r/VCRs

I've connected my RCA cables to my TV, yet nothing plays. Have I connected them to the wrong ports? Please help me

Hi! I’m trying to watch old tapes but I’m not sure what I’m doing. I’ve got a Toshiba vhs w415 and a sceptre tv? Can anyone help me with the cords and plug ins? Thank you !

Hey all,
I posted previously about playback issues on this deck and I’ve done a lot more troubleshooting since then.
At this point I’m pretty confident the problem is related to back tension on the supply side, specifically the tension arm / felt brake.
Symptoms:
Squealing noise during playback (worse in fast reverse, almost constant there)
Picture is unstable in normal play
Picture is stable in FF/REW scan
After cleaning, playback improved slightly but not fully

What I’ve done so far:
Cleaned video heads (properly, not a cleaning tape)
Cleaned tape path
Identified the supply-side tension arm as the noise source
The felt brake was black/glazed, I cleaned it with 99% IPA
It’s now back to a lighter/white-ish color
Pulled a lot of oxide off (swabs were coming off very black)
Rubber Renue applied to the pinch roller (brought back grip)
Oiled capstan

Current behavior:
Squeal is reduced but still present
Still consistently squeals in fast reverse
Playback is only slightly improved
My current theory:
It seems like the tension arm is applying too much or uneven back tension, possibly because:
Felt brake is worn/glazed beyond recovery
Or pivot/spring isn’t behaving smoothly

Questions:
Is this consistent with a worn tension arm felt brake?
Can the felt be restored further, or is replacement the only real fix?
Would improper back tension alone cause unstable playback like this?
Anything else I should check on the supply side?

Very proud of this!! If not allowed feel free to remove

Belt for the tray was stretched so i replaced it. Other belt was in good shape with good tension so i just cleaned it. Cleaned all belt rollers as well. Idle tire cleaned, mode selector switch cleaned (both sides). Reset to correct position and aligned with the post and hole. Gears checked for seizures and then cleaned and lubricated. Video head cleaned. It had one other issue which was loud clicking after the tape was fully ejected but that went away right after cleaning the mode switch. What the hell is left? Of course i end up with the one that has no fix.

Hey there! I found this Sharp TVCR combo and I’m trying to troubleshoot the VCR. It was left outside (I’m not sure how long) and spiders had made it their sanctuary.

I’ll start off with a few known problems - tapes rarely get all the way seated on their own, I have to flip up the dust cover myself in order for the loading tray to go all the way down. The heads are very dirty, as well as the rest of the VCR. Regardless, most of the mechanisms perform just fine, except for the reel motor? it seems that both the loading motor and the reel motor struggle and are too weak to do their jobs (strangely enough, it ejects tapes just fine on its own).

Any advice on where to clean/what to do would be greatly appreciate. Thanks in advance for your help!

Im jung, and never grew up with vhs. Only with flatscreens and dvds. But i found some tapes on the streets and 2 from my mom. I bought an s-Vhs player. Is it good? And any recommendation what i should do with it?

I have a pioneer combo VCR and DVD player that worked fine until today. Now for both tapes and dvd’s, the picture is completely distorted, but the audio works. It’s not the tv because I tried a different player and that one worked fine

I have owned this TV for 3 years, and the VCR never worked. I decided to try to fix it, but all it does it eat tapes. I also accidentally broke the power button (not the one on the PCB, fortunately) by pressing on it too hard when I plugged in a Nintendo 64 instead of the TV. I do have a remote to turn on the TV, but I'm not sure how if I can or should fix the power button or VCR. Thoughts?

Works great otherwise, but I'm worried that the tape might fall out if it goes on like this

Also the VCR on the bottom is my old unit which I got a few months ago, worked fine until the signal started dropping out frequently, I'll use it as a unit to clean or test newly acquired video tapes but I'm gonna mainly use it as a DVD player until I get a PS2 or better DVD player

Model: JVC HR-S7800U

During playback the video signal is distorted majorly.

Audio is fine throughout.

During FF/REW/PAUSE i’m able to see the video signal perfectly fine.

During REW, the unit scream loud.

Video output is the same on S-Video and Yellow analog.

I tried multiple tapes that play fine in a working deck.

I did clean the heads with a foam swab and 99 IPA

I’m guessing the capstan is dry resulting in the screaming rewind.

The pinch roller feels smooth, not tacky and kinda glazed?

Any ideas?

Hi everybody. Pretty much what the title says. I have exchanged the belts, the motors give movement where they have to.

I have the suspicion that this moving spindle (I have no idea how it is actually called) that is responsible for ff and rew does not have/givd enough traction.

This is a Blaupunkt RTV-317 EGC.

Any ideas?

I don’t know if any people except me have this Unit, and idk where to find the remote. My VCR is working perfectly (without remote)

So I found this old Quasar VCR that my family had stored for quite sometime so I just decided to test it everything went fine, except for two instances where the VCR swallowed the tape, but I just ejected, took it out and rewound the tape and it played to the very end, so I rewound the tape with the vcr, played it again but when I pressed stop (this function was also working just fine) it turned off, so every time I turn it on it makes a noise as if it's wounding/tensing the tape and turns off again... and now the VHS is stuck inside the VCR, I can't seem to find the mechanism that ejects the tape nor do I now wich screws actually ,to take off in order to acces the mode switch that could be the root cause of this, but yeah first I need to get the VHS out... Any suggestions? Can any of you guys see where the ejection mechanism is? (Yeah I gotta get rid of those years of dust).

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