Weird dust on VHS tape
 

I got these old VHS tapes of a show to preserve and all the tapes have some kind of white residue on the inside top of the tape reel. I can tell the person was a smoker since the tapes smell of nicotine but I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen this and if I should do anything to the tapes before I start to copy them in through the VCR.

hi, yes i have seen this. it is caused by improper care such as improper temperature storage. it is matter similar to the nitrate residue you find on old 16mm and 35mm films. i would take the tape apart and gently try and clean this off as best as possible with a horse hair paint brush like i use to brush of lp records before i play them. these are not coarse but gentle brisle brushes. i would make sure the tape was tight on one wheel and then gently brush across the top edge of the tape. by having the tape tight, you should be able to clean this matter off without it getting down inside on the tape. if you can't remove this matter, then i would play and copy this tape on a backup type vcr. i would only try to get at least one pass from these tapes for transferring. there are also tape cleaning machines you can purchase, but i don't know much about them. i have a video that goes thru the steps of how to take a vhs tape apart to repair it and put it back together. thanks stoogedog

It could also be mold or mildew. You'll really ruin a VCR if you stick this tape in, in the unclean condition it's in now. I refer all such VHS tapes to a family-owned service in Maine, as they will bake and clean physically-damaged media.

Lordsmurf, does it matter what is it, if it's mold, mildew or nitrate residue as stoogedog pointed out, will they still clean it? I doubt anyone has these episodes so if I have to send the tapes to be cleaned by a professional it's worth it to me.

hi, of course if it is something that you can't clean off your self, by almeans, don't put it in a vcr. thanks stoogedog

Yeah, I rather not take the chance and try and do something that my or my not ruin the tapes.

The palce I deal with with clean and fix anything. They work with physical damage.

I, on the other hand, work with signal-based damage. That's my specialty. But the tapes need to be in good physical condition.

The only thing I can fix are tapes that have snapped off the spool, or clamshell damage. That's easy to work on.

LordSmurf, do they take mail order? If so how would I go about getting a quote to fix the tapes?

Hey, maybe its powered toastman's remains on the tapes :P

I could only wish it was that easy, here's pic on what it looks like:
http://www.tvpast.org/forum/images/cache/2008/04/21.jpg

Contact www.videointerchange.com
Send him these images and describe the problem.

Thanks LordSmurf, I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank you again LordSmurf, I'll be sending my tapes off shortly to them, it's going to cost a bit, but I figure it's worth it to get the best possible out of the tapes.

I do not mean to be nosy, bu I am curious what show eps they are? Maybe, just maybe someone has them and can help you out before you go through what sounds like a not so cheap route

They are the last 6 episodes of Joe Bob Briggs Drive-In Theater from TMC. Unfortunately finding anything from Drive-In Theater or MonsterVision on tape seems to lead me to dead ends. And the DVD-R's people are trading were made without regard to quality or even a vcr with clean heads and decent tracking. I'm hoping Video Interchange will be able to do the transfers without throwing up a copyright flag on me, if anything I might have to find another route or even rent a machine to remove the mold.

Sounds like quite a project.
Keep us updated. :)

I got the first batch of 3 tapes back, they were able to get the mold off and transfer them to DVD for me, one set of DVD's, there were 3 per tape has a weird almost posterization effect on moving objects, not as noticeable on the TV as it is on the LCD, but other wise they all were able to be transferred and preserved thankfully. Thanks to LordSmurf for the heads up on where to get this done.