DIYbanter - View Single Post - VCR image only when fast-forwarding (tried cleaning heads)

wrote:
tim:
Either the heads are still dirty or clogged..... or the heads are
damaged or broken. An improper or haphazard cleaning can easily damage
the fragile head chips.
A quick examination by a service shop tech can give you the answer....
many times a small shop can give you a fairly inexpensive diagnosis for
the price of a cleaning or less.... and if it just needs to be
cleaned, it will be done properly and safely by a shop tech.... and of
course, expect to be charged for a cleaning.... and then your VCR will
work properly.
electricitym
.
.
.

I'm not taking this thing to a repair shop. It was junk right out of
the box, and the person who bought it didn't keep the box or receipt.
I suggested taking it back a week after it was purchased (again it's an
ESA). It would constantly not fully rewind tapes, you would have to
stop and then hit rewind again a couple times on most tapes. The time
it takes to spit out a tape is extremely annoying, who know what the
*** it's doing before it just ejects the stupid tape. About 4 months
later is quit recording - everything came out as just noise, like you
are tuned to a non-existant channel - and we had recorded with it
infrequently. Now it has quit playing our daughters cartoon tapes,
which is its main use. (It's only a few months old.) I'd just throw the
thing away right now, except the TV gets broadcast channels better when
the antenna goes through the VCR - the ONLY thing that still works. I'm
looking for a replacement. If I can't easily fix it, it's going in the
trash.