Yup just blown all the dust all over the clean ( and possibly still very slightly damp depending how quick the isopropyl is evaporating) heads 😂 there no point blowing dust around anyway on the whole, best to remove it if you are going to bother at all.
2022 and this video saved my VCR's life...I was about to throw it away, thought it just didn't work....it turns out it just needed a good cleaning...now it works and looks like new (cleaned the inside...after it started working...I cleaned the outside 😁)...hope this video keeps helping people in the future...thank you 🙂
Wonderful video. We were really frustrated when our VCR suddenly stopped showing our treasured family videos (we heard sound only). I even tossed the machine into the trash. But then I fished it out and followed your advice, and now everything is back to normal, after about 10 minutes of light effort. This is a big relief, especially since the only VCR's that I see for sale now are used. Thank you! For those who are interested in more detail, first I did the dusting with a high-powered electric tool that blows compressed air, but that didn't help. Then I cleaned the shiny wheel inside the VCR (the head) by gently pressing some folded-up paper (which I had partially saturated with alcohol) against the side of the wheel and turning the wheel by hand. I did this a couple of times, refreshing the alcohol and making sure to clean the entire outer surface of the wheel wherever it comes into contact with the tape. I did not bother to clean anything else. The difference in the video on the screen was immediate, and the quality was just as it had been before this malfunction occurred.
What type of alcohol? My other problem is how to digitalize. My Philips 3455H stopped working and my USB capture quality is pretty bad, but the worst part is choosing the output format 🤦🏻
Wonderful video. Only different thing I do is to simply tear a small peice of a clean sheet of paper and keep it one layer of paper... as I turn the drum I can feel under my finger the head passing there... sometimes I do apply a drop of alcohol with the tip of a cotton swab on the piece of paper but I make sure not to wet it too much to the point it will catch and tear on the head. Also, don't forget not to move the paper, only spin the drum and move the paper by taking it off and applying it a bit away on a clean part and repeat the turning process until the drum doesn't leave any residue on the paper. It can sometimes take a few piece of paper on very dirty drums... and remember that drums get dirty because of defective tapes where the binder that sticks the oxide particles to the tape base got defective with the years and the tape is dropping all of its oxide on the head. some tapes aged well as some other didn't. Some tapes are so bad that ripping them is a process where you must keep a piece of paper slightly applied on the rear of the drum while playing it so you can grab the footage... some jobs need more skills than other!
Wow. This really helped! I was about to buy a new VCR but thought I would try and see if this would do any good. I did! Simple instructions clear advice. Thanks.
Omg... I have like 7 vcrs because i keep going to goodwill everytime they stop working... This will at least fix a few if not all of them. Thank you so much!
I just got the same exact vhs player I bought at a thrift store. I kept putting my cleaning tape in over and over and it just wouldn't clean it which made me worried it was broke. But I watched this and it worked perfectly. Thanks man!
Hi low , thanks for this video , I have tried to clean my vcrs this way , and never had any success , and ended up throwing away many vcr machines , but what surprised me about this video was the fact of just using a plain piece of paper instead of using things like q tips , cotton , etc , and using paper makes so much more sense , also it is obvious from watching this process that wet type cleaning tapes could not possibly clean the tape head nearly as well at all , I have tried wet and dry cleaning tapes and they never worked , I don’t know why , I have watched dozens of videos on cleaning vcrs , and not one of them used such a simple thing as a plain piece of paper in the process ! Wow
I'm going to try this tonight. I have a Panasonic that was manufactured in 2004 that operates great but the picture is very grainy. Hoping this will fix the problem.
this is exactly what i do as well but may I point out you should use the caned air or whatever you are using before you clean the pins and heads. your just blowing dust around everything you already cleaned. other than that this is the best way to clean a VCR or old video camera.
I replaced the Soft Material with a clean strip of white Paper, carefully rolled on top , on my VCR's built in Head Cleaner...can you believe that for almost a year, I never got the need to open & clean the Video Head???
Interesting, I will try this one day when my wife is at work; she thinks old stuff is for the bin. ...My issue is a very light drizzle like grain, peppered all over the screen and not knowing for sure if it's something inherent in the VCR / SCART connection (I'm in the UK), and now realising that it may be dirt.
I'm surprised that neither you nor any of the commenters mentioned about foam-tipped Q-tips which are made specifically for this type of cleaning. They're readily available and cheap on Amazon.
