Tapes not capturing cleanly, clean my VCR heads?

[beachcomber]

Happy holidays to all.

My tape capturing projects are currently on hiatus due to a capturing quality issue and I'm wondering how to proceed. I have enclosed an example clip from a commercial tape (the movie Thumbelina) which shows what I am seeing when I play back tapes in my JVC VCR, which was supplied by lordsmurf.

This clip was made with the VCR hooked up directly to the capture card. No frame TBC, no ES10. Nothing in the middle.

All of the tapes I have played recently, whether commercially made or created using a camcorder at home, are exhibiting this noise / banding in VirtualDub. I do not see the noise / banding when I play back the tapes in the VCR built into my family's old Aiwa CRT TV we have hung onto.

Audio alternates between sounding normal and sounding degraded too.

I'm wondering if my VCR heads are dirty due to the playback of a crappy tape and now need to be cleaned.

Advice and guidance appreciated.

[hodgey]

That doesn't look like dirty heads to me at least. That gives constant noise and often don't affect each head equally. More like something is causing interference on the signal coming from the tape, though I don't know what it could be (it looks a bit like the sort of effect you get if you touch the head drum when playing or similar). Do you get the same if you play the tapes in the JVC but connected to the TV instead?

[dpalomaki]

A single field grab looks interesting. Mostly random looking comets of black with while tail escept at left edge of scan where agc may be involved. Might it be a static discharge?

If so, does that VCR have a anti-static device (Panasonic calls it an earth plate unit) on the spinning drum that might have become ineffective - possibly made worse by dry winter weather when static electricity is more likely?

[hodgey]

Which JVC model is it?

The anti-static brush on this and most other newer vcrs with a top-mounted drum motor (pal panasonics at least up to some point being an exception with the brush between upper/lower drum) sits under the drum motor inside the nut that the drum motor screws onto like marked on this picture:
brush.jpg

(This is a LG deck but it's very similar on the JVC and most others) It's a small spring + carbon/graphite ball thing that the spring pushes against the rotating drum. It can be a bit of a pain to take off the brass nut and clean though, and you also have to be careful to put the nut and motor back with the same angle/rotation as it was otherwise the head switching point will be at the wrong spot as the hall sensors that detect the rotation of the drum sits on the drum stator. (Additionally on JVCs adjusting it electronically requires a rare service remote unlike with other brands.) The brass nut also requires a correct size hex key to loosen/tighten if wanting to remove it for cleaning.

If it's an older vcr where the drum motor is on the bottom the earthing spring is usually a leaf spring that sits on a post either above or below the drum with a graphite bit at the end that pushes on it instead and is much easier to clean.

Putting some electronic cleaner down the hole where the spring sits may or may not be sufficient, though no idea if that's the cause here or if it's some other grounding problem.

[beachcomber]

Thanks for all of the replies, deeply appreciated!

hodgey, this VCR is a SR-V101US.

I just unplugged the VCR from its usual position next to the capture workstation, took it to a different room with a TV, plugged it in, and put Thumbelina in the deck.

The TV didn't have an S-Video hookup, so I used composite cables.

The hunch about the playback possibly being different with a TV proved well founded:

Quote:

Do you get the same if you play the tapes in the JVC but connected to the TV instead?

To my surprise, I did not get the same.

The picture is a bit blurry on the high definition plasma set and also has somewhat of a smudged look, but that is to be expected. I did use cheap composite cables to connect the TV to the VCR after all.

The noise and banding, however, are not there. I played several minutes' worth of Thumbelina and could not reproduce it.

lordsmurf, if you're around, I'm interested in your opinion, especially since this VCR comes from you!

[beachcomber]

I moved the deck back to the capture workstation but placed it farther away from any other equipment.

Thumbelina is playing again.

No random looking comets in sight so far. I'll try a few more tapes.

Should I get an electrostatic mat for the VHS deck?

[latreche34]

It is highly unlikely a VCR issue, Typical RF interference noise from surrounding equipment, Leave the VCR playing back, while the problem is happening go and unplug every device in the room one at a time and see which one eliminates the noise, Once identified move it to another room, Also make sure your power outlet is equipped with ground stud. If all fail try to connect a ground wire from the chassis of your computer to the chassis of your VCR to see if it's a ground loop issue.

[thestarswitcher]

You know what's intriguing though.. I had this same exact problem with my SR-V10U. I think I unplugged one of the ribbons going into the head and cleaned it with alcohol. I've gotten the problem at some point again, but I haven't been able to determine a cause.

[beachcomber]

Quote:

It is highly unlikely a VCR issue, Typical RF interference noise from surrounding equipment, Leave the VCR playing back, while the problem is happening go and unplug every device in the room one at a time and see which one eliminates the noise,

The room the capture workstation is in houses a lot of equipment: other computers, peripherals, printers, networking gear, and so on. It would take a long time to unplug every device in the room one at a time to ascertain what might be the source of the interference.

I just captured a tape and reviewed the results. The capture is mostly free of noise and banding but the comets are present in the last few minutes of the tape. This is with the VCR positioned a bit further away from the devices it has traditionally been adjacent to, like the HP Pavilion workstation where the footage ends up and the Panasonic ES10.

Quote:

Also make sure your power outlet is equipped with ground stud. If all fail try to connect a ground wire from the chassis of your computer to the chassis of your VCR to see if it's a ground loop issue.

Thanks for the suggestions.

The VCR is plugged into a Tripp Lite UPS, as is the computer and other nearby equipment. This particular UPS is not behind a Zero Surge power filter, although most of the other equipment in the room is.

[beachcomber]

I placed some foam padding from my stash of packaging / shipping material below and above my JVC VCR and am now playing back some tapes to see if the unwanted noise and banding appears. So far, it hasn't.

I will keep testing.