If you shake your VHS player while recording will it affect the recording?

[bigbadben]

Hi all,

Are VHS players affected by shock, movement or shaking? Say you drop something heavy on the table while recording will it affect the playback for the recording? Kind of like how portable CD players used to skip a long time ago is it the same for VHS?

[bigbadben]

Google says there is a video drum that spins 1500rpm, but nobody knows how it works. Oh well, I have been recording for 15 hours, I’ll finish off recording my remaining 5 videos each 3 hours long probably. Doesn’t matter how it turns out as long as the tapes are backed up in case the world ends because of COVID-19. When I order my TBC via international shipping from the USA I’ll move everything to a seperate room and record there.

[lordsmurf]

Hi all,
Are VHS players affected by shock, movement or shaking?

Yes.

Say you drop something heavy on the table while recording will it affect the playback for the recording? Kind of like how portable CD players used to skip a long time ago is it the same for VHS?

Yes.

I sometimes used to non-scope realign decks in my lap. The smallest movement, or even an incline, caused some drift.

[johnmeyer]

I have the opposite opinion, based on actual use, and the answer is probably no.

My first VCR, in 1981, was a Quasar two-part unit. It was in two parts, with the tuner in one box and the recording mechanism in the other, because it was designed to be used with a video camera. For eight years I strapped that VCR over my shoulder and while walking would take video of the family. I would often take it off my shoulder and plunk it down on a table while filming. I did lots of other mechanically stressful things as well.

I never got any glitches in the video or audio.

This was based on actual use, not theory.

I am sure that a violent enough blow would eventually feed into the mechanics and cause some sort of disruption, but simply dropping something on the table (not on the unit), and then having that vibration transmitted by the table into the VCR almost certainly will not cause any problem.

And, of course, every tape-based camcorder had similar mechanisms, including the original one-piece camcorders (which I got in 1989 to replace my 1981 units). These used nearly-full-sized mechanisms, so they should have been subject to the same mechanical problems. We would have heard hundreds of stories and seen thousands of glitched videos if there was a problem with simple mechanical bumps.

[jagabo]

Are VHS players affected by shock, movement or shaking?

Yes, if you shake it hard enough.

[johnmeyer]

Are VHS players affected by shock, movement or shaking?

Yes, if you shake it hard enough.

Yes, agreed.

[bigbadben]

I have the opposite opinion, based on actual use, and the answer is probably no.

My first VCR, in 1981, was a Quasar two-part unit. It was in two parts, with the tuner in one box and the recording mechanism in the other, because it was designed to be used with a video camera. For eight years I strapped that VCR over my shoulder and while walking would take video of the family. I would often take it off my shoulder and plunk it down on a table while filming. I did lots of other mechanically stressful things as well.

I never got any glitches in the video or audio.

This was based on actual use, not theory.

I am sure that a violent enough blow would eventually feed into the mechanics and cause some sort of disruption, but simply dropping something on the table (not on the unit), and then having that vibration transmitted by the table into the VCR almost certainly will not cause any problem.

And, of course, every tape-based camcorder had similar mechanisms, including the original one-piece camcorders (which I got in 1989 to replace my 1981 units). These used nearly-full-sized mechanisms, so they should have been subject to the same mechanical problems. We would have heard hundreds of stories and seen thousands of glitched videos if there was a problem with simple mechanical bumps.

That's true. In my case I put a bottle of water hard on the table and the vibration went into the table. I re-watched the video I recorded and it didn't affect the video in any way.