Different behaviour capturing same tape

[Traderbam]

Hi, I have both a Panasonic NV-HS860 which I use most of the time, and a Philips VR1000. I've been capturing an old 2nd gen tape which is very poor quality. It plays for around 50mins in the Pana then all picture drops but the time counter continues. I assumed that was the tape complete with nothing more to capture.

By chance I decided to do another test capture with different settings on my VR1000 and the tape continued fine beyond 50mins for another 40 minutes of video to capture. I'm trying to learn how to avoid risking missing content in the future, and why this would happen? The Philips plays this region with and without DSPC on although there are quite a lot of glitches which aren't helped regardless of DSPC or TBC/DNR on/off settings.

The only thing I can think of is a difference in tracking. I don't have an original panasonic remote so can't try manual tracking, but does this sound like a potential cause? At the 50min mark there is heavy flickering on both units, but it is only the Philips that can display anything.

The tape is 30+ years old at this point and did seem a little stiff to wind manually. Is it a good idea to swap the reels into a fresher chassis or would some reel tension not explain the difference between decks?

[davexnet]

Tape damage, tape contamination clogging the heads or reels sticking within the shell.
You can do a physical examination of the tape by lifting the flap. Look for any creases (particularly lower edge).
If no obvious damage, Sometimes fast forwarding the tape to the end and back a few times helps.

Clean the control track and main video heads

[cholla]

I wanted to add my 2 cents.
I used to have a unit that was just a rewinder.
It worked OK if speed was what was wanted.

If you play the tape forward at play speed &
then rewind at the slowest rewind speed it is better for the tape.
FF & RR at full speed tend to tighten the tape on the reels.
This is my opinion but I've had a lot of VHS tapes in the past & I feel this is the best method.
The few I still have still work OK.
Most I disposed of because I went to DVD.

[Traderbam]

Thanks both. Initially I suspected it was a sticking reel that loosened up with a few passes, but even after a successful capture with the Philips, going back to the Panasonic still didn't play on that unit. I was just curious as to possible causes and how I can avoid in future.

Rewinding old tapes at playback speed rather than full speed does make sense.

Is manual tracking used much in VHS capture or best left to the auto tracking and using features like DPSC/BEST on Philips/JVC or CVC on Panasonic?