i had a condom on when i did mine for extra protection

Wow thanks! Happy that despite my video being a bit long it turns out to be quite easy for people the get their hands dirty and open up their VCR and cassettes to do some major cleaning :)

Playing a moldy tape in your vcr is a bad time.

Very happy it was helpful! Good luck with your tapes :)

Thank you! I'm glad it is helpful★

@@Art_kore Yeah, I'm going to clean a lot of my moldy videos, 50-75 or so. Although I might do it in the spring where the weather is nice since I'm an American. Most of my tapes aren't really moldy though.

I usually do a quick round of my tapes like once a year to see if any of them developped mould again. It doesn't need to be that frequent.

I’m far from a professional. Just did some trial and error with my tapes until I figured it out 😁

You're welcome! Hope you can now save your precious tapes! :)

Plandemic.

Excellent! :)

" I personally wouldn't risk liquids on the tape; they could cause layers to stick together on the reel if it goes back in before it's dry. " yeah that is what I explain, that's why I put the cutton pad right after the clothe with ethanol touches the tape to dry the surface before it winds back inside the spool. :)

Thanks for checking out my video! I'd say that if it's for super important family videos on other format than VHS, I would go to a place that specializes in that (if any). It also depends on the level of mould you have on your tapes. My tutorial is for a quick clean up to get rid of the most common type of mouldy tapes.

@@Art_kore yeah thanks. Unfortunately I haven't found any business that offers a cleaning service. Every company I've seen here that offers a digitisation services say they won't accept moldy tapes, so it's up to me to clean them up first :-/

GIDDAY! i'm from nz too :)

@@TheDarkFalcon How'd it work out for you? If you haven't done it yet as long as your careful, and take your time this tutorial and others on KZfaq can and will save your precious home movies! It worked for me.

I have cleanermate vhs for sale

Thanks for watching!

Thanks Slick! :)

Wow! thank you so much!!!

which tape was it, i got a massive hoarde of horror movies today and majority at with mold

if you have mold on the READING surface of the tape that's another story.

Thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it

I wish this was profitable. lol!

always depends how bad your tape is affected with mold. In my case I live in South Korea and the situation here with the weather/temperature is very harsh on tapes, therefore I need to open the cassettes and make sure it's properly cleaned inside so that no mold grow back (or at least not grow back for years!)

@@Art_kore these would have been stored somewhere in the U.K. I bought them on Vinted as a job lot. Nowhere near as bad as yours though. Mostly just bits and pieces of mould in there.

Most likely not bad enough to have any issues with playback after cleaning.

@@Art_kore thank you. Currently sourcing a second VHS player

Glad it was helpful 😊

Thanks! 🔥

if there is no mold on the reading surface of the tape, it will be fine.

Good question! Mold is usually on the reading surface of the tape, if there's any on the back, trust me, that tape is nasty and probably just good for trash at this point. Btw, I will make a new video this week on how to clean the ribbon proprely. 😛

That shouldn’t happen. That’s why it is recommended to use rubbing alcohol.

Up to you. Depends how dirty it was.

It's probably doable, althoigh I have no experience with 8mm. If the tape tension is good enough you can probably do it.

8mm tapes are very thin and they often stick together and snap when mouldy. There's a KZfaq video about it on video99.co.uk channel to clean them

Thanks for the precision.

That could help I’m sure.

You can clean the reading head with a piece of paper. But it would definitely be better if you watch a video on how to clean a VCR head.

Sorry to hear that

Usually it's bad storage conditions such as temperature, humidity etc. I've seen numerous times mold on the inside of the cassette (plastic) and nothing on the tape reel.

K-Tapes I got a few tapes that i believe had mold inside but not on the tape, It is safe play the tape on a vcr?

@@carlosestebanvr as long as they don't look as bad as the ones in my video you'll be fine. But nonetheless, mold is never a good thing for a VCR. Depends how much you care about your player... If you have more than one and there's a machine you don't care too much about I'd say try your tape in that one first.

Sometimes mould can grow back yes. Had a couple tapes that had it, but remember that white mould is very easy to remove, especially if it hasn't been there for too long. The reason for it to grow back is bad storage and humidity. Try to keep the tapes in a cool and dry place.

@@Art_kore thanks for reply quickly I just moved my collection I watch them all the time

My hands are clean before doing this. Also, it will have little to no effect on the playback or tape itself. Done this a thousand times. But you got a point, I could use gloves etc.

@@Art_kore Glad you washed your hands, but immediately after, you're touching 30 year old tapes, and handling the tape with metal objects. Yours may not be, but a lot of screwdrivers out there are magnetic, or at least partially magnetic, which could erase that part of the tape. I'm just looking around KZfaq to see people's techniques for cleaning tapes. I have over 1000 VHS and Beta tapes, but I don't think they have mold. I just want to clean them to protect the VCRs that will have to do a lot of work digitising these.

Yeah my tapes were extreme lol! Most tapes people are dealing with aren’t as bad as the ones I showed in the video. Again, it was only for the turorial purpose. To be fair, this video is now a bit old and I should do a new one with better audio and visuals.

Just follow my method, you'll see it is easy to clean even the dirtiest tapes :)

I don't have a betamax, but I believe so as the mechanism inside the machine is very similar.

Yes you can if you are careful pulling it out and putting it back in.

No idea. It may neutralize it but not remove it physically.

Sorry, never heard of green mould.

I'm no VCR expert, I just give tips on how to clean tapes. But this looks more like an electronic problem than something mechanical in your VCR, but that's just a guess?! Maybe some people here can help you out in the comments?

The VCR will only start the counter when there is a video signal. Are you sure that it wont count in play mode when there is a signal? I'm assuming you have a digital counter. If you have an older vcr with a mechanical one, then I say your counter belt is slipping and needs replacing.

