Just used your method to clean my parents' wedding video that was horribly overgrown with mould. It turned out great and I digitised it after, even though this was the copy and I found the original tape in pristine condition in another box nearby shortly after! Great tutorial all the same!
@@tossik1647 I followed The Oldskool PC's video on digitising tapes with VirtualDub, but feel free to check around and see what works for you: ua-cam.com/video/sn_TDa9zY1c/v-deo.html&ab_channel=TheOldskoolPC
Great vid! Haven't read all the comments to find out if anyone's brought this up, but I've had extra crusty tapes break during cleaning, because of sticking. To avoid this now, I'll let a valuable tape run through at regular playback speed to knock the heavy mold off and allow the tape to separate from the rest of the spool. I vacuum that out of the VCR then clean the tape as you describe here.
Years ago (after Tropical Storm Allison put much of Houston underwater) I had a plan and put it to action (without getting the idea from anyone) and it surprises me that I pull up videos that reminds me of what I did!!!...saved my collection. Great minds think alike.😄
Easy and perfect. Thanks for teaching me this trick. It helped relieve much anxiety at the situation I have. And it also showed me I caught the mold just in time.
My man with the champion edition VHS cleaning tutorial. Thanks a lot! My Ma and Pa left me a ton of tapes and they all have a bit of mold so I got work to do.
Thanks for doing this. I've thankfully only ever had a few tapes with mold but they were not worth the work involved. BUT if there's ever a rare, hard-to-replace tape with mold, I will definitely use your method.
Thank you so much for your video. I spent $500 having 6 out of 25 VHS/ Hi-8 tapes transferred to DVD. The service slapped stickers on the originals stating that they could not transfer due to mold on analog tapes. My kid’s videos of their births could not be transferred. I was devastated until I watched your video. Many, many thanks. I’ll give this a try
Who the hell charged you $500 for just 6 tapes? I do VHS to DVD or digital transfers for people all the time and only charge $10 per tape. You got charged way too much.
I clean both sides at the same time, by using a cleaning bad folded over between my thumb and finger. Much more efficient. However, when I try cleaning with Isopropyl in the manner you use, I have found that the tape layers can stick togther. I do it dry, and clean by hand any hard bits of mould that don't come off with a pass like that. If it's a bad and 'crusty' bit it will need going over repeatedly with Isporopyl to shift it. I take the tape apart before I start, after I've ff'd it, and again at the end.
I recommend to NOT use a cotton swap to apply the alcohol, cotton fibers can be left behind and get transferred to the tape. Defeating the purpose of using a microfiber cloth.
Hi there This is a wonderful upload. I'm very happy to have come across it. I am about to begin digitizing all of our family VHS tapes. I wanted to ask you a question. The cleaning your doing that isn't the magnetic tape itself (the inside of the casing etc), is that nessicary for the quality of film or is it to protect against future mold outbreaks? I'll likely throw the tapes once I've digitized so I don't need to protect for longevity Thank you
Glad i found this video. Starting to collected animated movies/shows and as i was cleaning out a shelf that was no good, turns out a few tapes have caught mold. luckily their not so hard to find for a reasonable price, but i definetly will invest into another old VCR and convert it into a cleaner, just in case i run into a issue where a tape is hard to find/expensive
I've got a 60 tape challenge ahead of me, some like this and sone much worse. I wondered whether you could clean both sides of the tape at the same time, then still give it two passes. I have a spare old VCR as my 'cleaning rig" so only clean tapes go near my decent VCR. As soon as they're clean I'm digitizing everything, then the tapes can all finally go, but not until I have a backup of everything, just in case. Will practice opening up and cleaning a couple of test tapes to get the hang of it first, then get a routine going. Thanks for sharing.
Does this also help with the playback issue? Whenever I watch the 1995 THX "Star Wars: A New Hope", the video flickers as if the frames were being shuffled in some places.
Awesome tutorial, thanks a lot! I have a question, please: I only could find in my country stores (local or Amazon) Isopropyl Alcohol 99,9%, not Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol 91%... could this be used, or would it damage the tape?
why don't you just wrap some micro fibre cloth around the first post then you wouldn't have to hold it away from the post? also i'm wondering if you could use a UV light to kill the mould or would that effect the tape ?
I have some tapes with like one small spot of dust that's about or less than the size of this . some have a few small spots around. Some have one and i mean ONE speck of small hair. Is it mold or is it possible for dust to get inside and on the reel?
