REWIRE YOURSELF
A friend of mine called me in a panic this week, his Sony Betamax was playing pictures full of white lines and ripples on his TV set. “Sounds like drop-out,” my friend said. “Wait a minute though, the cassette that made the white lines on the screen was sitting on the window sill for two days before I used it.
KEEP YOUR PERFORMANCE UP TO SPECS
REWIRE YOURSELF
Richard Robinson
A friend of mine called me in a panic this week, his Sony Betamax was playing pictures full of white lines and ripples on his TV set.
“Sounds like drop-out,” my friend said. “Wait a minute though, the cassette that made the white lines on the screen was sitting on the window sill for two days before I used it. It was freezing cold when I put it in the machine.”
Another case solvedI explained to my friend that video tape always has to be room temperature before it is used. In fact, never play or record on a cassette that’s been out of doors in heat or cold for at least a half an hour after its been brought indoors.
Since home video machines aje manufactured with an eye on the consumer as idiot, the manufacturers are going out of their way to recommend that home video decks aren’t maintained. Simple procedures like cleaning tape heads and the tape path are turned onto closely kept secret rituals only performed by the high school dropouts who work at “authorized” repair centers.