Bought JVC HM-DH5U, played 4 tapes, now can't track anything??

[Brad]

The first tape I tried was cassette 1 of Titanic (it's expendable). The second tape I tried was Home Alone. I played two more, all is well.

Put that first one back in, and this time around the automatic tracking couldn't handle it. So I tried Home Alone again. Same deal, and this time I attempted manual tracking but no position would clear it up.



Camcorder footage that played fine the first time:





What the hell?

[KarMa]

Have the tapes been scratched by the machine? I know the same happened to me, found a hunk of debris scratching my tapes on one of the guide bars. Ruin a couple of my old tapes. Made an obvious line on the physical tape.

Addition: I remember it played great the first time, while it was ruining my tapes. Second time gave me a line across the screen.

Also that soda commercial brings backs many memories.

[KarMa]

Do these tapes play fine in another VCR?

[Brad]

Tried the camcorder tape tonight in a crummy regular JVC VCR and it still plays without issue in that one.

[PuzZLeR]

Ah, sometimes I believe there is no rhyme or reason when it comes to VHS and VCRs.

Sometimes a VCR reacts badly to one particular tape and it's in a "bad mood" after that whether with a select set of tapes, or every one of them. This has happened to me before, and I would have to open the VCR and manually clean it. This should fix it. And of course, I would never play that tape again in that VCR that upset it in the first place.

(Sometimes a tape cleaner can do it in some VCRs.)

I hate VHS. I always did.

[Brad]

Resolution: the eBay seller agreed to cover the repair costs, so I didn't end up having to try a manual cleaning. The local place I took it to had it ready the day after I agreed to their estimate.

The invoice states: "repaired the tracking head mechanism, replaced tracking/audio head, realigned & bench tested."

Problem is solved.

[lordsmurf]

The alignment screw was probably loose, and it slipped.
That happens.
As I always say: gravity.

[lordsmurf]

The alignment screw was probably loose, and it slipped.
That happens.
As I always say: gravity.