Please help with old VCR technology!

frostyspice

My children have loads of old videotapes that they still like to watch, so when our old video died, I acquired a second-hand Sharp one. However, it's very fussy about which tapes it wants to play.

Some (whether pre-recorded commercial ones or not) are fine, but on some others the picture just jumps about although the sound is fine. I've tried adjusting the tracking manually and automatically but it's not helping.

Do the heads need cleaning? Is there anything I can do?

isofa

That's normally a tracking issue.

Clean the heads and see if it makes a difference.

if you are technically minded you can open it up (obviously disconnected from mains) and clean the heads on the silver rotating cylinder with a cotton bud and some isopropyl alcohol.