Can you clean a tape and still use the same VCR to watch tapes on? Assuming you do a good clean and if it's maybe a light cleaning job to begin with? I only have the one atm
We have some family tapes that are molded. Some don’t spin when you hit play, basically won’t move. Is that the mold? And why about tapes that you can what they audio but see no video? We weee gonna send these off to a company to restore but it’s very expensive and don’t know which tapes have stuff we want and stuff we don’t. So if I could do this myself that would be amazing! I’m pretty tech savvy, but never done anything like this. I wonder if some of the tapes needs to be restored completely to be able to be played. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Unfortunately, my family tapes have become moldy. I will try one that I have already converted to DVD and see if I can tell the difference. Thanks for posting.
Would you clean a second time to improve? Or would that be risky? TY BTW: I'm so klutzy, notsure I could do this. I have a couple of vcr's, even one that takes VHS tape and records onto dvd. But I have pretty bad amount of mold. We'll see.
I am just asking out of curiosity, but you know how some VHS Tapes do that jitter to the Blue Screen if it's an older tape? Does this process fix that sort of thing?
Would a method like this work on a VHS rewinder/fast forwarder with just the spools attached? It seems that there would be enough space for cleaning in a case like that, but I'm not entirely sure.
ud have to modify it, thats what i was thinking of. Cause it wont rewind unless you drop the tape it and close it, then u might have to drill into the plastic housing to have a entrance area to sitck in a cleaner cloth or whatever you plant to use.
I had baby tapes found in the Attic some of them were moldy some of them are not the ones that were not moldy played fine I feel okay knowing that the other ones that were okay played fine so The moldy one should be okay?
So the thing with all these cleaning mold videos is not one single person plays the tape after lol so is it playable??? I I been digitizing all my vhs but I have one moldy one I would love to know if it will be able to copy after cleaning
Why use several q tips to make tool? I would use a (handle end) of a teaspoon or similar to wrap the microcloth onto? Better flat surface? Or do you want the tool to flex? Good video nonetheless.
Before and after showing the tape played would have been nice. My home VHS tapes don't have clear windows so I have no idea if mold is causing the to look all messed up.
If the reel is damaged in the middle you will see lines fading in and out sadly this is impossible to fix, no way round fixing this, this happens if the reel is poor quality or the tape got jammed in your VCR and screwed the tape reel. Do not use a VCR that is of low quality stick to ones made by Panasonic, HS860 or NV Series they are reliable.
I have been doing this for 6+ years for clients. I live near the coast with high amounts of humidity (lots of mold). It usually improves the tapes by 50-90%. There are rare cases where the mold does damage the tape beyond repair. Its time consuming but worth the results.
@@masongovender9231 Hi mould can damage the reel or recording of a tape, if the video or tape is important i strongly recommend you make a copy or transfer it over to DVD then that way you have a backup.
I’ve heard that putting mouldy tapes into a vcr player can damage them..the mould will collect on the video heads and over time will break it..and if there’s mould on the video heads and you put a clean tape in, it can transfer onto that tape and make that mouldy too 😮
@@maxsol84 get some kimwipes and 90+% rubbing alcohol and spin it around while you gently hold the moistened wipe against the head. Look up how to clean dat recorders - same thing
Jody Wagner Yes... definetely. You will contaminate your vcr and all the tapes you put inside afterwards. You can ruin your heads too if mold gets in contact with them.
JMA I been doing one with lots of mold on them then Cleaning my vcr with rubbing alcohol and so far no mold has returned to the tapes I finished after watching them with the vcr I use to clean them 😁
You should use an older VCR which does not have the tape laced round the drum in fast wind. That way you don't risk contaminating the whole tape path with mould or harming the heads
Also works on old recorder tapes...be careful, not all tapes can handle isopropal alcohol...one of the oldest of the recorder tapes had the outer layer stripped...
If it has moId. think it would work. It’s just tape. But you may not be able to remind and forward it like he did on a machine. . You could use a biro pen to turn the reel and a cotton bud on the tape. Cleaning the inside of the tape holder would probably be more fiddley if you had to do that
Hoping you can help. I have an old hi8 mp sony cassette tape and its playing sound but no video. Would this work or what could be a method to take here? I have several other tapes and they all work fine. Note, when the audio plays i only get a white screen
![ОРБАН приехал к ПУТИНУ и "отчитался" о поездке в Киев 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_0ukDovOWq8/mqdefault.jpg)
Just used your method to clean my parents' wedding video that was horribly overgrown with mould. It turned out great and I digitised it after, even though this was the copy and I found the original tape in pristine condition in another box nearby shortly after! Great tutorial all the same!