Dammit ! I tried this and am so thankful for the tips but it still isn’t working 😫 im so sad. Home videos of family from when i was a kid (30+ years ago.) I can hear sound perfectly but can’t see anything still. We cleaned the spool thing but it wasn’t dirty at all.. thoughts?? Thank u!
i get a black screen flicker, otherwise the image is perfectly crisp. the flicker isn't consistent. sometimes there won't be a flicker on the same part i had it before.
Thank you for sharing! I was wondering can sanitiser work as rubbing alcohol? I have 70% alcohol sanitiser in my home. Also, once I bought a vhs tape home from the 2nd hand store and it had mould on the actual tape spool. Is there a way to clean vhs tapes? I did throw it out as it wasn't going to be playable. Thanks!
already clean the head few times,but when put tape for play it will play few seconds and then no more picture only showing- problem head status-,what to do?
Look. You probebly wont answer (2 years later might I add!), but by VCR/DVD combo keeps shutting off when inserting ANY type of VHS. And after turning it on, it spits the tape back out. Same goes when selecting DvD and letting a DVD play, that when you insert a tape, it shuts off and spits the tape out when turned back on. Should i clean the head or see if its broken (Aka replace it)
Great video but as someone who's used cue tips w alcohol for cleaning multiple vcrs que tips will NOT damage a quality vcr head such as a Sony. Maybe other brands but Sonys always work better when I use que tips. I'd be afraid to use paper that sounds like it would damage it more but 🤷♂️
So it’s not really broken it has to do with the heads being dirty just need to find a screwdriver to fix my damn vcr. I can figure it out myself without paying money at a repair shop.
Thank you thank you thank you! We want to send some VCR tapes to Legacy to be copied onto a DVD format. But we want to be sure that the content on the 20 + yrs old VCR tapes is viewable before I pay for it. Fingers crossed!
You are welcome! I recommend doing the transfer yourself to avoid any problems like a missing tape. There are machines available that make this very simple.
@@Spencertified i don’t recommend legacy box it’s a whole big scam and they say they have professionals and good machines and it’s not true they even thought that the micro mv tape was a micro cassette
I cleaned the head with paper and 99% rubbing alcohol but the paper continually is dirty and the dirt is not diminishing. I don't know if this is a good or bad sign or what I should do.
I followed your guide when cleaning the heads of my two Philips VHS players. The sound is good but the picture is still only black and white fuzzing. I have clean the heads a lot of times now. What could be wrong? In my process there is like I have to clean the vhs for every vhs tape I try. Then if I put in an already tried vhs tape there is no picture again. And so is the process for both of these Philips vhs players. I have noticed the picture can be seen when you fast forward with picture, not else. Any thoughts?
Hi, thanks for such an informative and easy to follow video. I noticed you are missing the small sponge pad from the built in head cleaning thing (the white plastic spool next to the head). Does that make the vcr unplayable? Or is it disengaged? Do you have any recommendations on what to replace it with?
Can I just ask, right after you clean the VCR and everything one minute. Does the machine have a hard time playing a tape when you put one in the next minute?
@ambradarian6160 If you have children in the house, they might have stored a toy in there. Check the inside for obstructions. If you don't see anything, it is probably a bad loading belt or gear.
Does anyone know if this would work on RCA TV? I’m starting to get snowy imaging on my vhs tape. Audio comes thru but no video. I’m a little scared to pull apart the tv & clean it this way
IDK it happens to me. When I put the tape in and I press play for at least 15 seconds and it turns off by itself and it keeps ejecting. I was having issue.
Try tape in another VCR, I just did that and even though the tape is damaged the 2nd VCR continues playing it, while the 1st one stops itself and turns off/eject video cassette
Dont use that paper.... Use soft kitchen paper with isopropyl alcool 100%. Rotate the drum clock wise with the paper wet in isopropyl alcool and you will be fine
You will damage the heads if you use anything besides paper. We clean the heads of 10 VCRs everyday and found that paper is the best. You may clean them however you like, but paper is the best.
Probably a good idea to do the dusting first, then the cleaning.
??????
@@TiagoEliasu Use the can of air to spray out all of the dust first.
That's what I would have done!
Yup just blown all the dust all over the clean ( and possibly still very slightly damp depending how quick the isopropyl is evaporating) heads 😂 there no point blowing dust around anyway on the whole, best to remove it if you are going to bother at all.
