VHS-C tape wrinkled, recover damaged section?
 

Hello,

I recently had an issue while playing back an important VHS-C tape. When I ejected it from the VCR, the tape didn’t fully retract. I stopped immediately and opened the VCR to prevent further damage, but the tape already has visible wrinkles/depressions near the end of the recording. :depressed:

The tape still plays, but the wrinkled section causes noticeable distortion in both video and audio.

From what I’ve read, repairing the physical tape would require cutting and splicing, which I’d prefer to avoid for this tape.

I do have a DVD copy that I previously made using a Sony VRD-MC5 before this happened. Would that backup help in any way for recovering or patching the damaged portion?

Is there anything else I can try to minimize playback issues or improve capture quality from the damaged section? I had originally planned to capture this tape again with what I believe to be a better workflow.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

This is risky, but you can iron the tape. But the iron cannot be too hot, and must not make direct contact with the tape. This is something I'd only attempt after the full tape was digitized flawlessly to your satisfaction.

This is also why the quality of the VCR used is so extremely important.
And when VHS-C in a VCR, same for the -C adapter.
What were you using, exactly?

That does sound pretty risky. I’d definitely want to watch a few demonstrations before even considering something like that.

As for my setup, I was using:

LG RC897T
Panasonic VHS PlayPak (VHS-C adapter)

I’m starting to suspect the LG unit may be part of the issue. I picked it up at Goodwill for about $10 and mainly chose to use it because it has S-Video output.

At this point, I’m considering replacing it with a better VCR and one that won't mess up my tapes.

Ironing is an interesting concept. Heat can cause existing magnetism to be lost completely, but the Curie point (the temperature where that happens) for VHS tape is supposedly 235F which is quite a bit higher than I'd have expected. We know it'd be less than say 140-150F because you can safely bake tapes at that temperature to drive out moisture.

It would be interesting to boil a section of a test (non-important) VHS tape in plain water for a few seconds and then see if it still plays fine after it has been boiled. That'd say it's at least fine to get it up to 100C (212F) anyway.

No matter what you do, wouldn't hurt to practice with an unimportant tape, crumpling up a section and then try different straightening or splicing techniques. Splicing really won't help with recovering content, it'll just reduce the risk of damaging the heads as the rough area goes by the heads if done properly. Splicing can technically increase the risk of damage if the tape used gets caught on a head though. If it was me, I'd manually wind past the damaged section just to avoid going over it again, or if you do re-attempt, try it with a VCR that you don't really care if gets damaged by further attempts.

Also how physically long is this damaged section?

That’s actually really helpful to know. I can’t recall exactly how long the damaged section is, but it seems to be right where the VHS-C adapter mechanism grabbed the tape, so it may have created two wrinkled sections with a small gap between them.

You’ve got me thinking about trying a controlled experiment. I have a few blank VHS-C tapes I could use to intentionally damage, then test different methods to see how they affect playback quality.

One idea I had was using a curling iron with a microfiber cloth as a barrier to avoid direct contact. I also have a FLIR thermal camera, so I’d be able to monitor the temperature.

You mentioned boiling, but I wouldn’t want to boil more tape than just the damaged section.

I’m still thinking through the best approach, but if you have any suggestions on how to safely run a test like this or methods worth trying (or avoiding), I’d really appreciate the input.

Yeah, if boiling turns out to be safe, you'd just wind the damaged section out of the tape, boil only that part, then kind of wipe dry in a downward light pulling motion like with a squeegee to flatten. Other thing that could sort of affect things is whether it is "back coated." Back coated tapes have a sort of matte appearance on the one side which is the magnetic particles held on by a sort of glue/binder and are easier to damage/flake off if manipulated. If the tape is glossy on both sides, then it's not back coated, that's one less thing to worry about.

Agree you should get a full best capture you can minus that section before doing anything else so you have that at least if the process causes damage.

Other thing is that you don't want to use an induction stove for the water heating part as that has the potential to erase magnetic particles as well.

VHS witch's brew. :laugh:

Splicing risks damaging the heads if you don't do it right, too much drama around wrinkled tapes, If the damage is not severe there is nothing to worry about, the head will scan the tape just fine under tension, Just do one capture pass, Once captured don't try to play it back again.

Too much drama with everything lately. :screwy:

Idea for "Four rooms 2"! :laugh: