DVD to VHS & back again, picture problems

[Jazzie]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and on a steep learning curve here so please bear with me.

I have a Liteon LVW-5006 DVD recorder and a new LG LV880 VCR, I am trying to work a 2 way connection between the 2 as I have several photo/video DVDs I want on video tape to send to family with no DVD player. I also want to copy old home vids to DVD.

My old VCR would copy VHS to DVD perfectly but I couldn't get it to copy DVD to VHS, bought the LG model and it will copy both ways but every tape now has thin single broken horizontal line across the middle of the screen.

Any ideas what could be causing it and how do I get rid of it?

Cheers

 

[MarkhamPete]

Have you tried taping from another source? If not try this first. If the same horizontal line appears on multiple tapes, usually I would suspect something wrong with the VCR, possibly some dirt stuck on the head(s).

 

[Jazzie]

Tried taping & straight playback from the VCR on various tapes, same thing, tried reconnecting my old VCR and this line has suddenly appeared using that now.

I did wonder about the heads and this VCR has an monitor that claims the heads are OK, this problem came up with an old Sony VCR which also had a habit of spitting out tapes so I switched to a Grundig which worked beautifully on VHS to DVD but refused to copy DVD to VHS, I had no instruction book for it and only 1 scart it was becoming a real pain to keep trying blind then swapping the cables back to check if it had worked, hence the new purchase as the LG has 2 SCARTs and AV in.

I thought maybe something had transfered from the LG to the old Grundig which now also gives me a line across the screen when it was fine before so I cleaned the heads, tried again with a fresh tape and the same thing is happening.

Any other suggestions?

 

[JayCee]

Tried taping & straight playback from the VCR on various tapes, same thing, tried reconnecting my old VCR and this line has suddenly appeared using that now.

I did wonder about the heads and this VCR has an monitor that claims the heads are OK, this problem came up with an old Sony VCR which also had a habit of spitting out tapes so I switched to a Grundig which worked beautifully on VHS to DVD but refused to copy DVD to VHS, I had no instruction book for it and only 1 scart it was becoming a real pain to keep trying blind then swapping the cables back to check if it had worked, hence the new purchase as the LG has 2 SCARTs and AV in.

I thought maybe something had transfered from the LG to the old Grundig which now also gives me a line across the screen when it was fine before so I cleaned the heads, tried again with a fresh tape and the same thing is happening.

Any other suggestions?

Try disconnecting the DVDR and just using the vcr normally.......record a prog from a Tv channel.........if the line is present the fault is in the vcr.........if not it's to do with the interconnections.

 

[MarkhamPete]

The only other thing I could suggest is maybe another cable. After eliminating the vcr and cable, then you know it's the output from the DVD.

 

[Jazzie]

Well I wound up trying every comination of links you can imagine, have a very large pile of cables now (it was lovely & neat before I started), conclusion seems to be damaged head on the VCR as opposed to just dirt so back it goes.

Crossing everything, the replacement should sort things out, many thanks guys

 

[HelloShaun]

To my mind it would be simpler and cheaper to buy them a dvd player, £20 must be less than the time spent in all the transferring and they would enjoy the better quality and longevity of the digital format.

 

[Jazzie]

Nice idea, not really practical though.

The 2 reasons for this is so I can give my 3 year old son videos of his favourite TV programme for use on his TV/Video combi (no way would I let him use DVDs yet but he can handle videos OK) and so I can send videos of the kids to my Grandmother who just celebrated her 90th birthday, she struggles with a VCR but can just about get by, she simply would not use a DVD player at all.

Aside from the fact she just has no interest in new technology or new anything else for that matter, she also has very bad arthritis in her hands.

By doing the tapes on VHS and popping the tabs she only has to put it in her player and it will play automatically to the end, stop and rewind itself and then eject, no messing with buttons etc which she finds difficult. She lives alone and is at the other end of the country from us so it's not like there is anyone available to help her plus she is very a independant lady, she would hate to have to ask for help if she wanted to watch a film of the kids.