VHS Player Blue Screen Issue

[King003]

Hi everyone,

I have come across this forum and have specifically joined because I think it's the best place to find a solution to a problem I have. Using the search I have seen people have similar problems but not this exact issue.

I am in the process of digitalising VHS tapes but while attempting the latest one it seems to have damaged my primary VHS player and my back up one. Now all they show is a blue screen with audio. Even trying other VHS tapes that definitely work now give me the same screen.

Does anyone have a reason for this happening or even better a solution?

[Barrythecrab]

First, to get things started, what are the 2 VCRs you’re using?
Secondly, did you take a good look at the tapes? Are they moldy, wrinkled, damaged in any way?

[TubeBar]

Hi everyone,

I have come across this forum and have specifically joined because I think it's the best place to find a solution to a problem I have. Using the search I have seen people have similar problems but not this exact issue.

I am in the process of digitalising VHS tapes but while attempting the latest one it seems to have damaged my primary VHS player and my back up one. Now all they show is a blue screen with audio. Even trying other VHS tapes that definitely work now give me the same screen.

Does anyone have a reason for this happening or even better a solution?

I recall back in the days "bad tapes" could throw off the tracking heads. The fix was to play a good quality, preferably SP commercial tape to get the heads back in sync.

[Cornucopia]

Heads rarely get out of sync, not counting mechanical misalignment, which is permanent until fixed by a qualified repair engineer.
What was much more likely happening was,
1. Dirt, etc getting onto some heads and not others (which can be cleaned off via proper wet headcleaning methods, or via dry cleaning tapes like mentioned). Using a known good recorded tape can be a substitute for the official dry cleaning versions, at the risk of that tape.
2. Wrinkles or other damage to the tape itself (which is not completely fixable, but possible to slightly improve)

Look at a good section of the tape near where you had issues. Vhs, and similar tape formats, have track layouts similar to this:


[Attachment 72452 - Click to enlarge]

The control track is on one edge and runs linearly. The audio track(s) run along the other edge and also run linearly. The video track runs through the middle and runs using "helical" scanning via the rotating video head, which amounts to the track scanning at an angle to make the effective track speed much higher than the original tape speed.

Without a control track, the tape player loses its point of reference for stability in playback & editing. So, a mangled control track will affect video playback but not necessarily audio. If dirt, wear or other damage gets on the video track (or control track) of the tape, it will make decoding the video difficult to impossible, and some types of dirt and wear can transfer from a bad tape to the heads, making subsequent playback ruined for other tapes, until hopefully it can be alleviated via the mentioned cleaning, etc.

Scott

[TubeBar]

Heads rarely get out of sync, not counting mechanical misalignment, which is permanent until fixed by a qualified repair engineer.
What was much more likely happening was,
1. Dirt, etc getting onto some heads and not others (which can be cleaned off via proper wet headcleaning methods, or via dry cleaning tapes like mentioned). Using a known good recorded tape can be a substitute for the official dry cleaning versions, at the risk of that tape.
2. Wrinkles or other damage to the tape itself (which is not completely fixable, but possible to slightly improve)

Look at a good section of the tape near where you had issues. Vhs, and similar tape formats, have track layouts similar to this:


[Attachment 72452 - Click to enlarge]

The control track is on one edge and runs linearly. The audio track(s) run along the other edge and also run linearly. The video track runs through the middle and runs using "helical" scanning via the rotating video head, which amounts to the track scanning at an angle to make the effective track speed much higher than the original tape speed.

Without a control track, the tape player loses its point of reference for stability in playback & editing. So, a mangled control track will affect video playback but not necessarily audio. If dirt, wear or other damage gets on the video track (or control track) of the tape, it will make decoding the video difficult to impossible, and some types of dirt and wear can transfer from a bad tape to the heads, making subsequent playback ruined for other tapes, until hopefully it can be alleviated via the mentioned cleaning, etc.

Scott

Oh so that's what is probably technically happening, that makes sense. At least now I know what it was for mine. Thanks again Scott.