tape, if possible.

I used several different kinds of tapes back then: Sony, Fujifilm, JVC, whatever. I do not have the VCR camera that I used back then because with 2 small children, I could not afford to buy a camera and had to rent a shoulder-held one from the local video store whenever a birthday or vacation trip came up. Now that my kids are grown and gone, I have 2 video cameras, but do most videos (unplanned) on a smart phone.

Sorry if I have rattled on too long. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

KeyTeacher
An itinerant piano teacher

[Krispy Kritter]

Sounds like the tape was damaged. Typically, the only way around these type of situations is with different hardware. In this case, that would be a different player. It could be a matter of trial and error to find a player that can actually play the tape. It's entirely possible that it won't play properly all the way through in any player or if it is even playable at all. But there isn't a way to force the current player to play it.

[redwudz]

Play it to where it drops out, then eject the tape. Push the little button and raise the door and you will likely see the tape damage. Don't touch the tape surface with your fingers.
If it's narrowed down, folded, or missing oxide, not really much you can do. You could try a professional recovery company but it's not going to cheap if they can do anything.

And welcome to our forums.