What metod you used for digitised ? I also found my parents wedding VHS.
@@tossik1647 I followed The Oldskool PC's video on digitising tapes with VirtualDub, but feel free to check around and see what works for you: ua-cam.com/video/sn_TDa9zY1c/v-deo.html&ab_channel=TheOldskoolPC
Does alcohol damages vhs tape?
@@andrewrobotbuilder use cloneralliance viewpro to digitise vhs tapes, it's recording is so good that I easily upscaled it into 4k
@@andrewrobotbuilder does alcohol damages vhs tapes quality later?
I just found a huge collection of Japanese animation VHS tapes and books. This will help alot. Thank you
Is some of it vhs only
@@leaks2055 there is a lot Japanese animation. I still have them
Great vid! Haven't read all the comments to find out if anyone's brought this up, but I've had extra crusty tapes break during cleaning, because of sticking. To avoid this now, I'll let a valuable tape run through at regular playback speed to knock the heavy mold off and allow the tape to separate from the rest of the spool. I vacuum that out of the VCR then clean the tape as you describe here.
Years ago (after Tropical Storm Allison put much of Houston underwater) I had a plan and put it to action (without getting the idea from anyone) and it surprises me that I pull up videos that reminds me of what I did!!!...saved my collection. Great minds think alike.😄
This was so so helpful for saving some family home videos that got moldy while sitting in our family home basement. Thank you!
Easy and perfect. Thanks for teaching me this trick. It helped relieve much anxiety at the situation I have. And it also showed me I caught the mold just in time.
My man with the champion edition VHS cleaning tutorial. Thanks a lot! My Ma and Pa left me a ton of tapes and they all have a bit of mold so I got work to do.
Thank you so much for this video. While transferring old home movies found 4 that were very bad-mold. Worked great. Thanks again
Thanks for doing this. I've thankfully only ever had a few tapes with mold but they were not worth the work involved. BUT if there's ever a rare, hard-to-replace tape with mold, I will definitely use your method.
your video was very helpful did what you did and now my VHS tapes are mold clean, thanks so much Dustin.
Brilliant, good job! Worth the time and effort to save your precious tapes! Well done buddy!
Thank you so much for your video. I spent $500 having 6 out of 25 VHS/ Hi-8 tapes transferred to DVD. The service slapped stickers on the originals stating that they could not transfer due to mold on analog tapes. My kid’s videos of their births could not be transferred. I was devastated until I watched your video. Many, many thanks. I’ll give this a try
Did it end up working?
Who the hell charged you $500 for just 6 tapes? I do VHS to DVD or digital transfers for people all the time and only charge $10 per tape. You got charged way too much.
Very good video dude! Perfectly informative and simple!
Just found my christening video and it has mould on it like this... SO glad theres a way of cleaning it!! As its completely irreplaceable cheers bro!
I clean both sides at the same time, by using a cleaning bad folded over between my thumb and finger. Much more efficient. However, when I try cleaning with Isopropyl in the manner you use, I have found that the tape layers can stick togther. I do it dry, and clean by hand any hard bits of mould that don't come off with a pass like that. If it's a bad and 'crusty' bit it will need going over repeatedly with Isporopyl to shift it. I take the tape apart before I start, after I've ff'd it, and again at the end.
I recommend to NOT use a cotton swap to apply the alcohol, cotton fibers can be left behind and get transferred to the tape. Defeating the purpose of using a microfiber cloth.
I like to use a glass eye dropper
Thank you for the great tips on how to clean precious VHS tapes.
Hi there
This is a wonderful upload. I'm very happy to have come across it.
I am about to begin digitizing all of our family VHS tapes. I wanted to ask you a question. The cleaning your doing that isn't the magnetic tape itself (the inside of the casing etc), is that nessicary for the quality of film or is it to protect against future mold outbreaks? I'll likely throw the tapes once I've digitized so I don't need to protect for longevity
Thank you
This is really really helpful.
