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I have a large collection of home movies on VHS tape and just bought elgato Video Capture to digitize them. I found the wet head cleaner I bought many years ago but the bottle of cleaning liquid is empty. Any suggestions as to a liquid I could use to clean the heads?
The Video Capture was very easy to install and to use. Only problem was some lines in the resulting recording which are likely due to dirty VCR heads. Once digitized the software allows you to trim the beginning and end and then transfer the movie to QuickTime Player, iTunes, or iMovie or to upload to YouTube.
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At a guess I'd say the liquid was something like isopropyl alcohol. But I'd be afraid to try it without knowing more.
Maybe just try a new one? This one at Best Buy is only $8. Note that a couple of reviewers found that they couldn't get it to play.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Digital+Inno...5450856576&skuId=8789171
Probably something similar available at Amazon.
Good luck.
- Winston
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Head-cleaning solutions are made from isopropyl, water & scent.
You should be able to use straight isopropyl with no problem so long as you don't go overboard with it. Rubbing alcohol is okay, too, but not as good as the real stuff. Don't saturate the fabric-tape with liquid.
Wait at least 15 minutes after doing a wet-clean before you pop a tape in the VCR.
Don't believe the hype from the manufacturers about the frequency of head-cleaning. It's very unusual for tapes to shed & mess up the head on a VCR in any significant way. Even old tapes. Unless you're a chain smoker you probably only have to clean the heads once at the beginning of your project to get the dust off.
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You can buy 91% IPA at the average pharmacy. Most rubbing alcohol is 71%. the other x% is water. Nice to have 91% IPA on hand for electronic connection cleaning/degreasing.
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Some rubbing alcohol has lanolin in it, 91% IPA is better.
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the green stuff has oil of wintergreen, don't get that either.
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Just be very, very careful not to damage the heads -- they are very thin and very fragile, and it's easy to break them -- the ferrite crumbles around the tiny head gap, then the resolution goes out the window. They protrude very slightly from the gap in the drum. Don't wipe, just blot against them gently.
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and if you screw up, you can probably get another VCR for free these days
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The wet cleaners for VHS actually often have a different solvent than isopropyl alcohol, excessive use of it can break down the head material as it attacks the cements used to make the heads. But for an occasional cleaning it is good enough. If you can find one still, a dry method head cleaner is better.
As for frequency, that depends on the player. More recent, better quality VHS players have an automatic dry cleaner for the head and do not need use of a cartridge cleaner anywhere as often as the older ones. About once a month or when you start to see signal degradation is often enough.
