Videocassettes: Their Use, Care, and the Quirks of Their Brands

[trekkiedane]

^I've heard of institutions where they glue ipads to doors in order to easily change the title of what's going on in there; room #003 pre-natal class, room #007 cooking with bigfoot, room #243 first aid...

Why not use a cheaper technology

 

[Bill Morris]

^So, you would have a video tape screwed to a wall with a Star Trek sticker on it?? I don't get it. Got a pic?

No, there's a black plastic panel that you can remove, 2" x 4" with nice texture and rounded corners. And it has one hole already neatly drilled that you can use to mount it, perhaps above a light switch. If you paste on a printout of some LCARS buttons, it looks like something you would see on a starship. Looking at a VHS videocassette, you may not notice it, because there's usually a sticker hiding it. But the sticker can be removed, revealing the one screw that secures it to the videocassette. If you remove that screw and the panel, the panel can be turned into a small Trek prop with very little effort.

The photo below shows a blank white label in the center. The panel is the size of that label and just below it. If you can't easily find some LCARS buttons, you can copy my avatar and print that out.

 

[Bartholomew Diogenes]

1. Mildew (cont.). Individual posts not yet addressed will be soon, I promise, but I want to write generically to prompt further help and to think out loud. I directed this here because I reckoned you members might have cleaned videos, but if not I speak to those who have cleaned mildew anywhere. I have done so (elsewhere than my present quarters where I've run the a-c more) on refrigerator seals, the refrigerator outside, walls, the kitchen sink surface, tall cardboard boxes, and wood furniture, to name off the top of my head, but not always the same whitish mildew as on the cassettes. Here are the tasks I face:
i. Check the labels of the four oldest TDK's and the "starter" (mildewed) for certain recordings and add to my master list (from which they were omitted due to the mildew). If found, trouble, because they would have to be viewed first but they needn't be addressed first. They would be viewed on the EHG TDK's sent me by TDK so those unlabeled ones would be matched with the HS's. Anything on the starter would be a problem because I recall it's riveted, but I have scattered the mildew.
ii. If no mildew on EHG TDK's from TDK, I can watch them, but I expect mildew. I did not seal them immediately upon receipt.
iii. Next would be my second TDK 4-pack, which should have certain programs. But after checking, I shall put those aside, tactically, since they have full scattered mildew. Their content can be added to master list.
iv. Look in vertical, suitcase-shaped cardboard box at cassettes from list which I don't currently play. I expect any of the other six EHG TDK's donated to me to be mildewed, but not others. If others are, trouble, and I WILL HAVE TO SEAL ALL CASSETTES I DON'T REGULARLY PLAY and junk box. This would be infuriating.
v. If boxed tapes are okay, here's my worst fear. Besides TDK, I bought two other brands. Not mentioned in my opener is that the oldest cassette of one of those two, which was given me, has one tiny mildew spot, which has not gotten worse in two years or so, and holds great shows but not the certain programs of immediate concern.
vi. Tape spools are housed in clear-plastic, circular compartmentalizers or holders WITHIN THEIR VIDEOCASSETTES. One can't just open a cassette and have at the side of a spool. If I can't dislodge the spools, I can't clean their sides. There was mention of opening cassettes on one site, but I can't find that quickly. Please advise on that. I have isopropyl swabs and isopropyl. No Q-tips or lens fabric.
One correspondent suggested this site, but it's drastic:
www.videointerchange.com/video_recovery.htm
I searched via metacrawler and found this, putting videocassette before mildew:
www.answerbag.com/q_view/42027
Note the two posts by JRKaru on Aug. 31, 2008.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Bartholomew, check out this site: http://www.mvipro.com/tapecleaner.html#
The machine is $64.95 which is expensive but it might be worth it to you. I saved a bunch of my tapes with this machine when my house flooded a long time ago. If you use the machine you won't have to open the tapes with the rivets.

 

[Samurai8472]

I have one final VHS in the house. I think it's the last remnants of a trip to Asia I went to.

I lost the DVD transfer so I was hoping it the VHS would be the original. It's has no label either and we don't have a video tape player anymore.

 

[Bartholomew Diogenes]

1. Mildew (cont.). Let's try this once more. Let me zero in on where I sit in my work. I need a detailed diagram of a (VHS) videocassette and further advice. (The links below will be denoted by letters).
a http://www.ehow.com/how_4466465_fix-vhs-tapes-damaged-water.html
b http://www.ehow.com/how_4464279_repair-broken-vhs-video-tape.html
c http://www.inspectmygadget.com/2008/01/23how-to-repair-a-vhs-tape/
d http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VHSTapeOpen.jpg
e http://en.wikipedia.org/VHS#Cassette_and_tape_design
f http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VHS_diagram.svg
Link a confirms one may separate the clear-plastic reels from the spools of tape and speaks of a clamp that must be removed (see paragraphs 3 and 5), but doing this without greater specifics will be hard. Links b and c provide supplementary info and note in c the Sep. 14, 2008 comment by J.C. Franke about how to open the cassette to keep the parts in place, although link a refers to removing clamp from back, not front (?). Link d is a Wikipedia article from which links e and f are a photo and general routing (not parts) diagram, both of which may be enlarged via an icon in said article as I did for their individual links. The photo shows an opening in the reel near its center and through that opening one can see a white-plastic piece appearing to be a switch that one may move sideways. Another link, not cited, shows a different-brand cassette with a similar setup, closer to what I have. I just checked the first cassette I wish to clean, and I see in the spot discussed a structure in the shape of a four-pointed crown with the bottom of the crown along the round, circular, central axle of a spool. What I do to that structure is the question. That's all I know.
_ _ _ _If you are cynical and believe I posted this massive thread just to get repair advice, you are wrong. I could've gotten that quicker and easier. No, I posted to share ideas with fellow users because I love recording, AND I happened to have two repair questions, one urgent, so I front-loaded those in my table of contents. Some of the later subtopics comprise data which may only be found through sharing. So far I am somewhat underwhelmed by the response, although considerable views have been tallied. While few might have encountered mildew, not all of you are too young for videocassettes or have amnesia, so some have opened a cassette and maybe fooled with it. I have a few on which to practice, a tiny screwdriver, and a sturdy pen with a fine point. If no one can help, I shall call people in the industry. As promised, I will reply to posts individually as soon as I have begun actual cleaning.

