Hi Folks,

We recently found a VHS video of a friend’s scumbag parent getting kicked out of the house back in the 90s. We really want to digitize this video, but I can barely get it to play. The two VCRs I’ve tried keep having issues and trying to chew the tape or just stop and turn off. I wonder if the reels are too hard to move. We know the video is on there because we watched it a few days ago and it was decent save some typical VHS fuzzies and the occasional drop out of the picture.

If it would play, I would just use an adaptor and capture the VCR output. What I need is some advanced data recovery.

Is there a service out there that can directly scan and digitize the ribbon itself or recover a cassette that hasn’t weathered the years so well? I’m happy to pay for this service, but I’m looking a skilled service that isn’t just going to do what I tried to do, but can actually deliver results in a difficult case.

Can anyone be my hero and help me understand what I’m looking for and maybe help me find a service? Colorado local is great, but mail order is acceptable.

I do have at least 2 more VCRs I could try, but I don’t want to do damage.

  • BCsven
    1·
    4 days ago

    You probably just need a better player. Its rarely the tape at fault. If you can’t find one advertised on marketplace or Craigslist there are people that offer the service. If you do it yourself you will need a composite or rgb video to USB device so you can run the feed into your PC. They are pretty cheap on amazon, and cheaper on aliwxpress. I did my kids videos this way. The output is actually very clear since the VHS has better output that what the CRT screens displayed at the time.

  • Zanathos@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 days ago

    Have you tried adjusting the heads on the VCR units you have? It’s pretty easy to do, catch a quick YouTube of it. Just requires removing the chassis and a flathead screw driver.

    I’d also suggest trying to rwind the tape by hand if a particular part of it is "bad"and try playing it from the start.

    Last ditch effort, cut the tape to get rid of the bad section and splice the good sections together with a small dab of super glue. It binge within seconds and it’s playable after a minute or two. I’ve recently done this for two tapes of my own with advice of a colleague who’s also done it and it works flawlessly.