How to align the linear audio head on a VHS VCR without using test equipment

Setting up the audio control head on a VHS VCR without using test equipment.

[waleed]

I appreciate you sharing your experience with us. I love your videos and always looking forward to watching and learning from them. thanks and God bless.

[lake]

I just now adjusted my vcr audio with this method. Thank you.

[AndrewWood]

Just saved my VCR/DVD combo that started acting up after a move. Thank you!!! 🙌

[depechdm]

Thank you for making this video. I'm in the process of digitizing a whole bunch of my family's home videos made with a JVC VHS-C camera back in the 80's. A lot of them have been deteriorating over the years and it is time to digitize them and I was having issues with some of the tapes because there was no sound and some hissing noise coming out. Again, thanks again for helping a lot of people to correct this problem.

[MrClassiccarenthusia]

I see I'm not the only sado that has been fixing VCRs out of boredom. I fixed a Sony dual DVD VCR unit for a customer, and took their dead Panasonic, took the heads out as the drum was not spinning, carefully glued the transmission wire back under the drum, works perfectly now.

[raymondparsley]

This is good information for sure.... I adjusted the head on my Magnavox and took the lines out but it stopped recording. After watching this I'm thinking I need to adjust, align the tape on the recorder... to hopefully start the machine recording again. I'll give it a try. Thanks very much.

[DrumsAndGadgets]

Thank You! My picture problems with my second hand Phillips DVP3350V was actually an audio problem! I tried to adjust the tape guides but no go; static bars kept coming from bottom and top. And the bloody audio sounded like an old black and white movie. I put in an old Rush concert tape from late 80´s and tried to play with the 3 screws that balance the audio head. BOOM! Word Hi-Fi appeared into display, those static bars are gone and sound is pure gold! No issues what so ever! Thanks! I would like to buy you a coffee, how we could do that? :-D If you ever visit Finland, pls message me and I buy a lunch! Keep up the great work, this channel rocks! Stay safe and Covid free!

[man_eating_monkey]

LOL an ad for a virus-killing UV germicidal lamp on that tape. Oddly appropriate for today's times.

[trusoren]

So my VCR's audio works fine in a way that I can hear it crystal clear and there's no fuzz or buzzing noise when playing, however there is a weird ticking noise that comes in and out when the audio is playing. Imagine watching a random VHS and you hear "tik tik tik" everytime. sometimes you can't hear it but it's there and it sometimes goes from soft ticks to a bit more louder ticks, then goes away for .5 seconds the comes back.

[manueldi_]

The Akai VCR I have has a setting to mix the linear audio track with the hifi-track. This I think is perfect to allign the audio head and its correct when there is noch echo at all. Of course it depends how accurate the recording VCR was.

[uwtitanfan]

George Benson seems really proud of his Sony BVP-330!

[faeddatoon]

Thanks, I have solved a big problem, but I ask you, I see that the image is in slow motion briefly.

[ThriftyAV]

This a nice companion video for your tape path alignment adjustment video!

[scotshabalam]

I got all excited I thought I read the title as how to align tracking without a test tape. I can't even find a test tape but I've got a oscilloscope.

[AndyJHiscock]

This is exactly the guide I was looking for when I was trying to adjust the ACE on an old top loader - i think you did a video with a JVC with belt and SP/EP Relay issues recently. Question I have a Daewoo VHS/DVD which has overscan when planying VHS over HDMI, adjusting the lower guide moves the framing of the image as expected but doesn't get rid of the overscan - DVD doesn't have the problem.

[RoughJusticek]

Adjustment of the CTL head without special test equipment may be done "by ear and by sight" (since it also controls playback tracking as well as linear audio) to get a reasonable (or "near-enough") result.

[timmoore]

That brings back some interesting memories, oh that soft VHS picture. I know I’ve got a Panasonic NV-HD600 HiFi machine that I bought new in I think 1998, that’s always been a bit strange, if you record a tape in that machine and play back in that machine, the picture and sound are good, but if you play that tape in another machine the picture is fine but the sound is distorted, and likewise if you take a tape recorded in another machine and play in the NV-HD600, the sound will be distorted... I think it’s an issue with alignment. When it was new I sent it back for warranty service, they said it was the NICAM board, then obviously recorded something in that machine and then played it back, and went yep all OK. Even now that machine has low operating hours, so I’ll try to delve into what’s going on but I’m thinking it’s an alignment problem. It’s a HiFi machine. I went to use it a while ago and it’s got mode switch problems now, so there’s more to look at on that one besides the sound.

[rarbiart]

fighting with a flat screwdriver in dual (flat/cross head) screw is a bit painful.
showing most possible mistakes of "over/undersetting" the 3 lift-screws makes it somewhat transparent for the viewer. Nevertheless, a bit more commenting "what actually is wrong now" would have helped. i have to confess that "during those days" for the simpler machines we used to do it "by headphone" quicker than conncting the scope and looking for audio level and ctl-level. (especially since no one had spectrum analyzer scopes back then, so it was just a single sinusoidal 1kHz which was not the most perfect for the adjustment. And then you needed to switch tapes anyways for the lipsync adjust....

[MarceloJavierMazaLuparia]

Love the vcr and vhs videos! A video i'd like to see it's the difference between a cheap or entry level vhs camera versus a professional ibe. Mostly in picture diference, resolution and noise from the sensor when recorded to VHS. Mostly because I see theres a difference buy dunno how much of a difference.

[Shirakawa]

This was the explanation I was looking for! But I have a problem... the screw with the spring in it... well, the spring is missing (the VCR is years old...). Trying to find something to replace it...