I was already looking for repair shops when I found your excellent and insightful instructions. I had to clean the video head on my multistandard Sony VCR a few times with a lens cleaner and run a new VHS tape a few times until it worked. Now I can continue digitizing my tapes from the mid-1990s. Thanks for making these tips available.
I found a VCR at a thrift store for 5 bucks. I was so shocked it worked, but it didn't have any video out, unfortunately. But unlike the last one, this one actually turns on. You just saved my VCR dude. THANKS SO MUCH. LIKE AND A SUB
Great tips for not having worked on a VCR like this before, Thanks for posting this video. Tried the cleaning the head as you showed on the video. It worked like a charm. A VCR I was ready to trash, came back to life. I will add thoughI did have to keep on cleaning the heads after each video and some times stop to clean it again, so as you said wash, rinse, repeat. I did this multiple times and each time it showed dirt and each time it got better. Thank you this was very informative. You got a subscribe from me
🎉🎉🎉 I fixed both vcr's. I got one a few months ago and slowly it became less and less. Got another one from the thrift store and at first it worked beautifully, day later, same video, no image. Tried on a different tv, no image but sound. So then I was like hmmmmmmm, maybe they do work. And found your video, opened it up, cleaned it and both vcr's are working perfectly now. Thank you so much. ❤
Thank you I bought a VCR for 7 dollars no video and did as you said used the glasses wet wipes and although there was some dirt I didn’t think it was enough to stop it working. Guess what the wipes actually made the difference and brought back the video. Thanks for the advice!
Wow dude! It actually worked! I only had picture from the menu of the VCR, or the time/clock settings, but as soon as i hit play, there was nothing. No audio, no picture. There was no debris in it, since it is a brand new and never used player. I cleaned the head with isopropylic alcohol, and it workes perfect now! I guess sitting around for more than 10 years left some residue, or traces of moisture on it :) Thank you so much!
Yay! We couldn’t figure out why the TV showed “no signal” but played sound after using an RCA to HDMI converter to play some old VHS tapes. We didn’t have a head cleaner tape, but manually cleaning the head worked!
thanks so much for making this video! i was in panic when my VCR refused to show images! turns out the tape i bought is in bad condition and making the head dirty! god bless you!!
8:50 messing up the tape alignment is the last resort, never touch those guide, especially when there is no picture, a misaligned tape path will display as horizontal streaks similar to bad tracking (which technically it is) never touch those.
I was trying to look at old home videos and the same thing was happening. one tape showed the whole entire video no problem, but the smaller tapes that needed a converter when put inside and pressed play, it would come on the tv for about 3 seconds and then would turn black yet had some audio and then would boot out the video and stop playing.. this could be the issue? so all the tapes that I have are not the problem but the actual VHS player??
Much gratitude and relief. Thank you. You know how you can get a feeling that maybe you should have done something you usually do? Well, I haven't used the head cleaner on my newest replacement DVD/VCR player, and just the other day I was wondering about that, but everything was playing clearly. Usually, the need for cleaning the heads makes itself known through picture quality change. When, after watching 'Volunteers' yet again, I inserted a tape and there was sound but no audio and it never occurred to me that this could be fixed with just the cleaning. It did. One time through was all it took. (And it is amazing that the head cleaning tape I have should also have been completely worn out). Pure luck. It will be a bit before every fiber in my nerous system relaxes, as other than the PC I am using now, I have just a newer older LCD "tv" and the used VCR/DVD player. My sight is going, my tapes are already quite old and well-used, and I would love to be able to have the computer - and RUclips hooked up to that "tv" thing. I don't have cable. Thank the cosmos I came upon your video before anyone else's. I would finish off by running a very clean tape through, but I no longer have one. This current DVD/VCR player has a "HAL" quality to it as it is. Thank you, again.
OMG dude thank u so much, I was doing your same exact VHS to PC project with the same circumstances and your final method worked perfect. I had already before opened her up & cleaned things fairly well but not the heads as much as you demonstrated. I was throwing in the towel when I found your video, And Voila!! I’m now transferring to pc the ol’ SNL 1990-09-29 opener w Kyle Mclaughlin.
Great vid thanks for sharing, I have a Emerson VCR DVD combo, with cover off it won’t work, cover on it will, Is there a tab I need to push or something? Thank you in advance
Not sure! From what you describe, if it were mine, I would inspect any contact points between the cover and base for a tab of some type. Or maybe a sensor of some type. I'm no pro - so use caution (Emerson may have built it like that for a reason).
