T-160 tapes change speed at end?
 

I have a JVC HR-S9500U VCR that has been nothing but solid for me, but as of late I've been trying to convert some T-160 tapes which have a full 2 hours 40 minutes of content at SP speed on them - they literally filled the entire tape up.

What I'm noticing is that at the very end of the tape, usually in the final 10 minutes or so, the video and audio appear to speed up. Motion gets faster and audio pitch gets higher. As if it was recorded at a lower speed than it is now being played back at. But this only occurs at the very end of the tape, and only on this particular VCR.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? I'd love to know if this is something worth trying to repair or not.

The recorder on which this was originally recorded may have struggled to turn the heavier tape as it bulked onto the take-up reel. That might have slightly slowed the recording speed. It may be that better players with stronger motors never slow down as the reel becomes heavier.

I'm saying this because it happened to me with old audio cassettes.

Without a sample it's hard to guess what the issue could be, If the picture is noisy and sound distorted then it could be a pinch roller problem for the actual VCR or the VCR that recorded it, otherwise a sample is a must to see what's going on.

I'm 80% sure it's a recording deck issue we're dealing with here. Some sort of mechanical error that caused tape to be pulled too fast, maybe an inertia issue with a heavy (more than T120) tape.

I used to get weird issues with T180 and especially T200 tapes. Aside from the lousy tape grade (Memorex T200 was awful).

Never major problems with T140/150/160.

The recording deck would have pulled too slow. It appears fast because the playing deck is transporting the tape at normal speed.

That's what I meant. :smack: :o

You should see me trying to cut quarter rounds for baseboards!

Remember: if you cut it too short, just use a board stretcher. (Joke I heard on a DIY show once, and the guy believed it! :laugh:)

Also: "Measure once, cut twice."

Yes but video tape is not like audio tape, any change of speed will lead to tracking issues therefore the picture will never look stable, That's why I asked for a sample.