VCR preventing capture of last few seconds/minutes of tape

[Leanoric]

Ive come to realise that my vcr is preventing the capture of the last part of the tape. It stops the tape and starts to rewind it while there is still a small amount of tape that needs to be played left on the spool.

Its a late model quasi svhs jvc. It slows down rw or ff when it gets close to the beginning or end of the tape, so Im guessing it has a sensor that tells it how much tape is on the spool and for some reason this sensor wont let it play the tape until the end.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas? I dont really want to get another vcr, I bought this one this year, unused and still sealed in the box, so it should still have a lot of life left in it.

[dellsam34]

Just make sure the tape in that section does not have transparent spots that let light pass through into the end tape detection sensor, Folded or twisted tape can cause the same effect, It is better to remove the VCR lid and observe it when it happens, but be minded that removing the lid and allowing day light to go inside can sometimes trigger the sensors.

[Leanoric]

Ok thanks, Ill have a look at the tape at the point that it stops and rewinds. Ive have noticed that it doesnt always rewind tapes all the way back to the beginning, it sometimes leaves just a few seconds worth of tape on the spool. Is it common for transparent spots to develop at the beginning and end of a tape?

[dellsam34]

No, But did you find any? Another possibility is that, maybe the tape is stuck in the last few minutes, When it stops pull it out and see if you can spin it manually until the clear leader, Note that you will have to disengage the reels brakes to do so. Few seconds sounds about right, the VCR will advance the tape automatically to hide the clear leader.

[Leanoric]

Just checked the tape and theres no transparent spots. Your correct about it being stuck in the last few minutes though. The spool wont rotate in the play direction manually at that part of the tape. I can manually rotate it the other way, but just not in the play direction. I’ll transplant the spools into another case and see if that works.