Help with VHS audio

[kenmasters1976]

First of all, I'm sorry if this is not the right forum to ask this, but I figured someone might know about it.

I continue to capture some old VHS tapes. Some of the tapes play with a very noticeable noise and others don't play any sound at all. I've read this might be due to misaligned audio heads in the recorder or the player. So I wonder if it's possible to align the heads to get an acceptable audio from each tape. If so, can someone point me to a tutorial or instructions to do it?.

Thanks in advance.

[lordsmurf]

Yes, sort of. You'll want to do it on an extra VCR. You should also start with alignment of the tape guides, not the head itself. Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of writing a tutorial on this topic. It's not done yet, however. Contact me in about 25 days, it'll be finished.

[kenmasters1976]

You'll want to do it on an extra VCR. I have a much older VCR where the audio itself doesn't have so much noise, but the VCR produces a lot of hiss. Do you think the procedure might help with this one or is it screwed?.

Contact me in about 25 days, it'll be finished. OK, I guess I can wait. I can capture the ones that play correctly in the meantime.

Thanks.

[Ghitulescu]

Are we talking here about HiFi or normal (linear) audio?

[lordsmurf]

Good call Ghit! Definitely be sure you've tried audio on the linear (usually mono) track!
Totally missed that.

[Ghitulescu]

Well, alignement of the linear head[s] is quite difficult to achieve as it's coupled to the synch one and factory fixed. Any try to alter it's position would inherently cause a tape alignement problem (in a working VCR).

If it's HiFi, it's possible to use the tracking to set the audio, sometimes at the expense of the video. In this case, it is recommended to get the video first (with a certain tracking setting) then the audio (with another setting). You have to synch them afterwards, softwarewise. All heads are factory aligned, some upper ass'ys let you adjust the heads, some not. This is why most people still recommend to use the same VCR that did the recording also for playing the tape.