Yet more VCR taping problems

I replaced my Panasonic VCR last year because it no longer recorded well - terrible sound mainly. Its replacement, a Toshiba, is now displaying the same problems: playback on pre-recordeds is fine, but whatever we tape, even on brand new tapes, won't track properly and the sound is intermittently muffled then clear. No one else I know has these problems, but there's nothing unusual in the way the box is located or used. Would a tape head cleaner help? I'm seriously thinking about going for Tivo...

 

Yes it's worth a try. Lets hope it works.

Is your machine under guarantee?

 

No, the guarantee ran out on Sept 1. I've spoken to an engineer on the phone and he says it sounds like dirt on the 'ACE' assembly which is responsible for recording the sound. According to him, this requires a relatively strong control pulse which, if hampered by dust or dirt, will b*gger up the sound on recordings and cause tracking problems also. Fine, but we are looking at a bill of about £50. Personally, I'd rather use that kind of money as 50% of a Tivo, if Comet or Dixons get any more in stock. Might just take the lid off the VCR myself and rub the shiny bits with meths!

 

I've got the same sound problem on one of my ageing panasonic machines. Being unqualified as I am, I tried replacing the head-upper drum with a new one. It worked fine for a couple of weeks but then started having picture problems- white steaks across picture. I ended up putting the old head back in.

That was a waste of £60.

 

Paul G, I've found a forum for electrical engineers and have posted a request for info on this issue. Hopefully someone on there will have the know-how. I'll post up any useful tips.

 

Could you give us the address to that forum?
I expect it will include a lot of tech talk-way over my head- but worth a look for people like myself.

 

This might get a lot of flack from video enthusiasts, but I've never been able to find a good headcleaner, and always chose to open up the box, and clean the heads myself.

Course, doing so will probably invalidate your warranty, but since that doesn't matter in this case, you might want to consider it. Make sure you know what to clean before you go in, though.

 

Wise advice. I killed mine last night due to over eager cleaning. The white lines across the screen are now twice as bad!!