Tried that old VHS tape trick with a head cleaner and it made the tracking worse

Picked up a dusty tape from an estate sale, ran a cleaning cassette through the player first, and now the footage has these weird static bars that weren't there before. Is there a way to actually fix a clogged head without destroying the picture further?

2 comments

2 Comments

paige87029d ago

Has your friend tried the paper method or did they just buy a new VCR after that?

shane_ross29d ago

Actually those head cleaning tapes are kind of a trap sometimes. They work okay for light dust but if the heads are actually gunked up with old tape residue, running a dry cleaning tape just grinds that stuff deeper into the gap. That static bars issue you're seeing now is probably debris packed into the head gap now instead of sitting on the surface. A proper way to fix this is opening the VCR up and cleaning the heads by hand. Get some 99% isopropyl alcohol and a piece of printer paper or a chamois cloth. Hold it against the spinning drum while you gently rotate it by hand. Do NOT use cotton swabs because the fibers can snag and break the head. Be really careful not to press straight down on the drum. Only press sideways against the direction of rotation. The heads are these tiny chips that stick out just a hair and they break off real easy. After you clean them, let it dry completely before you plug it back in. If the bars are still there, the head might have gotten scratched or the tape itself is shedding really bad. Some old tapes just have deteriorated binder and no amount of cleaning fixes that.