Just used your method to clean my parents' wedding video that was horribly overgrown with mould. It turned out great and I digitised it after, even though this was the copy and I found the original tape in pristine condition in another box nearby shortly after! Great tutorial all the same!
I recommend to NOT use a cotton swap to apply the alcohol, cotton fibers can be left behind and get transferred to the tape. Defeating the purpose of using a microfiber cloth.
Years ago (after Tropical Storm Allison put much of Houston underwater) I had a plan and put it to action (without getting the idea from anyone) and it surprises me that I pull up videos that reminds me of what I did!!!...saved my collection. Great minds think alike.😄
Great vid! Haven't read all the comments to find out if anyone's brought this up, but I've had extra crusty tapes break during cleaning, because of sticking. To avoid this now, I'll let a valuable tape run through at regular playback speed to knock the heavy mold off and allow the tape to separate from the rest of the spool. I vacuum that out of the VCR then clean the tape as you describe here.
BEWARE! THE MOLD ACTS LIKE GLUE, HANGS ONTO THE ROLL OF TAPE, SO WHEN THE VCR GRABS IT, AND THE MOLD IS HOLDING IT TOGETHER, IT CAUSES THE TAPE TO BREAK!!
THANK YOU! My mom's basement got flooded and our family videos were moldy like this and we were devastated. Cleaned them like you showed and they work like a charm! So wonderful! Can't express how grateful we are for your video!
Easy and perfect. Thanks for teaching me this trick. It helped relieve much anxiety at the situation I have. And it also showed me I caught the mold just in time.
My man with the champion edition VHS cleaning tutorial. Thanks a lot! My Ma and Pa left me a ton of tapes and they all have a bit of mold so I got work to do.
Thanks for doing this. I've thankfully only ever had a few tapes with mold but they were not worth the work involved. BUT if there's ever a rare, hard-to-replace tape with mold, I will definitely use your method.
Thank you so much for your video. I spent $500 having 6 out of 25 VHS/ Hi-8 tapes transferred to DVD. The service slapped stickers on the originals stating that they could not transfer due to mold on analog tapes. My kid’s videos of their births could not be transferred. I was devastated until I watched your video. Many, many thanks. I’ll give this a try
I clean both sides at the same time, by using a cleaning bad folded over between my thumb and finger. Much more efficient. However, when I try cleaning with Isopropyl in the manner you use, I have found that the tape layers can stick togther. I do it dry, and clean by hand any hard bits of mould that don't come off with a pass like that. If it's a bad and 'crusty' bit it will need going over repeatedly with Isporopyl to shift it. I take the tape apart before I start, after I've ff'd it, and again at the end.
Just used your method to clean my parents' wedding video that was horribly overgrown with mould. It turned out great and I digitised it after, even though this was the copy and I found the original tape in pristine condition in another box nearby shortly after! Great tutorial all the same!
I still use VHS tapes
I recommend to NOT use a cotton swap to apply the alcohol, cotton fibers can be left behind and get transferred to the tape. Defeating the purpose of using a microfiber cloth.
Does alcohol damages vhs tape?
Wouldn't it be wise not to use that same piece of cloth again to clean the underside, as it'll just smear the collected mould onto it?
Years ago (after Tropical Storm Allison put much of Houston underwater) I had a plan and put it to action (without getting the idea from anyone) and it surprises me that I pull up videos that reminds me of what I did!!!...saved my collection. Great minds think alike.😄
I just found a huge collection of Japanese animation VHS tapes and books. This will help alot. Thank you
Great vid! Haven't read all the comments to find out if anyone's brought this up, but I've had extra crusty tapes break during cleaning, because of sticking. To avoid this now, I'll let a valuable tape run through at regular playback speed to knock the heavy mold off and allow the tape to separate from the rest of the spool. I vacuum that out of the VCR then clean the tape as you describe here.
BEWARE! THE MOLD ACTS LIKE GLUE, HANGS ONTO THE ROLL OF TAPE, SO WHEN THE VCR GRABS IT, AND THE MOLD IS HOLDING IT TOGETHER, IT CAUSES THE TAPE TO BREAK!!
Youre telling me that tape plays perfectly fine on a tv after having all that done to it? I will believe that when I see it
THANK YOU! My mom's basement got flooded and our family videos were moldy like this and we were devastated. Cleaned them like you showed and they work like a charm! So wonderful! Can't express how grateful we are for your video!
This was so so helpful for saving some family home videos that got moldy while sitting in our family home basement. Thank you!
Easy and perfect. Thanks for teaching me this trick. It helped relieve much anxiety at the situation I have. And it also showed me I caught the mold just in time.
My man with the champion edition VHS cleaning tutorial. Thanks a lot! My Ma and Pa left me a ton of tapes and they all have a bit of mold so I got work to do.
Thanks for doing this. I've thankfully only ever had a few tapes with mold but they were not worth the work involved. BUT if there's ever a rare, hard-to-replace tape with mold, I will definitely use your method.
Thank you so much for this video. While transferring old home movies found 4 that were very bad-mold. Worked great. Thanks again
your video was very helpful did what you did and now my VHS tapes are mold clean, thanks so much Dustin.
Brilliant, good job! Worth the time and effort to save your precious tapes! Well done buddy!
Thank you so much for your video. I spent $500 having 6 out of 25 VHS/ Hi-8 tapes transferred to DVD. The service slapped stickers on the originals stating that they could not transfer due to mold on analog tapes. My kid’s videos of their births could not be transferred. I was devastated until I watched your video. Many, many thanks. I’ll give this a try
I clean both sides at the same time, by using a cleaning bad folded over between my thumb and finger. Much more efficient. However, when I try cleaning with Isopropyl in the manner you use, I have found that the tape layers can stick togther. I do it dry, and clean by hand any hard bits of mould that don't come off with a pass like that. If it's a bad and 'crusty' bit it will need going over repeatedly with Isporopyl to shift it. I take the tape apart before I start, after I've ff'd it, and again at the end.