| If
you've got a favorite or irreplaceable videocassette that's
been broken or damaged, resist the temptation to try splicing
it. A poorly spliced videotape could ruin the video-head drum
in your player. All is not lost, though, if you want to salvage
the tape's contents.
# STEP 1: Take out the five screws with a
Phillips screwdriver from the bottom of two videocassettes--one
you can sacrifice and the one that's been damaged.
# STEP 2: Gently separate the tops and bottoms
of the cassettes. Slice through the label (if any) on the
side edge with a razor blade.
#STEP 3: Study the way the tape threads through
the cassette. You'll need to remember this later.
#STEP 4: Discard all of the tape from the
sacrificed cassette, but keep all the other parts, including
the reels.
#STEP 5: Take the first section of the damaged
tape (still on its reel) from the videocassette you want to
save and transfer it to the shell of the sacrificed cassette.
Attach it to the take-up reel with adhesive tape.
# STEP 6: Take the empty reel from the sacrificed
cassette and transfer it to the shell of the cassette you're
saving. Attach the second section of broken tape to this cassette.
# STEP 7: Reassemble the cassette shells,
being careful to thread the tape the way you found it. You
now have two tapes that contain as much of your material as
can be saved, with no midtape splice that could damage your
video-head drum.
# STEP 8: Copy the two tapes to a new videocassette
and then throw them away.
* Practice this videocassette repair technique
on a couple of tapes you don't care about before you attempt
to repair that irreplaceable tape of your sister's wedding.
* If a tape breaks at one end, you can safely reattach it
to the reel for the purpose of copying it, but you should
still throw it away since it won't have the leader that the
VCR's end sensor relies on to tell it to stop rewinding.
What
is Videotape ? | Audio
& Video Tape Preservation |
Video
Tape Conversion to NTSC or PAL or SECAM | Save
a Videocassette |
How
to Get a Digital Video Recorder | How
to Buy a VCR | How
to Videotape Sports Action |
Transfer
Audio From a Videotape to a Computer | Transfer
Audio From a Videotape to a Cassette |
Transfer
Video Onto the Computer | How
to Program a VCR | Video
Tape Formats |
Video
Tape Time Comparisons | Tape
& VCR Tips | Camcorder
& Recording Techniques |
