What's wrong with my VCR? (Jumpy recording)

[Hey_It_s_That_Guy]

I have one of those combo DVD player/VCRs that I only bought last December. In recent months, the VCR has been very problematic when recording. No matter if I record over an old tape or use a perfectly new, fresh tape, the recording picture always jumps constantly, vertically, so quickly it’s impossible to watch the tape. It isn’t really a tracking problem, since I’ve fiddled with the tracking for recording and playback. I haven’t attempted to see whether it works better in SP or SLP mode, but I tend to tape things in SLP, just to fit more on a tape (and yes, I’m aware quality suffers in SLP, but it shouldn’t be this bad).

Once recorded like this, the picture jumps just as much when I play the tape in other VCRs too. Could this be remedied with a head-cleaning cassette, or do I have a bigger problem? I’d really hate to have to replace this (especially because the DVD player component works fine), but it’s frustrating to not be able to record anything to watch later. And no, DVR/Tivo isn’t an option for me. How can I rectify this problem?

[Q.E.D]

Could be any number of things. Anything that makes the vertical sync signal noisy, weak or unstable can cause picture jumping or rolling. Depending upon the specific nature of the porblem, recording is SP mode may improve things. Whatever the problem is, it’s almost certainly not worth having repaired, since new VCRs are much cheaper than nearly any repair job. You might be able to make an adjustment yourself but without a solid electronics background and the proper equipment–an oscilloscope is essential–it’s going to be hit or miss. Mostly miss.