VHS tape players - repairable? Or recommendations for new player.

[Sketcz]

So I have 2 cassette players. One can rewind when the tape is off, but not when it's playing (I watched it with the casing removed - the tape rides up the rubber spindle and twists round a hundred times). Another player can rewind when it's playing, but not when off (it perpetually thinks the tape is at the beginning).

I tried using rubbing alcohol to clean the one, thinking it might be gummed up. And it worked great for a day. But then stopped. This is a Sony. My other is a no-name shop brand.

Is it possible the OS is beginning to degrade? I cannot understand why the one machine keeps thinking the tape is at zero and it refuses to rewind any more! I was tempted to get one of those machines with the piano key controls - basically when I say rewind, mother****er, I expect you to REWIND, forcibly if you have to. Problem is these modern machines are all software based. The remote tells the OS to rewind, and the OS then decides if it wants to or not.

I'm tempted to buy a new machine, but the JVC decks, which are supposedly the best, are kinda pricey on eBay despite being old.

I don't want to spend more than £50 on this, delivered.

My current decks both have longplay (so a 4hr tape lasts 8hrs). But I hear there were later digital releases, so one tape can last 20 hours?!

Basically I want long-term reliability so as to watch my current tapes, while also backing them up. Maybe recording films off YouTube using my Xbox 360 via SCART. There's a lot of old obscure films which exist only on YT, and while they're 360 or 480 pixels width, and look like ass on an HDTV, they actually look really good on an SDTV CRT! Like VCD or even DVD quality, depending on the uploader. So I'd like to record some of the rarer ones on to my blanks. I tried it once, with Amber Waves, but there was a horrendous flickering on the playback. I think it's the machines, since one produced a worse effect than the other, and I've heard people recording from their 360 without problems.

So, advice on whether I can fix my current machines, or recommendations on a new one to buy?

I've heard JVC is good, what else?

Should I aim to buy one with digital recording for 20 hours tapes? Or are they more fragile?

Does anyone want to give me a machine for free, because they're throwing it out, and I'll pay for postage?

[Hirst]

JVC are the best ones, but your problem now is that the belts on them all will be degrading with age and it'll lead to problems like you have there. You can still get the belts, but it's finding somebody who can do it.

One tip I can give is to try pressing play and rewind from there (as in where you can see the video). It's a lot slower but if your belts have degraded they're often more comfortable doing that.

[Anpanman]

I'd shout for Panasonic being the absolute best VHS manufacturer with JVC a very close second. JVC had the best machine for copying tape to tape in the old days with the 7200, even though it was the base model it had very good heads and was immune to a lot of the early copy protection schemes that used the AFC feature.

[charlesr]

Get a separate rewind module?

[monel]

Extended play usually gives a much worse picture. I see you want to downgrade the video to output it, but you may be better off downloading from youtube then using a cheap media player to output in SD. Unless I misunderstood this plan you've hatched.

[Anpanman]

Correct, I'd stay away from LP (Long Play) if you can. Panasonic developed the Super VHS feature which gave better quality though you are obviously better having as good quality as possible source picture to start with.

[Sketcz]

JVC are the best ones, but your problem now is that the belts on them all will be degrading with age and it'll lead to problems like you have there. You can still get the belts, but it's finding somebody who can do it.

One tip I can give is to try pressing play and rewind from there (as in where you can see the video). It's a lot slower but if your belts have degraded they're often more comfortable doing that.

Yeah, my worry is that anything I buy will had hidden problems like degrading belts.

My current machines have different problems. One allows reversing during play but not normally (without playing), and the other machine is the inverse. It rewinds when not playing, but chews the tape if rewound during play.

I'd shout for Panasonic being the absolute best VHS manufacturer with JVC a very close second. JVC had the best machine for copying tape to tape in the old days with the 7200, even though it was the base model it had very good heads and was immune to a lot of the early copy protection schemes that used the AFC feature.

Panasonic you say? Cheers! Any specific models though, or are they all pretty decent?

Are early VHS models better than later models, because they put more resources into making them sturdy? Or are newer models better because improving technology allowed for improved builds?

Get a separate rewind module?

You mean... Replace or repair one of my current decks? Or do you mean get a module just for rewinding? Because that's what I currently do - one deck rewinds, the other plays.

Extended play usually gives a much worse picture. I see you want to downgrade the video to output it, but you may be better off downloading from youtube then using a cheap media player to output in SD. Unless I misunderstood this plan you've hatched.

I just want to record some YouTube films to VHS tape, using my X360 as the YT player, since it outputs SCART. I mean, I could watch YT on my desktop, but it only outputs HDMI, and not the old TV signals.

Are there tape machines which accept HDMI input...?

I know Longplay degrades the picture, quite noticeably. But I'm fine with that, and old films on YT are never in the best resolution anyway, so some signal loss isn't too bad.

---

Thanks for the replies guys.

Are there specific models to look out for? Like the "best model" to get?

