On Nov 29, 5:24*am, myfathersson wrote:

Even with 70% alcohol, surely I should have seen at least some
improvement, even if not *really clean? But there is n o image
whatsoever. So little that the TV's input cant even recognise those
horizontal bands of noise as an image and it cuts to 'no input signal'
within a few seconds.

try leaving a known good/new 3 or 4 hour tape in the machine, running
in play.
Often, dirt can work itself out of the heads over time.
if still no good, maybe you can buy tape head cleaner fluid online -
even if it comes with one of those cassettes, you can dump the
cassette and just keep the fluid.
-B