2022 and this video saved my VCR's life...I was about to throw it away, thought it just didn't work....it turns out it just needed a good cleaning...now it works and looks like new (cleaned the inside...after it started working...I cleaned the outside 😁)...hope this video keeps helping people in the future...thank you 🙂
Wonderful video. We were really frustrated when our VCR suddenly stopped showing our treasured family videos (we heard sound only). I even tossed the machine into the trash. But then I fished it out and followed your advice, and now everything is back to normal, after about 10 minutes of light effort. This is a big relief, especially since the only VCR's that I see for sale now are used. Thank you!
For those who are interested in more detail, first I did the dusting with a high-powered electric tool that blows compressed air, but that didn't help. Then I cleaned the shiny wheel inside the VCR (the head) by gently pressing some folded-up paper (which I had partially saturated with alcohol) against the side of the wheel and turning the wheel by hand. I did this a couple of times, refreshing the alcohol and making sure to clean the entire outer surface of the wheel wherever it comes into contact with the tape. I did not bother to clean anything else. The difference in the video on the screen was immediate, and the quality was just as it had been before this malfunction occurred.
Great review, thanks!
What type of alcohol?
My other problem is how to digitalize. My Philips 3455H stopped working and my USB capture quality is pretty bad, but the worst part is choosing the output format 🤦🏻
Thanks for the tip about using paper instead of Q-tips, it worked like a charm and saved me a GREAT deal of aggreviation
Went from no video, to back in business. Amazing vid!
Appreciate it!
Thank you! My VCR had no display whatsoever. After your cleaning tips, it's now working perfectly.
Wonderful video. Only different thing I do is to simply tear a small peice of a clean sheet of paper and keep it one layer of paper... as I turn the drum I can feel under my finger the head passing there... sometimes I do apply a drop of alcohol with the tip of a cotton swab on the piece of paper but I make sure not to wet it too much to the point it will catch and tear on the head. Also, don't forget not to move the paper, only spin the drum and move the paper by taking it off and applying it a bit away on a clean part and repeat the turning process until the drum doesn't leave any residue on the paper. It can sometimes take a few piece of paper on very dirty drums... and remember that drums get dirty because of defective tapes where the binder that sticks the oxide particles to the tape base got defective with the years and the tape is dropping all of its oxide on the head. some tapes aged well as some other didn't. Some tapes are so bad that ripping them is a process where you must keep a piece of paper slightly applied on the rear of the drum while playing it so you can grab the footage... some jobs need more skills than other!
Using paper versus a cotton swab was a valuable tip. Very well done, thank you
Wow. This really helped! I was about to buy a new VCR but thought I would try and see if this would do any good. I did! Simple instructions clear advice. Thanks.
Do you know if this method will remove mold from a VCR if a moldy tape was played?
@@michaelarojasMold? You mean rust.
Omg... I have like 7 vcrs because i keep going to goodwill everytime they stop working... This will at least fix a few if not all of them. Thank you so much!
I just got the same exact vhs player I bought at a thrift store. I kept putting my cleaning tape in over and over and it just wouldn't clean it which made me worried it was broke. But I watched this and it worked perfectly. Thanks man!
Thank you for saving my old VCR! The picture suddenly turned to snow, heard audio only. But a good cleaning put it back in the game.
Hi low , thanks for this video , I have tried to clean my vcrs this way , and never had any success , and ended up throwing away many vcr machines , but what surprised me about this video was the fact of just using a plain piece of paper instead of using things like q tips , cotton , etc , and using paper makes so much more sense , also it is obvious from watching this process that wet type cleaning tapes could not possibly clean the tape head nearly as well at all , I have tried wet and dry cleaning tapes and they never worked , I don’t know why , I have watched dozens of videos on cleaning vcrs , and not one of them used such a simple thing as a plain piece of paper in the process ! Wow
After 5 minutes and 46 seconds, you fixed my squeaking VCR 👍🏻
Excellent! So simple. I had thought an old tape wrecked my VCR, but now it's working normally.
That's great!
Very good explanation and video. Thank you so much. Important tip I learnt is to put put pressure while cleaning head!😃
Great video everything proven vhs tapes don't stop playing at all it's the people who is the problem
cleaned dozens of vcrs this way good video
Thanks 👍
I'm going to try this tonight. I have a Panasonic that was manufactured in 2004 that operates great but the picture is very grainy. Hoping this will fix the problem.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH,YOU HELPED US SO MUCH ..
