stern@tilt.FUN (01/20/86)
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I have been experiencing a bizarre problem with my vcr and I
thought I'd ask the net viddies for their help:
I have a 4-month old RCA Selectavision VCR, and a 19" Panasonic
Color TV. For a while, I had the VCR sitting next to the TV
and I got beautiful recordings and playbacks. Then I got
yuppie and bought some new furniture, and moved the VCR *under*
the TV set, reconnected it, and I noticed that I was getting all
kinds of interference-type patterns during playback.
Specifically: when playing back 2-hour tapes, I get a vertical streak
along the left side of the picture, a few inches from the edge of the
picture. The streak looks like a whole bunch of broken lines stacked
up, as if the sync information went nutso at this point in the trace
and made the picture jump. When playing back 4-hour tapes, they play
back in black and white only.
I did a little experimenting -- I found that tapes I *recorded* play
back fine on other people's VCRs, so it must be a playback problem.
I thought it might be a problem with the el-cheapo cables the cable
company supplied, so I bought some high-grade cables and still had
problems. I didn't think to try moving the VCR and then playing
back a tape, so I took it in for service. Nothing wrong, said the
RCA Service Center, but they cleaned it and tuned it anyway since
they got me for $65.
When I got home, I put the VCR on a table, connected it, and had no
streaks. I put the VCR under the TV again, and the streaks reappeared.
I noticed that as I moved the VCR from one side of my TV stand to
the other, the streaks got worse and worse, going from non-existent
to unbearable.
I just did a little shuffle and found another place for the VCR, but
I'm wondering what could cause something like this -- it's almost
certainly caused by sitting under the TV set. Could poor shielding
of the magnetic elements of the set cause the interference patterns?
I don't normally read Netnews, so any responses should be mailed
to me electronically. If I get a great repsonse, I'll post a summary.
Thanks, gang.
--hal stern
princeton university
{ihnp4, allegra, seismo}!princeton!flakey!stern