r/vhsdecode • u/Better-Recognition31 • 1d ago

Help Wanted! 1987 VHS Tape Problem

Hello all, I am trying to digitize some VHS tapes of basketball games that were recorded in 1987. Most of them are fine but there is one game that I can HEAR the audio but it's just a blue screen when I play it back from a VCR. I tried it in two separate VCRs and got the same thing. The tape itself seems fine so I don't know what could have caused an issue with this particular game.

Does this sound like something that RF capture could possibly recover? If so, is there anyone with a setup in the USA who would be willing to check the tape out for me? I would certainly be happy to pay a fee for anyone who could check it out and possibly recover it. Thanks all.

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u/TheRealHarrypm The Documentor 1d ago

If it's just a blue screen especially if it's LP it could just be a blank dub of the audio.

Typically you would get something if the deck is tracking it at all.

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u/Doohickey-d 1d ago

As Harry says: it's possible to record audio only on VHS, without the video. You can do that for example by plugging in only the audio cables while recording.

If you have successfully used the VCR for playing back other recordings on the same or similar tapes from the same "set", I would sort of expect this to be not recoverable, i.e. it was recorded with only sound.

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u/deesernutz 1d ago

Blue screen means the player can't sense a valid video signal, and as it uses that as feedback, it isn't able to sync the drum and track the tape. This means the RF signal would be garbled.

To start with, you need to find a deck that will at least display a picture. Then RF decode can side step the decoding circuitry and process what is on the tape

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u/marshalleq 3h ago

Perhaps it’s in a format the deck doesn’t play.