Yukio YANO wrote in
news
Bob wrote:
It's a Zenith VCS442. Worked fine until the video playback started
to look like the heads needed cleaning (fuzzy picture a bit like bad
tracking, but audio OK), tried a wet cleaning casette, no help;
opened it up and cleaned the rotating drum and 2 stationary heads
(erase and audio?) with a foam swab and alcohol, then dry swabbed and
waited 5 mins to dry further. Seemed to solve the problem, but the
next day the problem reappeared; did same cleaning routine and again
it seemed to do the job, but this time less than a half hour later
the video was totally blank (though it looks almost normal on CUE and
REW).

Seems like if I 'fix' it again it just might bite somebody.

Is this just another way VCRs go defunct or is there something else
that can be done? I'm strictly an amateur with, apparently, just
enough repair skills to cause damage. I bought it 2nd hand at a
thrift store a few months back.
Have you considered BAD TAPE


Yes. The tapes are good, or at least can't ALL be bad.