Video Tape giving audio only?

[Davi]

Not sure where to ask this so plonking it here...

Video tape when played only gives Audio, on a whim a different VCR is borrowed to check it's not the VCR itself, first time the tape is played voila! There is the Video to go with the Audio!

Rewind, press play again. And it's lost Video again, back to Audio only. Try another VCR, Audio only.

Why would the test VCR manage to play it once, then not thereafter? What can be done?

[sday12]

Does it go:

Ohhh, Arggh, YES!, Oohh, Arggh?

[RJE1966]

Video tape?

Checks calender......yep it's not 1987.

[Davi]

RJE1966 said:

Video tape?

Checks calender......yep it's not 1987.

oddly enough events did happen prior to the dawn of DVD, and sometimes people like to transfer these events from their old VCRs to DVD, but that can prove tricky if the tape isn't playing ball...

[RJE1966]

Davi said:

RJE1966 said:

Video tape?

Checks calender......yep it's not 1987.

oddly enough events did happen prior to the dawn of DVD, and sometimes people like to transfer these events from their old VCRs to DVD, but that can prove tricky if the tape isn't playing ball...

Handbag.....

[Davi]

RJE1966 said:

Davi said:

RJE1966 said:

Video tape?

Checks calender......yep it's not 1987.

oddly enough events did happen prior to the dawn of DVD, and sometimes people like to transfer these events from their old VCRs to DVD, but that can prove tricky if the tape isn't playing ball...

Handbag.....

[Republik]

I have a similar problem. My ghetto blaster keeps chewing up my cassette tapes.

[tonyvid]

Is it a really old tape or been stored somewhere dusty? It sounds like it is shedding crap and clogging the heads to me. Either stick a cleaning tape in it or another newer tape and stick it on play+fastforward until it clears. A few loading/unloading cycles might sort it if the VTR has a auto-head cleaning pad mech.

[TonyHetherington]

Something that's got me before - check the scart cable (assume it's one of them) both in the VCR and into the TV.

Scart cables are a multiplug, some pins being video some being audio.

It's happened to me before that if the plug's not in properly some (eg video) still connect but audio doesn't or vice-versa.

[Parrot of Doom]

Video is recorded using helical scanning, but the audio is a traditional longitudinal track (like an old cassette). Therefore getting the audio is easy.

Chances are the tape is too worn to play.

[tonyvid]

Parrot of Doom said:

Video is recorded using helical scanning, but the audio is a traditional longitudinal track (like an old cassette). Therefore getting the audio is easy.

Unless you are using the HiFi tracks...