On Sunday, September 28, 2014 8:12:25 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Hello. I purchased this combo player/dvd recorder a few years back. Only played about 10 vhs tapes with it, as I transferred old stuff to dvd. Then it began to do what it does in this video: it will accept the tape, seat the tape, then eject it and create a situation where there's a string of tape not wound back into the cassette:



http://youtu.be/s2e9OQBMAy8



Hopefully someone knows what's going on. I don't have a ton of tapes, but would like to transfer my few remaining home videos before retiring the format forever. Thanks.

Haven't touched a VCR in 10 years or more, but I seem to recall that by the time DVD recorders were being packaged with VHS decks, the VHS decks were all direct drive except for the capstan belt and possibly the take up belt.

Other than a stretched belt, I'd look more towards a bad position encoder switch or broken tooth in one of the function racks.