NOW I M WATCHING SCOOBY DOO WITH MY LITTLE CHILDREN FROM AN OLD VHS OF MY CHILDHOOD.
I used plain paper and omg it was fixed. Thank you so much
this is exactly what i do as well but may I point out you should use the caned air or whatever you are using before you clean the pins and heads. your just blowing dust around everything you already cleaned. other than that this is the best way to clean a VCR or old video camera.
Amazing , simple and straight to the point . Thank you !
i took it to Lightning Fast VCR Repair, those hack frauds still didnt fix it in almost 10 years now
Dem Sums of Beeches.
thanks
You're welcome!
worked like a dream, thanks dude!
Excellent explanation and how to with an older electronic. Thank you.
This is amazing! I didn’t think it would work but I finally I tried it as a last ditch effort and it’s playing video again! Thank you!
Excellent tutorial - straight to the point. Many thanks.
Worked great. A big thankyou 👍
Great to hear!
Brilliant I have the very same video recorder
I replaced the Soft Material with a clean strip of white Paper, carefully rolled on top , on my VCR's built in Head Cleaner...can you believe that for almost a year, I never got the need to open & clean the Video Head???
Thanks so much for this video. Helped me a lot.
Thank you so much man it works like a charm!! i couldn’t hear my surround sound audio on my vcr after the cleen i heard it perfectly!!!
Interesting, I will try this one day when my wife is at work; she thinks old stuff is for the bin. ...My issue is a very light drizzle like grain, peppered all over the screen and not knowing for sure if it's something inherent in the VCR / SCART connection (I'm in the UK), and now realising that it may be dirt.
THANK YOU SO SO VERY MUCH! PAPER WORKED MIRACLES!
Hi friend I was cleaning my video and turned it upside down as some paper was stuck and I don't know we're the rubber parts go . What will I do
Thank you! It worked!
simple and amazing, thank you!!!
I'm surprised that neither you nor any of the commenters mentioned about foam-tipped Q-tips which are made specifically for this type of cleaning. They're readily available and cheap on Amazon.
3:04
does it work on a vcr that have sound but not picture?
It would be best to clean the audio head and the erase head with a Q-tip, paper could probably mess it up (obviously don't use a Q-tip on a VCR head)
Dammit ! I tried this and am so thankful for the tips but it still isn’t working 😫 im so sad. Home videos of family from when i was a kid (30+ years ago.) I can hear sound perfectly but can’t see anything still. We cleaned the spool thing but it wasn’t dirty at all.. thoughts?? Thank u!
Is it a good idea to touch the heads with a metal screwdriver, like you did?
Thanks it worked for me
i get a black screen flicker, otherwise the image is perfectly crisp. the flicker isn't consistent. sometimes there won't be a flicker on the same part i had it before.
This fixed my issue!!! Gonna definitely burn my tape to dvd in the meantime
Hot damn that worked! Thank you so much!
I have no picture and no audio. After cleaning I still have the same issue. Just static. Is it a lost cause? This thing was working yesterday
Thank you for sharing! I was wondering can sanitiser work as rubbing alcohol? I have 70% alcohol sanitiser in my home.
Also, once I bought a vhs tape home from the 2nd hand store and it had mould on the actual tape spool. Is there a way to clean vhs tapes? I did throw it out as it wasn't going to be playable. Thanks!
already clean the head few times,but when put tape for play it will play few seconds and then no more picture only showing- problem head status-,what to do?
Look. You probebly wont answer (2 years later might I add!), but by VCR/DVD combo keeps shutting off when inserting ANY type of VHS. And after turning it on, it spits the tape back out. Same goes when selecting DvD and letting a DVD play, that when you insert a tape, it shuts off and spits the tape out when turned back on. Should i clean the head or see if its broken (Aka replace it)
Great instructions! Thank You!
Trying this now, thank you!
Great video but as someone who's used cue tips w alcohol for cleaning multiple vcrs que tips will NOT damage a quality vcr head such as a Sony. Maybe other brands but Sonys always work better when I use que tips. I'd be afraid to use paper that sounds like it would damage it more but 🤷♂️
Thoughts? I'm curious
Use vcr addicts need to stick together subbed ya
Thank you this helped a ton, holy shit
So it’s not really broken it has to do with the heads being dirty just need to find a screwdriver to fix my damn vcr. I can figure it out myself without paying money at a repair shop.
