Question about dubbing

[Guest cfgb]

Hey,

 

I've been doing some dubs and trades before and never really had any problems. However, today I ran into a bit of one.

 

A friend of mine promised to deliver some tapes for me. I tried them on my VCR ahead of time - and they were perfect quality. Strangely though, he tried them on HIS VCR at home and claims there are tons of lines.

 

Is this simply a clash in VCRs, or something else? My VCRs are brand new (purchased a month ago) Panasonic 4-heads and everything I've recorded has looked gorgeous on them.

 

I'd appreciate anything you can tell me.

[Guest TerryJ11]

It could quite possibly be that he has VCRs that are dirty, hence why the lines may be in them.  If indeed they are tracking lines though, which is what I think you are referring to.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Terry

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[Guest teke184]

He probably has a cheap VCR.  I've got 2 4-head VCRs that SHOULDN'T have any problems, yet one has serious problems playing SLP tapes (lines through the screen) and the other start having video problems if you hook it up to a DVD player, even if you aren't making bootlegs.

 

(For reference, the player with the lines is a Magnavox 4-head that I got at Target for $65 while the other is a Sylvania 4-head that I got at Sam's Club for $60)

 

OTOH, my parents have a wide assortment of 4-head VCRs that have NEVER had video problems when copying or playing back, but they buy higher quality VCRs than I do.

 

The moral of this story:  DON'T buy the cheapest 4-head VCRs you can find.  Buy something that costs about $20 more than the minimum price you see 4-head VCRs for.

[Guest cfgb]

Is it at all possible the following is the problem?:

 

I talked to him about his VCR and it seems he has two speeds - SP and EP. I recorded it on the middle speed, LP.

 

Hence his VCR not being able to read the videos properally?

[Guest dreamer420]

Don't some videos come with anti-copying devices?

[Guest DEEP THOUGHT]

Some VCRs can only record in SP and EP modes. However, I'm pretty sure that they are capable of playback in all three modes... SP EP and LP.

[Guest treble charged]

My VCR only records in EP (SLP) and SP, but will play in LP no problem.

[Guest JHawk]

Sometimes it's just the nature of dubbing a copy.  A lot of times a copy just isn't as good as the original no matter what you do.  I might make a copy of something just to do it and see how it records.  Could be a problem with the VCR, could just be the copy's not as clean.