Wobbly VHS Capture Footage

[JohnMctabish]

Hi All,

I've recently been capturing VHS tapes on my pc, all have been ok except one VHS tape which is having a strange wobbly effect that comes and goes - see attached screenshots.

Whats odd is that I originally capture in a low quality by mistake and it was fine, however now I am capturing at the correct quality the wobbly effect has begin to happen. This makes me think that something has happened to the actual tape - maybe playing it for the first time in 30 years has damaged the VHS? I've cleaned the VCR heads and insides but it hasn't made any difference.

Any ideas on what it is and *if possible* how to fix it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
JM


[Attachment 50706 - Click to enlarge]

[Attachment 50704 - Click to enlarge]
[Attachment 50705 - Click to enlarge]

[lordsmurf]

Is the tape sticky?

[JohnMctabish]

The magnetic tape doesn't appear to be sticky when running my finger across it.

[Davidpcrossland]

magnetic tape?

[Davidpcrossland]

it seems you are playing old video tape on this player

[JohnMctabish]

magnetic tape as in the black film tape inside the VHS.

Yes I am playing an old home movie VHS on an old VCR and inputting it onto my PC - did I misunderstand the question?

[DB83]

Not sure what lordsmurf meant when he said 'sticky'. My own guess he meant that the transport of the tape on the spools was not smooth.

Yet I am quite certain he did not mean for you to actually touch the tape with your finger since you could well have done even more damage to it.

I have seen one tape with a similar result. In my case I played the tape to the end and then fast-rewound it. The problem vanished on subsequent plays.

[JohnMctabish]

DB83 thank you for the advice - I actually ended up following a tutorial on youtube which showed how to clean a vhs tape; link below. In doing so I fast forwarded it, then rewound as you suggested and it worked! So it may have been cleaning the tape or possibly your suggestion - either way the problem has gone! Many thanks to all the advice! Very much appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVq0o2CzVKI

[DB83]

Glad it works for you.

Yet I had a 'wobble' when you said you cleaned the tape (rather than the vcr which this tutorial shows)