How about a Quasar video player with a screen.
Thank you thank you thank you! We want to send some VCR tapes to Legacy to be copied onto a DVD format. But we want to be sure that the content on the 20 + yrs old VCR tapes is viewable before I pay for it. Fingers crossed!
You are welcome! I recommend doing the transfer yourself to avoid any problems like a missing tape. There are machines available that make this very simple.
@@Spencertified i don’t recommend legacy box it’s a whole big scam and they say they have professionals and good machines and it’s not true they even thought that the micro mv tape was a micro cassette
I cleaned the head with paper and 99% rubbing alcohol but the paper continually is dirty and the dirt is not diminishing. I don't know if this is a good or bad sign or what I should do.
You just need to keep going. Sometimes it takes a while.
YES. Thank you.
Wouldn’t you have blown dust on the newly cleaned heads?
How to stop a vcr for blink
I did that crap to before the vhs cleaner tape came out!
I followed your guide when cleaning the heads of my two Philips VHS players. The sound is good but the picture is still only black and white fuzzing. I have clean the heads a lot of times now. What could be wrong? In my process there is like I have to clean the vhs for every vhs tape I try. Then if I put in an already tried vhs tape there is no picture again. And so is the process for both of these Philips vhs players. I have noticed the picture can be seen when you fast forward with picture, not else. Any thoughts?
Either the video head is going bad or it needs something else repaired.
Hi, thanks for such an informative and easy to follow video. I noticed you are missing the small sponge pad from the built in head cleaning thing (the white plastic spool next to the head). Does that make the vcr unplayable? Or is it disengaged? Do you have any recommendations on what to replace it with?
He took it off, it can damage the video head after years of being there.
@@CMILF mine just fell down by itself for being broken dry. I guess that was good to happen after reading your comment 🤔
Is paper really a good choice?
Oh shit, same kind of vcr awesome
Can I just ask, right after you clean the VCR and everything one minute. Does the machine have a hard time playing a tape when you put one in the next minute?
The VCR should play fine right after cleaning.
God bless you God loves you
My VHS player wont accept the tape once i put the tape in it pushes it out. :( idk whats the problem
@ambradarian6160 If you have children in the house, they might have stored a toy in there. Check the inside for obstructions. If you don't see anything, it is probably a bad loading belt or gear.
Does anyone know if this would work on RCA TV? I’m starting to get snowy imaging on my vhs tape. Audio comes thru but no video. I’m a little scared to pull apart the tv & clean it this way
The process is very similar. You may want to try a head cleaning tape if you aren't comfortable disassembling it.
Do you know how to fix vcr that ejects tape 10 seconds after you put it in? Cause that keeps on happening with my familes old vcr
IDK it happens to me. When I put the tape in and I press play for at least 15 seconds and it turns off by itself and it keeps ejecting. I was having issue.
Try tape in another VCR, I just did that and even though the tape is damaged the 2nd VCR continues playing it, while the 1st one stops itself and turns off/eject video cassette
Dont use that paper.... Use soft kitchen paper with isopropyl alcool 100%.
Rotate the drum clock wise with the paper wet in isopropyl alcool and you will be fine
Can I use any alcohol ?
Yes, any Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol
Cleaning tapes proven there everywhere online now days everything proven
Same process for Vcr RECORDER ??
Yes, it would be the same process.
Question can we use Paper towels
Definitely do not use paper towels!
@@Spencertified ok what about paper from a notebook
bless
Hi For The Loow Very Nice
Glad you like it!
Just with water or with what?
Always use isopropyl alcohol on electronics as it evaporates quickly and leaves no residue. Never use water.
@@HarakiriRock thank you.
I can barley see what you are doing
I used my eyes and I viewed it just fine...
@@aod_fan hahaha
Here's a video that show why you should never used any cloth or cotton swab on a video head czcams.com/video/e_VpX7aeTBA/video.html
This doesn't work it killed my vcr
Must have been dead from before
Paper is abrasive. Use a dust-cloth with alcohol.
You will damage the heads if you use anything besides paper. We clean the heads of 10 VCRs everyday and found that paper is the best. You may clean them however you like, but paper is the best.
@@Spencertified Ok. Sounds weird. But I'll take your word.
No paper so I used steel wool. Geez, the picture is even fuzzier now.
Keep your magnetic screwdrivers away from the heads for the love of god.
VCRs are great for watching porn, the govt can't tract you.