Hi,

I had intermittent issues with some tapes showing as "S-VHS ET" as I moved through my piles of old tapes.
(also some had issues with the stereo track "clicking" but that's for another thread).

I actually posted on this recently as I was seeing more of them, now ALL tapes are showing as this, so it looks like a VCR issue. Some don't show the S-VHS ET flag, but are behaving the same.
I bought an unopened copy of Friends to use as my test tape, and even this won't play now.

Obvious thing to do will be to clean the heads, I will do this. However I don't think dirty heads could do this?

One thing I can say is that the issue seem to be that the machine is running too slow.. if that makes sense. like the friends audio comes through and is clearly playing too slow. Is there something I can check for this when I have the machine open?

Any help appreciated.

-- merged --

Dirty heads, cleaned them and poof, like new again!

I suppose this is going to happen when you've gone through 20+ VHS tapes that have been in an attic for over 20 years.

Thanks for the update.

Just remember: cleaning heads is NOT a fix-all for VCRs. But in situations exactly like this, that is a correct fix.

Also be careful, follow guide at this site for cleaning.
NEVER USE Q-TIPS! And never follow guides written by idiots that use cotton swabs! That damaged VCRs!!!
I mention the every time we talk about cleaning heads on this site.