JVC eats or rejects VHS-C tapes

[tko4]

Hi everyone and happy new year,

I recently bought a JVC S7600 VCR to digitize my old VHS and VHS-C tapes, and while it's been great with standard VHS tapes, I’ve run into an issue with my VHS-C tapes.

I’m using a VHS-C adapter, but whenever I insert the adapter the VCR either rejects it outright or eats the tape.

For some context:

The VCR plays regular VHS tapes smoothly, with no problems.
The small cassettes play fine in the camcorder, so the tapes themselves seem to be in good condition.
I tried the adapter on another VCR that I had (Sony SLV-ED1MJ) and it plays fine without any issues.

The adapter I'm using: https://i.imgur.com/xCRs4R2.jpeg

Attached you can find videos on what happens inside the player for both normal VHS tapes and with VHS-C adapter.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[dellsam34]

Use JVC cassette adapters only in well known working condition to protect your VCR from damage.

[timtape]

The same for the VCR when using VHS-C tapes in an adaptor. It's worth reading the Wiki article on VHS-C tapes and avoiding a slack tape in the adaptor before inserting in the VHS. See "Slackening problem" in the article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS-C

Because of the extra complexity when using VHS-C in an adaptor there's more things to go wrong. The VCR itself may work fine with full sized VHS tapes but the VHS-C tape and adaptor can expose maintenance issues in the VHS which are not a problem with the full size tapes.

Also, perhaps to compete with Video 8, JVC later increased the record times of VHS-C tapes from originally 20 minutes to even 60 minutes. They achieved this by making the tapes thinner. Thinner tapes are more susceptible to damage. The higher the number of recordable minutes on a tape, such as the highest at EC60, the more vulnerable are the tapes to damage whether in a camcorder or VHS deck. To play the thin tapes without damage, everything that affects the tape's physical integrity must be in tip top condition. It's the same with thinner tapes in audio cassettes and open reel tapes. Failure to understand and address these factors may be the reason for the hatred of the format by some people.

[tko4]

Use JVC cassette adapters only in well known working condition to protect your VCR from damage.

The challenge now is actually finding one of these adapters. Most listings online seem to be generic adapters or used of uncertain quality.

Honestly, I feel like I’m getting deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole. Between buying two different capture cards, the adapter, a quality VCR with TBC, I have already invested a fair bit, and I still can't get these tapes to play properly.

I’m even considering to manually transfer the small into a regular VHS cassette or I could use my Sony SLV-ED1MJ which works with the adapter I have and settle for whatever quality I can get.