Over the past 2 weeks, I've noticed that the picture quality in my 1-year-old video recorder...?

Question

...has deteriorated. It flickers a lot on standard-play videos & can no longer show any pictures at all for any videos recorded in long-play speed. I have taken very good care of my machine & it is a high-quality brand machine (I paid a lot of money for it too), so I suspect that the video-heads are dirty & simply need to be cleaned.

At the beginning, I thought it was okay to continue using my machine to watch my videos on. However, two brand new tapes that used to be in excellent condition have gradually become picture-damaged & this has only happened over time the more I watched my new videos on my machine. The tapes used to work perfectly on other machines, but the tapes have slightly become damaged & even flicker a lot on other video-players. I'm going to take my video-recorder in for repairs a.s.a.p!

If it's possible for dirty video-heads to damage any cassette you try to play, should I avoid watching any videos in my machine until it's been checked out by professionals?

Answer 1

Yes, dirty heads do physically contact the tape surface, and other factors in the tape guide path can also cause similar damage.  Do avoid playing tapes until you've been able to repair your VCR.  Any damage to your tapes may or may not be permanent, but is likely to be so.