I'm have same issue, but i need to change some caps in the Combo Filter module, so i went there and unplugged everything from the main board, then removed the Chroma Board and the combo filter, changed the capacitors there, plugged everything back, and now i did not have any image at all, just sound, also my VCR was playing fine before but with horrible image caused by faulty capacitors, i will try and re clean the VCR head video and maybe to tweak the posts to see if i get any image at all
I have a couple of old Panasonic Omnivisions. I recently had the same problem with one, which I suspected was from a "dirty" tape. I ordered some cleaning tapes off amazon, a wet one and a dry one. Twenty bucks, each. They had such bad reviews/mixed reviews I was afraid to try them. I tried the dry one, so far, and it seemed to work. Before I had a total black screen, except when I played the videos on "fast forward". I tried to fix it by sacrificing some professionally released to home video classic movies, because I had managed to fix a VCR before, when the cleaner tape did not fix it, by just playing Laurence Olivier's Hamlet - played fine - through it again and again until other tapes would play as well. Took a long time. Weeks. Hamlet was a high quality tape. That was a long, long time ago. This time, however, nothing played for me with video until I tried the dry type cleaner tape. It was YHDD brand, it was very chintzy, it came with no instructions, but I played the tape three times and then the Panasonic did play both professional and home recorded tapes okay. I was surprised that it did work. Just passing this advice on for any one who might want to try to avoid opening the machine.
It worked for me, however when linking it to the mac like yours still blank screen with audio, but on normal tv the picture is there with audio, so abit confused.
Just watched a movie that played fine. For only the next vhs tape to slow down, become slightly grainy/blurry, black out a bit, and then come back to clear again. Repeat, every 10 seconds. What can that be?
Everything proven vhs tapes don't take quality out of them self's everything proven tvs causes that problem 1 tv don't have good picture quality it continues to take quality out of your vhs tapes on to the good tvs have good picture quality it continues to put more greater quality in your VHS tapes
Everything proven your mode switche needs cleaning every now and then mode switches in time gets dirty in time now if you don't no what a mode switch is you can go online and say how clean out a mode switch everything will come up what you need to see online and VCR player everything proven new VCR belts are everywhere online now days for 10 dollars
I was already looking for repair shops when I found your excellent and insightful instructions. I had to clean the video head on my multistandard Sony VCR a few times with a lens cleaner and run a new VHS tape a few times until it worked. Now I can continue digitizing my tapes from the mid-1990s. Thanks for making these tips available.
You are so welcome!
I found a VCR at a thrift store for 5 bucks. I was so shocked it worked, but it didn't have any video out, unfortunately. But unlike the last one, this one actually turns on. You just saved my VCR dude. THANKS SO MUCH. LIKE AND A SUB
That is awesome! Welcome to the channel!
Great tips for not having worked on a VCR like this before, Thanks for posting this video. Tried the cleaning the head as you showed on the video. It worked like a charm. A VCR I was ready to trash, came back to life. I will add thoughI did have to keep on cleaning the heads after each video and some times stop to clean it again, so as you said wash, rinse, repeat. I did this multiple times and each time it showed dirt and each time it got better. Thank you this was very informative. You got a subscribe from me
Yeah! Love your comment - thanks and welcome aboard!
Bro you saved my VHS player. Thank you so much!
Glad it helped!
You just saved my VCR! Thank you man!
Thanks for helping me get my 30 year old VCR working again!
Glad to help
🎉🎉🎉 I fixed both vcr's. I got one a few months ago and slowly it became less and less. Got another one from the thrift store and at first it worked beautifully, day later, same video, no image. Tried on a different tv, no image but sound. So then I was like hmmmmmmm, maybe they do work. And found your video, opened it up, cleaned it and both vcr's are working perfectly now. Thank you so much. ❤
Oh wow! That's awesome!
Thank you I bought a VCR for 7 dollars no video and did as you said used the glasses wet wipes and although there was some dirt I didn’t think it was enough to stop it working. Guess what the wipes actually made the difference and brought back the video. Thanks for the advice!
Glad it worked out for you!
Wow dude! It actually worked! I only had picture from the menu of the VCR, or the time/clock settings, but as soon as i hit play, there was nothing. No audio, no picture. There was no debris in it, since it is a brand new and never used player. I cleaned the head with isopropylic alcohol, and it workes perfect now! I guess sitting around for more than 10 years left some residue, or traces of moisture on it :)
Thank you so much!
Awesome - thanks for your comment!
Yay! We couldn’t figure out why the TV showed “no signal” but played sound after using an RCA to HDMI converter to play some old VHS tapes. We didn’t have a head cleaner tape, but manually cleaning the head worked!
thanks so much for making this video! i was in panic when my VCR refused to show images! turns out the tape i bought is in bad condition and making the head dirty! god bless you!!
You're welcome!!
Cleaning the heads works man. i recommend to clean twice.
Done what you said now an old VCR now working perfectly thanks for the info 👍😊
Ah, yeah! Glad it helped
8:50 messing up the tape alignment is the last resort, never touch those guide, especially when there is no picture, a misaligned tape path will display as horizontal streaks similar to bad tracking (which technically it is) never touch those.
Bingo! Thx man, I used lens cleaner and a lens cleaning cloth.
I was trying to look at old home videos and the same thing was happening. one tape showed the whole entire video no problem, but the smaller tapes that needed a converter when put inside and pressed play, it would come on the tv for about 3 seconds and then would turn black yet had some audio and then would boot out the video and stop playing.. this could be the issue? so all the tapes that I have are not the problem but the actual VHS player??
