UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - U-matic player suddenly had audio only

Snootchies · 6th Mar 2017, 1:14 am

I hope someone on the forum can give me some advice here!

I've been digitising some old U-Matic tapes for a client (have MANY to go through). The player I have been using has been working absolutely fine, having successfully played through about 60 tapes.

However today, it didn't like a particular tape - the visuals had a great deal of static banding. You could barely make anything out. Must be a bad tape I thought. I ejected it and reached for the next tape.

But the next tape resulted in sound only. And the next after that too.

So to check, I went back to previous tapes I know played fine that very morning, but now it's audio only.

I figure something has been knocked out of alignment perhaps by one of the tapes? Would be great to understand how I can fix this.

It's a Sony VP-5040.

6th Mar 2017, 1:14 am	#1
Snootchies Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Chester, Cheshire, UK. Posts: 6	U-matic player suddenly had audio only - no visual I hope someone on the forum can give me some advice here! I've been digitising some old U-Matic tapes for a client (have MANY to go through). The player I have been using has been working absolutely fine, having successfully played through about 60 tapes. However today, it didn't like a particular tape - the visuals had a great deal of static banding. You could barely make anything out. Must be a bad tape I thought. I ejected it and reached for the next tape. But the next tape resulted in sound only. And the next after that too. So to check, I went back to previous tapes I know played fine that very morning, but now it's audio only. I figure something has been knocked out of alignment perhaps by one of the tapes? Would be great to understand how I can fix this. It's a Sony VP-5040.