another VCR?

absolutely. I run into that situation from time to time with my 2 vcr's, even though you might think automatic tracking would eliminate it.

absolutely. I run into that situation from time to time with my 2 vcr's, even though you might think automatic tracking would eliminate it.



I thought if a picture was SHAKY it was shaky in any VCR. I had a situation recently where a trader sent me eps that had jumpy picture and tried to say it wasn't like that in his VCR. So I sent him the tape back and refuse to send him the show he wanted because I can't keep shows in my TV collection with a shaky picture. So I figured he was lying.

I haven't had that happen too often, but it has happened.

I thought if a picture was SHAKY it was shaky in any VCR. I had a situation recently where a trader sent me eps that had jumpy picture and tried to say it wasn't like that in his VCR. So I sent him the tape back and refuse to send him the show he wanted because I can't keep shows in my TV collection with a shaky picture. So I figured he was lying.

I used to own 3 vcrs and the playback quality varied in each vcr while playing the exact same tape! I had one vcr that refused to play "homemade" tapes without causing the pictures to be jumpy. Even when it was new, it had this problem. But - put in a retail tape and all was fine.

Another vcr plays homemade tapes that it recorded perfectly. Again, put in a homemade tape recorded in a different vcr and the tracking was off - I could steady it but then either had to have a tracking line at the top or bottom of the screen.

My third vcr would play any tapes just fine. This is the vcr I would use to check out tapes I received in a trade. However, just because they were jumpy in this vcr, didn't mean they were jumpy in the person's vcr who sent them to me.

I think with some tapes, the quality is so poor, you can tell if you have received quality lesser than promised.

I am now down to 2 vcrs and will soon be down to one. I have no plans to replace the final one when it quits working. I know some traders frown on trading "only" dvds, but, it is cheaper (especially mailing) and I never have to question the quality of tapes sent to me. Usually, with a dvd, what you see - is what was sent :wave:

Nannyfan

I've seen tapes be completely unwatchable in one VCR play back beautifully in another. It's all about alignment. I think you see fewer wide-ranging differences today, but the fact is no two pairs of recording and playback heads are absolutely identical. Even a cleaning (especially if there's retensioning involved) can alter the way a VCR both plays back and records. Until I got my S-VHS deck with the built-in TBC, I always tried to play back a tape in the machine in which it was recorded to ensure the best possible playback quality. Now I find almost everything looks better played back in that VCR.