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First, you should keep away from the T-160 tapes as they are thinner and more likely to jam. The T-120 or less sizes are better. Next, use high quality name brand tape - not the off-brands found in the bargain bin.
Do the regular maintenance. All tape is "dirty" (including cassette, 8 track, reel to reel, etc.) and will deposit dirt on the tape heads and "transport" mechanism. Transport consists of capstan and pinch rollers that push / pull the tape in and out of the housing. when dirty, they slip and interfere with the "pick up" of a quality picture from the tape. Use of a quality wet cleaning system at regular intervals (or whenever picture quality deteriorates or tapes jam) is highly recommended. Here are some googled results for wet VHS cleaning systems:
Vcr's commonly get dirty heads that cause a blue or snowy screen and no sound in some cases. In my experience the rental tapes were common point of trouble especially when you consider the amount of machines that were deployed in use back in those days. Today people run into less issues because they have there own collection and put them to good use. In order to deal with some people's problems there are three approaches to cleaning heads, the first option is to use a wet tape with the provided fluid usually two or three drops will do and run it for ten to twenty seconds. The second approach is use a dry tape with same amount of time as outlined above. The third approach is get a blank store bought tape "T120 2hours" set the vcr to sp and run the tape from beginning to end, this is a good way if you want do more of a deep clean to remove difficult dirty particles that refuse give way. I find the dry tape will give less problems when cleaning and less chance of shredding and easier for people who don't like taking vcr's apart.
Do you know the best way to clean the head of a VCR is to take the top of the VCR and use cotton buds and that fluid or better still Servisol Video 40. Wipe the head and any part the tape touches with a bud soaked in the fluid. Let it dry and put the cover on. You will make a better job than the tape and get rid of fluff etc out of the works. PS It will take more work if someone smokes where the VCR lives.
it sounds as if you need the video and sound heads along with the tape travel path cleaning properly ie:remove the top cover and clean manualy PS:this should only be done if you have experiance as proper lint free clothes and cleaning fluid has to be used or you completely ruin the heads and these are expensive.
but you can buy a head cleaning tape and there are two types wet or dry i suggest through being in the trade for over 50yrs that yow use the wet one follow the insttructions on th box.you may have to do it 2 or 3 times if ithaevey soiled PS the heads get soilddue to particles of tape being left each time you use the machine. hope this helps .tv ****
"Cleaning with a wet tape cleaner" begs even more questions. What did you use as a cleaning agent, and how long did you run the tape? Your answer should be "100% pure alcohol" and ran it for no more than 10 seconds. If you ran the tape too long you may have worn down the heads. If this is the case, throw the camera out. If you used something other than alcohol, or too much, you may have damaged the pinch rollers. My suggestion is to open the tape door and leave open in a warm dry area for a day or two to reduce moisture. Then insert an tape which was not damaged and see if you can record and playback.
The VHS cleaning cassette possibly deposited fiber in the heads in the drum. You may need to open the cabin and examine the heads and the mechanism for foreign matterial.
Before you send it out to be fixed, when was the last time you cleaned the "heads"? I suggest you buy a "cleaning tape" first. Sony makes an excellent one. Follow the instructions that come with it. Takes 5-10 seconds.
There are two methods in cleaning the heads, "Wet" and "Dry". Dry uses a small amount of special abrasive on a tape that is designed to remove and trap dirt and oils. Wet uses an alcohol solution to remove the dirt. you can use either. I prefer the wet because it is less damaging to the heads but it is also harder to do and takes more time and I have have a lot of patience. With the wet you can also clean the tape guides where you can't with the dry.
For the general public use the dry tape system about every 25 hrs of recording or playback time. This should fix your problem. If it doesn't then you know you need to have it professionally cleaned and repaired.
Maybe the video heads have become clogged. Try using a commercial head cleaning tape to solve the problem.
I would recommend the one that uses the fluid.
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