Maintenance


Some basic advice for maintenance of equipment and playing tape

Cleaning the video recorder
The mechanism for tape transport should be cleaned regularly. Use a chamois cloth to clean all guides with film cleaner (VARN), or isopropyl alcohol (pure alcohol, isopropanol). Clean the video heads by turning the head drum back and forth while very lightly pressing the chamois cloth to the drum. You will feel the heads brushing against the cloth. Never move the cloth up and down, always follow the direction of the rotation of the drum. Never use cotton swabs to clean the heads, the fibres can get stuck to the heads and damage them. Cotton swabs may be used to clean other parts of the machine, like the audio/control head, full erase head and tape guides.
Take care that no fibres are left in the machine.



Cleaning the video heads and showing film cleaner


Loading open reel tape
The tape is wound on to a metal or plastic reel, which is placed on the spindle on the left side of the machine. Unwind enough tape (60-80 cms) to thread it through the machine, carefully following the tape path. Turn it around the reel on the right a couple of times so that it stays fixed in place, or by hand move the left (supply) reel along so that the tape can be wind on to the right reel without causing any tension to the tape.
Do not use any force while turning the wind-up reel on the right, otherwise the tape will be drawn too tightly across the heads.

Never use adhesive tape to attach the video tape on to a reel, adhesive tape may end up in the machine and cause serious damage to the video tape and the mechanism.

Testing the recorder
Before playing a video cassette it is advisable (especially when the machine has not been used for a long time) to first test the machine. Use a test cassette for this or a tape for which you have multiple copies which you know to be of good sound and image quality.

The red security tab/slider
Cassettes that are kept in an archive will, as a rule, not be edited. In principle the contents are meant to be left untouched. However, once loaded into a video recorder, accidentally pushing the “REC button” will delete the contents beyond recovery.

To avoid such accidents, remove the red security tab or move the red slider on the cassette into the “save” position. On VHS cassettes the safety lid is located left on the front side of the cassette.




Showing the red security tab/slider on the cassette

Playing tapes
Before playing a tape, first wind it to the end and then rewind it completely. This reduces possible sticking resulting from static electricity. Moreover, the tape will be spooled evenly and flat and will run more smoothly through the recorder.
Then start the tape and check on the indicator on the recorder and/or the monitor whether the tracking signal is on maximum.

Tracking
When recording the video heads write tracks of magnetic information on to the tape. On replay the heads should follow these tracks exactly to achieve optimal image quality. If mis-tracking occurs there will be horizontal lines at the top or bottom of the screen.

Most machines automatically fix the tracking to the correct position. However, it is always advisable to adjust the tracking knob on the recorder to check whether an even better position is possible. The recorder may have an indicator which shows what level of tracking is reached. Turn the knob until the indicator shows that the tracking signal is on the maximum level.