Like, should I catch the train to Brighton for these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Job-Lot-5x-VHS-Players-Time-Lapse-Recorder-Untested-Sony-Panasonic-Mitsubishi/163996563279

This is nice, but collect only:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PANASONIC-NV-F55B-HI-FI-STEREO-VIDEO-CASSETTE-RECORDER-NICAM-DIGITAL-STEREO/123999184054

Or maybe this one, which is delivered?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Panasonic-NV-HD630-Nicam-Hifi-Video-Cassette-Recorder-VCR-VHS-remote-GWO/324017745570

Also, I think I want NTSC playback too. My current Sony plays both NTSC and PAL tapes, so it's a nice feature to have. Do most newer models do this?

Or... Should I try to repair the Sony rubber spindles? I opened it up, and it's a bit gummy, so the tape rides up, flips off the spindle, then starts twisting on itself.

[monel]

To save you storage headache and remember, video recording means real time, again I suggest buy a cheap media player see Amazon- they all have hdmi but some have composite output plus hdmi. See if they playback in SD and that will save you so much time and grief, seriously, if it works. Just hook up the player to a CRT or whatever and play them off usb,

[Anpanman]

I'd agree with shinobi7000 less headache.

If you really must get a machine then the S-VHS Panny's would be NV- and one of the high numbers, ask Mr Google, NV-8000 or 10000 Super VHS were the later ones so probably better to go with one of those.
Remember the machines I'm talking about were top of the line and a bit like the Sony C9 in Betamax would be costing about £1000 at the time which was a lot of money the JVC 7200 was £399 and the cheapest you could go in the early eighties but punched well above its weight. Both JVC and Panny had great machines at the top end. Panny non S-VHS series at the high end were I think the 700/800 numbers.

Isopropyl Alchohol is the stuff you used to get in cassette cleaning kits for audio machines and should also be fine for the pinch rollers.

[wakka]

There has deffo got to be an easier way of displaying YouTube on a CRT TV than this.

Pretty sure Escape To 88 hooks Raspberry Pis and Windows PCs and all sorts up to CRTs for the purposes of retro emulation - not sure if any of his solutions would work for video, but potentially? At least it would save you driving to Brighton to pick up five probably-knackered VHS tape players!

[monel]

I appreciate thinking outside the box, but this is like someone telling you they want to hand write a document online to hundreds of pages of paper. You tell them copy and paste it and print it, but they say, "Nah, lol".

[vanpeebles]

Reel to reel.

[Hirst]

You could install Kodi on a Pi and watch YouTube on a CRT that way, I did that!

[Sketcz]

I appreciate thinking outside the box, but this is like someone telling you they want to hand write a document online to hundreds of pages of paper. You tell them copy and paste it and print it, but they say, "Nah, lol".

Not really. I think you missed what I was saying.

I have a spare X360 in my lounge, hooked up to my SD TV, and I watch YouTube as I want on it. I did this yesterday for the old 2002 subtitled Witcher series. My other (gaming) X360 is in my games room on my HDTV.

I mainly want to record YouTube onto VHS tape because often a good film on YT will be taken down due to copyright infringement. Some have stayed up for years, others get taken down within a few months.

Now, sure, I've downloaded lots before. Either as MP4, WMV, or VLC player files, depending on whatever browser extension works at that time to bypass YT security.

The problem is, I'm now sat with a bunch of video files which look like ass on my laptop and on my desktop connected to my HDTV. Sure, I guess I could put them on a USB stick and run them through my X360's built in media player (well, no the VLC files since it won't run those), but all of this seems like such a hassle just to watch a film on an SD CRT. Previously I would take the video files and burn them to DVD and run those on my DVD player connected to the SD TV.

Another option I've done a few times is upload via FTP the MP4 files to my original brick Xbox, modded, and then playing them on CRT via the XBMC video player. It's pretty good especially if I've download low-res 240p films (why do people upload them in such low res?!). But it does require I keep deleting stuff, since even with a larger HDD, the box fills up pretty fast.

So, lots of people are suggesting getting a Raspberry Pi or some other dongle which connects via the old A/V standard to a SDTV, but that sounds like more hassle than what I suggested about recording to VHS. I don't feel like learning how to program a Pi to do anything. The whole concept behind the Pi sounds like an enormous pain. It's why I like Mini Consoles. Just plug and play, even though everyone swears a Pi is better.

Not when I need to solder **** or burn EPROMs or learn a programming language. Or however the hell a Pi works. I am really lazy when it comes to this stuff. With a VHS tape, you just plonk it in and go, glass of merlot in your free hand.

I suggest buy a cheap media player see Amazon- they all have hdmi but some have composite output plus hdmi. See if they playback in SD and that will save you so much time and grief, seriously, if it works. Just hook up the player to a CRT or whatever and play them off usb,

I am going to take your advice and look into this. If for no other reason than to make use of all the current video files I already have. Cheers.

[monel]

Good luck, although I find even low res video doesn't look that bad on some tvs.