Much gratitude and relief. Thank you. You know how you can get a feeling that maybe you should have done something you usually do? Well, I haven't used the head cleaner on my newest replacement DVD/VCR player, and just the other day I was wondering about that, but everything was playing clearly. Usually, the need for cleaning the heads makes itself known through picture quality change. When, after watching 'Volunteers' yet again, I inserted a tape and there was sound but no audio and it never occurred to me that this could be fixed with just the cleaning. It did. One time through was all it took. (And it is amazing that the head cleaning tape I have should also have been completely worn out). Pure luck.
It will be a bit before every fiber in my nerous system relaxes, as other than the PC I am using now, I have just a newer older LCD "tv" and the used VCR/DVD player. My sight is going, my tapes are already quite old and well-used, and I would love to be able to have the computer - and RUclips hooked up to that "tv" thing. I don't have cable.
Thank the cosmos I came upon your video before anyone else's. I would finish off by running a very clean tape through, but I no longer have one. This current DVD/VCR player has a "HAL" quality to it as it is. Thank you, again.
You’re welcome! So glad this was useful.
Worked a treat
OMG dude thank u so much, I was doing your same exact VHS to PC project
with the same circumstances and your final method worked perfect.
I had already before opened her up & cleaned things fairly well but not the heads as much as you demonstrated.
I was throwing in the towel when I found your video,
And Voila!! I’m now transferring to pc the ol’ SNL 1990-09-29 opener w Kyle Mclaughlin.
Yeah!! Great to hear. Thanks for your comment!
Great vid thanks for sharing, I have a Emerson VCR DVD combo, with cover off it won’t work, cover on it will, Is there a tab I need to push or something? Thank you in advance
Not sure! From what you describe, if it were mine, I would inspect any contact points between the cover and base for a tab of some type. Or maybe a sensor of some type. I'm no pro - so use caution (Emerson may have built it like that for a reason).
Excellent! Thanks for the video, saved me.
Great to hear!
I'm have same issue, but i need to change some caps in the Combo Filter module, so i went there and unplugged everything from the main board, then removed the Chroma Board and the combo filter, changed the capacitors there, plugged everything back, and now i did not have any image at all, just sound, also my VCR was playing fine before but with horrible image caused by faulty capacitors, i will try and re clean the VCR head video and maybe to tweak the posts to see if i get any image at all
Your video helped me fix our old VCR. Thanks!
Great to hear!
I have a couple of old Panasonic Omnivisions. I recently had the same problem with one, which I suspected was from a "dirty" tape. I ordered some cleaning tapes off amazon, a wet one and a dry one. Twenty bucks, each. They had such bad reviews/mixed reviews I was afraid to try them. I tried the dry one, so far, and it seemed to work. Before I had a total black screen, except when I played the videos on "fast forward". I tried to fix it by sacrificing some professionally released to home video classic movies, because I had managed to fix a VCR before, when the cleaner tape did not fix it, by just playing Laurence Olivier's Hamlet - played fine - through it again and again until other tapes would play as well. Took a long time. Weeks. Hamlet was a high quality tape. That was a long, long time ago. This time, however, nothing played for me with video until I tried the dry type cleaner tape. It was YHDD brand, it was very chintzy, it came with no instructions, but I played the tape three times and then the Panasonic did play both professional and home recorded tapes okay. I was surprised that it did work. Just passing this advice on for any one who might want to try to avoid opening the machine.
Thanks for the tip!
It worked for me, however when linking it to the mac like yours still blank screen with audio, but on normal tv the picture is there with audio, so abit confused.
Thank you so much. This means a lot since a wanted to save my partents' weeding. Now I can give them a surpirse
Awesome - glad this video helped. Cheers.
Just watched a movie that played fine. For only the next vhs tape to slow down, become slightly grainy/blurry, black out a bit, and then come back to clear again. Repeat, every 10 seconds.
What can that be?
thanks video helped allot
Glad to hear it!
worked for me, tnx
You're welcome!
Thanks. Worked for me
Glad this helped
Cool video
thanks!
No problem!
playing VHS tape with VLC I get sound no picture.
Sooooo slow!! This video could have been a good 5 minutes shorter if there was less useless talking!
yep...should be 3 minutes total. and gave me motion sickness with the erratic camera movement
I fell asleep twice!
Everything proven vhs tapes don't stop playing at all it's the people who is the problem
Everything proven vhs tapes don't take quality out of them self's everything proven tvs causes that problem 1 tv don't have good picture quality it continues to take quality out of your vhs tapes on to the good tvs have good picture quality it continues to put more greater quality in your VHS tapes
Everything proven your mode switche needs cleaning every now and then mode switches in time gets dirty in time now if you don't no what a mode switch is you can go online and say how clean out a mode switch everything will come up what you need to see online and VCR player everything proven new VCR belts are everywhere online now days for 10 dollars