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Do you know what caused this type of static on a VHS tape?


Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

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Maybe static is the wrong word, that is just what I call it. (If it is called something else let me know.)

I've got a collection of VHS screens with various static on them. Having a VHS archive, I document everything VHS...even the static. Most static I see are variations on a theme and usually at the end of the video where there is no picture. But this static was different. 

This is a short clip of 2 nude girls with intermittent wide gray static lines and an intermittent green / magenta color shift. The wide lines cover +/- 80% of the left of the screen. The static started at the last 1/3 of a 1 hour tape and is fairly regular intermittent.

The first 2/3 of the tape shows no lines like this. The tape may have been a dupe tape or the rear end of a tape was cut off. I say this because there is no ending, just an abrupt stop in mid action and rewind. It was a commercial video rental tape. I removed the sound to make it more focused. Sound was normal before removal, even in the static prone part of the video.

nsfw

Internet Archive Search: VHS Static Wide Lines 1

Do you know what caused this type of static on this VHS tape?

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Those issues are baked into the tape most likely. Looks like a betacam to VHS transfer gone wrong. The color shift is indicative of low signal on the tape, it can't retain enough frequency to have the color carrier in tact. Very common issues with dupes. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, thanks. I found another tape with the exact same issue, but it was throughout the tape. It was a 'free vhs tape given from an Adam and Eve adult products sales promotion. It was a 30 minute tape of rehashed adult material. So sounds about right...nobody cared about it.

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The colour slashes could be the result of copying from an original distribution which was subjected to an old copyright protection tech which was I think called "Copyguard". I understand there were two processes One diminished the vertical stability to the bare minimum which would apparently defeat some older VHS players when paying legit distribution copies. The other was some sort of trickery applied to the colour information. 

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