I've recently taken to digitizing my dad's massive library of VHS recordings -- an impossible feat until recently because even DVD-Rs would take up too much room if I converted them all. It's only now, that you can get 2TB hard drives that fit in your hand, that the task has become practical.
When I got to some material from 1988 I was surprised to find they were taped hi-fi and in stereo -- I've never found a tape that was recorded in stereo this early.
My problem is, when I got to the 1990s I ran into a problem: there's this buzzing distortion on the sound. It gets worse if the tracking is really bad. I uploaded a sample of what I'm talking about here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Xk0BIbB1c
It is least noticable with the crowd at the beginning and most noticable when Carvey speaks. I don't think the problem is permanent -- if I adjust said tracking there's a small spot where the buzzing disappears, but then it comes through in mono, muffled sound (and also, there's a big noise bar in the middle of the screen). Is there something better I can do to get rid of the distortion and the buzzing?
Oh, and it's not the VCR. The tapes from 1988 sound perfect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUWnboT-WZo