VCR vertical jitter on bright scenes only

[Clueless in Seattle]

I'm using an old hand-me-down VCR that has a number of annoying
problems.

Probably the most annoying is that whenever a bright scene, e.g., one
with lots of over-exposed sky, or large patches of white or another
light color, come on the screen, the image begins to "jitter" up and
down.

Since this vertical jittering only occurs during bright scenes, and
immediatley stops when the film cuts to a darker scene, I've ruled out
mechanical problems with the actual movement of the tape through the
machine.

Curiously, this jittery bright scene syndrome, doesn't occur
consistently on every tape I play. I borrow a lot of tapes from the
public library, and the bright scene jitters only occur when I play
some of these tapes, but not when I play come others.

From what I've described, is it possible to diagnose the problem?

If so, is it something that is correctible?

If not, is their additional info that I could provide to aid in a
diagnosis?

P.S. I'm sure you're wondering why I don't just toss the VCR and get
a new one. Well, I've been disabled for years, spent the last year
and half homeless, living on cash advances from my credit cards, but
now have a very small income from Social Security disability benefits,
and a public housing apartment to live it. Trouble is, the payments
on my credit card debt take a big bite of my paltry SS check each
month, so I'm just not able to go out and buy a new VCR. I'm forced
to spend a great deal of time in bed, and so the VHS movies from the
library are a godsend, helping to pass the time and distract me from
the pain.

 

[Alfred E. Neuman]

[email protected] (Clueless in Seattle) wrote in

I'm using an old hand-me-down VCR that has a number of annoying
problems.

Probably the most annoying is that whenever a bright scene, e.g., one
with lots of over-exposed sky, or large patches of white or another
light color, come on the screen, the image begins to "jitter" up and
down.

Since this vertical jittering only occurs during bright scenes, and
immediatley stops when the film cuts to a darker scene, I've ruled out
mechanical problems with the actual movement of the tape through the
machine.

Curiously, this jittery bright scene syndrome, doesn't occur
consistently on every tape I play. I borrow a lot of tapes from the
public library, and the bright scene jitters only occur when I play
some of these tapes, but not when I play come others.

Sounds to me like the Macrovision copy protection might be causing a
problem. Macrovision causes picture rolling and color irregularities,
particularly in bright scenes. Macrovision isn't supposed to turn on
unless you're trying to record a protected video. The problem is,
sometimes it screws with the picture even when you're not. This would
explain the fact that some tapes act up and others don't--not all VHS
tapes are Macrovision protected.

Is the VCR hooked directly into the television or is it passing through
some other devices? Is it hooked up using A/V connectors or is it coming
through coax onto channel 3/4?

 

[Clueless in Seattle]

Sounds to me like the Macrovision copy protection might be causing a
problem. Macrovision causes picture rolling and color irregularities,
particularly in bright scenes. Macrovision isn't supposed to turn on
unless you're trying to record a protected video. The problem is,
sometimes it screws with the picture even when you're not. This would
explain the fact that some tapes act up and others don't--not all VHS
tapes are Macrovision protected.

Funny you should mention that. Last night I let a tape keep running
after the end credits and noticed for the first time the Macrovision
graphic. And that tape happened to be one of those that "jittered"
during bright scenes. So you may have put your finger on the problem.
I'll have to pay closer attention from now on to which tapes have
that Macrovision protection.

Is waiting until after the end credits have rolled by the only way to
tell for sure if the tape is macrovision protected?

Is the VCR hooked directly into the television or is it passing through
some other devices? Is it hooked up using A/V connectors or is it coming
through coax onto channel 3/4?

I'm connecting directly from the VCR with a short coaxial cable via an
adapter with two leads that attach to the screw-down antenna terminals
on the back of the TV. The TV is really old too. Belonged to my mom,
and she died in 1983 (!) Amazing how long this old set has kept
working (though the image is a bit on the dark side these days).

