Picture skewing on VHS playback

[camcorderlover]

Hello, I am based in the UK but I have some NTSC equipment such as TVs and a DVD/VHS combo.

I have a pre-recorded video I was watching as normal, and the film played fine until about half way through, then the picture started to skew at the top inch of the screen.

I did try winding the tape back and forward once or twice but it didn't help.

Then I tried the same tape on another VCR capable of NTSC playback and it seemed to solve the problem, the picture was much better.

I would just like to know if anyone can tell me why the tape was working fine and then started skewing? Is it tension?

I don't have this problem on any other tapes.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you
Camcorderlover

[hech54]

Not all VCRs are made the same. My Panasonic VHS is built like a tank and can "pull" any tape in any condition and play it well.....however my Philips/JVC clone S-VHS machine with S-Video output, built-in Time Base Corrector and picture control makes normal tapes look fantastic.

[camcorderlover]

Thanks for the advice. I know what you mean. I have several VCRs and one of them, a JVC model seems to be able to play tapes very well that have playback problems on other machines.

[PuzZLeR]

Your problem is "tearing" or the "hockey stick" effect. This is a common problem with VHS capture. But the good news is that it's been discussed, and there are solutions for it.

Now that you know what the problem is, I think a good next step would be to search some threads on it, and see what's recommended. It could be your tape, or VCR, or how one VCR handles a certain tape, or capture device, or you just may need another component in your capture chain.