 

[Amaris]

1. Mildew (cont.). Let's try this once more. Let me zero in on where I sit in my work. I need a detailed diagram of a (VHS) videocassette and further advice. (The links below will be denoted by letters).
a http://www.ehow.com/how_4466465_fix-vhs-tapes-damaged-water.html
b http://www.ehow.com/how_4464279_repair-broken-vhs-video-tape.html
c http://www.inspectmygadget.com/2008/01/23how-to-repair-a-vhs-tape/
d http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VHSTapeOpen.jpg
e http://en.wikipedia.org/VHS#Cassette_and_tape_design
f http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VHS_diagram.svg
Link a confirms one may separate the clear-plastic reels from the spools of tape and speaks of a clamp that must be removed (see paragraphs 3 and 5), but doing this without greater specifics will be hard. Links b and c provide supplementary info and note in c the Sep. 14, 2008 comment by J.C. Franke about how to open the cassette to keep the parts in place, although link a refers to removing clamp from back, not front (?). Link d is a Wikipedia article from which links e and f are a photo and general routing (not parts) diagram, both of which may be enlarged via an icon in said article as I did for their individual links. The photo shows an opening in the reel near its center and through that opening one can see a white-plastic piece appearing to be a switch that one may move sideways. Another link, not cited, shows a different-brand cassette with a similar setup, closer to what I have. I just checked the first cassette I wish to clean, and I see in the spot discussed a structure in the shape of a four-pointed crown with the bottom of the crown along the round, circular, central axle of a spool. What I do to that structure is the question. That's all I know.
_ _ _ _If you are cynical and believe I posted this massive thread just to get repair advice, you are wrong. I could've gotten that quicker and easier. No, I posted to share ideas with fellow users because I love recording, AND I happened to have two repair questions, one urgent, so I front-loaded those in my table of contents. Some of the later subtopics comprise data which may only be found through sharing. So far I am somewhat underwhelmed by the response, although considerable views have been tallied. While few might have encountered mildew, not all of you are too young for videocassettes or have amnesia, so some have opened a cassette and maybe fooled with it. I have a few on which to practice, a tiny screwdriver, and a sturdy pen with a fine point. If no one can help, I shall call people in the industry. As promised, I will reply to posts individually as soon as I have begun actual cleaning.

I enjoy videocassettes and was sad to see them go as DVD took center stage in the ever constant media format war. That being said, welcome to the erraticism that is humanity, where discussions tend not to go exactly as expected. Condescension won't do you any favors either.

 

[publiusr]

I still have cassette tapes and don't have the time or money to transfer myself. I prefer the feel of a music cassette to prying to prize a CD out of its holding just knowing that I am going to break it or smear it. With a cassete you just shoved it it with a little force and it felt less fragile, even if the tape actually was more fragile.

 

[Amaris]

I still have cassette tapes and don't have the time or money to transfer myself. I prefer the feel of a music cassette to prying to prize a CD out of its holding just knowing that I am going to break it or smear it. With a cassete you just shoved it it with a little force and it felt less fragile, even if the tape actually was more fragile.

Audio cassettes had some upsides, but they had their major downsides, too. The audio quality was subpar, the case could warp easily (at least in a car cassette deck), a cassette player could eat the tape without warning, the audio tape was affected by the physicality of the heads and could be slower or faster than the actual tempo of the song, the quality of the audio on the tape was reduced, incrementally, every time you played it, you couldn't fit as many songs on a cassette as you could a CD or a record, and until much later when cassette decks became more intelligent, it was a pain in the butt to fast forward and rewind right to your favorite song.

 

[milo bloom]

I still have some tapes left, mainly the original versions of the SW trilogy. But I also have a home recording of an old tape that I believe has a copy of Macross Do You Remember Love? on it. I tried to play it, and it appears that tape simply came off the spool. One of these days I'm going to try to attempt to fix it, maybe I'll post my results here for others to learn from.

 

[ngc7293]

I have had different VHS players over the years (top load and front load) I knew a friend who spent about $400 on one of his and the most I spent was about $80. I used mine to record Xena, X-files and what ever else was on when I was out. It was much later that I realized that I probably only needed a few tapes because I recorded to watch a show not to keep it. That is what I do now. I have used one tape that has seen at least three years worth of shows on it (Memorex). When the tape degrades I will throw that one out and grab one of the others and tape over that one.

I've tried the VCR to DVD with my Mac but the quality just wasn't there. I think what I need is one of those machines that does straight one to the other.

 

[publiusr]

Perhaps Casette/8-track sized thumb drives for the feel--the Haptics. Something very like the cassetes we saw Spock use in the original series. Something that was just a slab, no circuitry and no moving parts. No disk to deface--just a hard surface you could insert any old way as you would a clip.