 

[Alfred E. Neuman]

[email protected] (Clueless in Seattle) wrote in

Funny you should mention that. Last night I let a tape keep running
after the end credits and noticed for the first time the Macrovision
graphic. And that tape happened to be one of those that "jittered"
during bright scenes. So you may have put your finger on the problem.
I'll have to pay closer attention from now on to which tapes have
that Macrovision protection.

Is waiting until after the end credits have rolled by the only
way to tell for sure if the tape is macrovision protected?

I wasn't aware that any tapes carried the Macrovision logo following the
credits. I have seen tapes with the logo at the beginning of the
cassette, but never payed attention to the end.

You might be able to tell if a cassette is protected based on what
company put out the cassette (MGM, Fox, etc) and how old the cassette
is, but I'm not entirely sure.

 

[James Sweet]

I'm using an old hand-me-down VCR that has a number of annoying
problems.

Probably the most annoying is that whenever a bright scene, e.g., one
with lots of over-exposed sky, or large patches of white or another
light color, come on the screen, the image begins to "jitter" up and
down.

Since this vertical jittering only occurs during bright scenes, and
immediatley stops when the film cuts to a darker scene, I've ruled out
mechanical problems with the actual movement of the tape through the
machine.

Curiously, this jittery bright scene syndrome, doesn't occur
consistently on every tape I play. I borrow a lot of tapes from the
public library, and the bright scene jitters only occur when I play
some of these tapes, but not when I play come others.

From what I've described, is it possible to diagnose the problem?

If so, is it something that is correctible?

If not, is their additional info that I could provide to aid in a
diagnosis?

P.S. I'm sure you're wondering why I don't just toss the VCR and get
a new one. Well, I've been disabled for years, spent the last year
and half homeless, living on cash advances from my credit cards, but
now have a very small income from Social Security disability benefits,
and a public housing apartment to live it. Trouble is, the payments
on my credit card debt take a big bite of my paltry SS check each
month, so I'm just not able to go out and buy a new VCR. I'm forced
to spend a great deal of time in bed, and so the VHS movies from the
library are a godsend, helping to pass the time and distract me from
the pain.

Have you tried looking for a newer VCR? I just gave one away for free a
couple months ago, worked perfectly, with $40 DVD players common, nobody
wants a used VCR, or at least virtually no one will pay money for it.

 

[Clueless in Seattle]

So, if the problem should turn out to be a side-effect of the
Macro-vision copy protection encoding, then is there a way to correct
it?

If I were to get a newer VCR that is designed to handle the copy
protection, would that end the problem?

 

[James Sweet]

So, if the problem should turn out to be a side-effect of the
Macro-vision copy protection encoding, then is there a way to correct
it?

If I were to get a newer VCR that is designed to handle the copy
protection, would that end the problem?

Not nessesarily, how is your VCR hooked up? If it's connected directly to
the TV set or monitor, then Macrovision shouldn't be an issue. Do you know
someone who could lend you a different VCR to check with?

 

[Clueless in Seattle]

Not nessesarily, how is your VCR hooked up? If it's connected directly to
the TV set or monitor, then Macrovision shouldn't be an issue. Do you know
someone who could lend you a different VCR to check with?

The TV is very old, so it has no VCR input jacks. I use a coaxial
cable running from the VCR to an adapter with leads that attach to the
antenna screws on the back of the TV.

A friend told me over Christmas that she has an extra VCR so I'll ask
to borrow it and run a test.

Do you think my connecting to the antenna terminals on the TV could be
contributing to the problem?

 

[James Sweet]

The TV is very old, so it has no VCR input jacks. I use a coaxial
cable running from the VCR to an adapter with leads that attach to the
antenna screws on the back of the TV.

A friend told me over Christmas that she has an extra VCR so I'll ask
to borrow it and run a test.

Do you think my connecting to the antenna terminals on the TV could be
contributing to the problem?

I'm not really sure, it's been a long time since I've encountered a TV like
that. At any rate I would think you could find something reasonably nice for
free with a bit of looking, particularly if you have some repair skills.