Tangled or broken tape: To fix this, you open up the tape with a screwdriver and repair it manually.If the whole thing’s bent, you’re probably out of luck. If it’s only a small area, gently straighten it with a microfiber cloth (paper towels leave behind fibers). You can wind the tape by turning one of the sprockets with your finger and assess the extent of the damage. Crunchy or bent tape: This isn’t usually a huge issue.Here are some common problems you might encounter and how to fix them: To do this, run a cheap tape head cleaner through the VCR once or twice. The 25 years of dust that’s accumulated on its tape heads can ruin the picture. Clean the VCR: Once you know the VCR is working, you’ll want to clean it.Accidents happen, and you don’t want to risk losing your valuable footage. Test the VCR: Once you’ve got a VCR, test it on a tape that you don’t care about-even if it was tested by someone else.You could also ask to borrow a friend’s VCR or spend a little extra to buy one from Craigslist or eBay (watch out for those shipping fees). Find a VCR and buy it: Goodwill is probably your best (and cheapest) bet.Here’s the best way to buy a VCR and set it up for tape conversion: It’s not difficult to find a working VCR it’s just a bit time-consuming (you’ll have to buy one secondhand). For many people, this is the hardest part of the process. You need a working VCR to convert tapes to digital files. Preparing Your VCR Andrew Heinzman / Review Geek That option isn’t really worth it unless you only want to convert one tape to digital. Some companies, like Kodak, will convert your VHS tapes to digital for you, but they charge about $35 per tape. And it shouldn’t cost you much more than $30 to complete this project ($15 if you already own a working VCR). Once you’ve got everything together, tape conversion is a breeze. You just need some tapes, a VCR, and a capture card.

Vcr to dvd conversion hardware