Re: Newbie question about VCR head cleaning

On 28 mayo, 14:01, "Ron(UK)" <r...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Arfa Daily wrote:
"Jeroni Paul" <JERONI.P...@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1180312533.665505.121410@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
By your description I would guess your video heads are not getting
clogged, but maybe your audio/control head. It could be the tape path
might be a bit off or unstable and it is not getting properly to the
control section.
If you are out of warranty you should open the unit and look for the
audio/control head alignment or head status. This head is usually not
properly cleaned by head cleaning tapes and requires a manual
cleaning.

Tom Cumming wrote:
(Apologies for the multi-posting - I've had no replies at alt.video.vcr
so am trying here.)

About 2 years ago I bought a Philips DVP620VR DVD player & VHS recorder
combi machine. The VHS side of things has only been quite lightly used,
and playback quality was always good, until about 2 months ago, when one
day I went to use it and found it was playing "slow" - snow all over the
video image and the sound playing back wobbly at half speed and pitch, as
though the machine thought I'd given it a tape recorded in Long Play when
I had not. This affected both pre-recorded tapes and stuff I recorded
myself, but only when actually playing - the snow goes away when the tape
is paused or ff/rw.

I bought an extended warantee, so I took it back to the shop (Richer
Sounds, UK) for repair. When it came back, the paperwork said all they
had
done was cleaned the heads, but sure enough it was now working fine.

I then did not use it for about a month, and found after this time the
problem has returned. Not wishing to cart it back to the shop
unnecessarily, I tried a head cleaning tape, which helped, but the next
morning the problem was back again.

Now I understand that heads need to be cleaned but this is a bit
ridiculous. If I take it back to the shop again I'd imagine they'll just
clean the heads again. With every other VHS machine I have used, dirty
heads have caused a slow, gradual degradation of playback over time, not
a
sudden change from excellent to unwatchable overnight.

Does anyone have any experience with this machine? Is this a known issue
with it, and does it have a fix? Or can anyone suggest anything else I
might try, apart from hassling the shop and trying to get a refund /
replacement model?

Thanks in advance for any help.

The quickest way to clog heads repeatedly like this, is to put a cold or
damp tape in the machine. It used to be a regular thing in the days of tape
rental stores. People would pop out in their lunch hour in the winter to
pick up a tape, then leave it in their car all afternoon to get nice and
cold, at the end of the day, they drive the few miles home, then leave the
car outside to get cold again. At 8pm, they remember that they've got a tape
to watch, rush out to the car to get it, and then shove it straight in the
nice warm machine in the nice warm house. Result? Instantly clogged heads.
So before suspecting such things as head damage and scratched drums, you
might just stop and think a moment if you've done anything that has
subjected the tape to a large and rapid temperature change, just before
playing it ...

Arfa

It could be that the heads are just very very worn to the point where
their natural self cleaning action has ceased. If it has an extended
warranty, take it back to the shop.

given the fact the OP says the unit is new and it has had light use
only I think that is very unlikely.
-B.

.

Relevant Pages

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