I fold it the other way around. Ususally I can use it up to 4 times (with a different fold), but don't use the same folded suface twice for different tapes. So basically yeah, don't reuse it if it is dirty.

@@Art_kore Thank you for your kind reply. Just one more question those other items are cotton wipes are they?

Yes, for makeup removal I believe.

Also, I'm afraid of stretching the tape.

Might be a good idea to go unscrew the cassette and open it up, then manually pull the tape between the 2 reels.

Any type of alcohol you find in a drugstore is fine. I never tried anything else...

@@Art_kore Many thanks what about Hand sanitizer or nail varnish remover. When you say drug store presumably you mean chemist.

​@@rail324nqch-par-8 Hand sanitizer or nail varnish remover I wouldn't try that. Just go with rubbing alcohol. I meant drug store as in a pharmacy, where you buy medicine.

@@Art_kore Can you perfume ??

​@@Art_kore chemist is another term for drugstore

Maybe not a good idea as the toilet paper might break and go into your cassette.

Hope this guide will help you with your contaminated tapes.

@K-Tapes Yes mate fantastic video, allready successfully saved one. 😄

@@loftgroover9271 It is time consuming but well rewarding at the end!

@K-Tapes I've come across a couple of tapes with one centre screw that doesn't fit a x driver? it doesn't actually have any grip at all it's like a small circle? lol Any idea how to get it out?

@@loftgroover9271 sounds like a Torx, get a set of security bits

😂

🙏

Please watch all the video, I show how. 😀 But if you mean the brown dust that I shown at the beginning with the tapes examples, that is usually nearly.impossible to clean because the tape readimg suface will be damaged. Best case, you can clean it manually but your tape.playback won't be good.

@@Art_kore 시간 내어 답변해주셔서 감사합니다. 많은 도움 되었습니다 :)

I've never tried.

welp i tried game over pack your bags bois were going home

I also looking for mini dv tapes solution

Ethanol is usually high, I'd say 90%.

I cleaned the tape with 90% alcohol, and it literally dried really fast so the whole cleaning process is only like 30 minutes or less.

Usually, any dry and cool places are the best.

thanks, Ive two problems with two VCR's I own, you might have the answers. My roller guides stop halfway up the tracks and spit the tape out and one of the problems on the other VCR is that the tape doesnt rewind all the way back to the beginning. Any ideas what is wrong? Also have you tried doing any repair videos on some of the most common problems with VCR's? @@Art_kore

Have you tried with a different tape? Does it do that with every tape? If not, perhaps there is too much tension in the tape. I'd suggest you open the cassette again and see that all pieces are at the right place inside.

You mean inside the cassette? If I didn't, maybe I forgot because I was in a hurry to explain. If you mean on the tape itself, the mold always builds up on the reading surface, not underneat but if you see the white residue just wipe them with a cloth + rubbing alcohol.

The tape has four main surfaces, the broad surfaces , the reading surface, and back , then you have the minute two thin edges of the tape top and bottom. You cleaned the top thin surface edge but never cleaned the bottom. We saw clearly the top edge of the tape was pretty bad with mould when the tape was closed, if that top edge is contaminated then the bottom edge must be also. The problem with the bottom edge is you cannot see the contamination as the spool is not see throught like the top of tape. Hope this explains more clearly what I mean.

I totally see what you mean. Usually mold tends to be on top but if you have it also at the bottom it means the tape has been hit pretty badly (not usually the case with tapes in the U.S.). But if that happens, I put the cloth with ethanol in a way that it touches the entire reading surface of the tape when REWINDING (don't do that while FFWD because the tape is wet and hits the VCR head before touching the cotton wipe). So yeah, that's how I clean the dirtier tapes.

Thanks , will be using your cleaning process, and advice when I start to clean several family tapes, of weddings, and other family events, that were stored for years , as each tape is showing various degrees of mould . I will practise on several tapes of no real value, which I have, see the results , before attempting the more important and irreplaceable tapes. Then I will have them transferred to DVD , but still retain the VHS tapes, but in much better storage conditions , than they were. It important that people fully understand that VHS tape in the majority of situations can be salvaged. Many people when they see mould , just discard the tapes , thinking wrongly, they are damaged beyond repair. Precious recording of events, like weddings, holidays, birthdays, and other social gatherings , thinking they were no longer playable. I prefer the VHS tapes , so will keep, as their is something unique, about the quality of the film quality. Thanks again, for taking time to respond to my concerns.

And thats a phillips head screwdriver ;) X not I

Thanks! Sometimes I just can't figure those words in English as I only know the French name for it. :(

@@Art_kore No problem! Glad to help

Which part is dirty?

@@Art_kore almost all of it, should i do it again? i'm afraid my cassette will be damaged

@@wormsfort You mean it is still on the tape itself, like on the top? If so, you can run it again with the same process until it's gone. Also, don't forget to clean with rubbing alcohol the inside of your spools. :)

@@Art_kore i did the process manually only with 70% alcohol, it took me 7 hours and the tape got curved little bit

@@wormsfort curved? like it's kindda wavy inside the spool? If that's the case is because the tape was wet at one point and sticked to itself and created an iregular winding. Make sure you have your cutton pad right after the alcohol touches the tape to dry it as it winds back inside the cassette.

Depends how you manipulate the tape. As long as your fingers are clean and you try to avoid touching the top of the tape (reading surface) it's ok.

Ideally I guess you’re right. But in this example it doesn’t make much of a difference on anything.

I guess it's fine, as long as you have your dried wipe just after.

Cool!

yeah, just rubbing alcohol

True, but some people have things they recordered with a camcorder on VHS back in the days and are looking to transfer it to digital but turns out the tape has mold 🤷‍♂️

And some old vhs films can be worth hundreds of $$ 😅