Thank you for sharing
Glad i found this video. Starting to collected animated movies/shows and as i was cleaning out a shelf that was no good, turns out a few tapes have caught mold. luckily their not so hard to find for a reasonable price, but i definetly will invest into another old VCR and convert it into a cleaner, just in case i run into a issue where a tape is hard to find/expensive
I'll be using this very method, but adapting it slightly, to work with my various Betamax cassettes. Thanks for posting :).
Ty I had slight mold on my Digimon Volume 1 & those are hard to find in English now so you saved me big time man.
Great Instructional video, good job...:) :)
Would amyl nitrate(sp?) be better. I have an old bottle of vhs head cleaner at home as I do ISO 91%. Thanks!
I've got a 60 tape challenge ahead of me, some like this and sone much worse. I wondered whether you could clean both sides of the tape at the same time, then still give it two passes. I have a spare old VCR as my 'cleaning rig" so only clean tapes go near my decent VCR. As soon as they're clean I'm digitizing everything, then the tapes can all finally go, but not until I have a backup of everything, just in case. Will practice opening up and cleaning a couple of test tapes to get the hang of it first, then get a routine going. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve only got 3. But I don’t know what’s on them. Could be gold. Could be crap ha.
Im trying this too. Hopefully it will work! And with that finally see and pass taped to digital format! ;) family tapes
great video, i like the odd breath, it sounds like you hate doing it haha, very helpful thought
Alex Orchin I cleaned mold off my VHS tape called Looney tunes back in action that came in the mail today
seriously, he seems completely annoyed by the whole process it's great lol
Thank you Dustin! I just wanna ask will this damage my VCR?
Does this also help with the playback issue? Whenever I watch the 1995 THX "Star Wars: A New Hope", the video flickers as if the frames were being shuffled in some places.
Awesome tutorial, thanks a lot!
I have a question, please: I only could find in my country stores (local or Amazon) Isopropyl Alcohol 99,9%, not Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol 91%... could this be used, or would it damage the tape?
On 24.11.2019y. I restored my moldy Aladdin 3 VHS, using this method...thumbs up!!!!!!
a day to be remembered, thanks for sharing. every saved vhs is a good vhs.
Wouldn't it be wise not to use that same piece of cloth again to clean the underside, as it'll just smear the collected mould onto it?
I think using the same piece for the first few cleans and a new one for the final clean would be a nice idea.
would the alcohol have killed it off?
Where did you say that Iso rubbing alcohol is available the one your using.
Could you use a alcohol in a chemist like hand sanitizer?
What do you do with the used microfiber cloths that you used for cleaning? Can you wash/reuse them or do you just throw them out? Thanks.
why don't you just wrap some micro fibre cloth around the first post then you wouldn't have to hold it away from the post? also i'm wondering if you could use a UV light to kill the mould or would that effect the tape ?
Todo muy Bonito, pero a donde fueron a parar los hongos que había en la cinta? se quedaron en el vídeo reproductor?
I have some tapes with like one small spot of dust that's about or less than the size of this . some have a few small spots around. Some have one and i mean ONE speck of small hair. Is it mold or is it possible for dust to get inside and on the reel?
Can you clean a tape and still use the same VCR to watch tapes on? Assuming you do a good clean and if it's maybe a light cleaning job to begin with? I only have the one atm
Awesome! I have lots of family tapes to clean and digitize. I guess I'll be having a lot of fun with isopropil alcohol!
Can the same thing be done with a Betamax VCR and tapes?
wow that looks amazing you make it look easy but i bet its not ive got loads of moldy ones but its not as easy as you make it
I would love to know how you were storing this tape for it to become THAT moldy O_O However, that clean up job was brilliant!!
I'll try doing this to one of my friend's SpongeBob SquarePants VHS tapes.
Fantastic! Thanks for the tip ❤️
We have some family tapes that are molded. Some don’t spin when you hit play, basically won’t move. Is that the mold? And why about tapes that you can what they audio but see no video? We weee gonna send these off to a company to restore but it’s very expensive and don’t know which tapes have stuff we want and stuff we don’t. So if I could do this myself that would be amazing! I’m pretty tech savvy, but never done anything like this. I wonder if some of the tapes needs to be restored completely to be able to be played. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Unfortunately, my family tapes have become moldy. I will try one that I have already converted to DVD and see if I can tell the difference. Thanks for posting.
I have done this and it work great
If you dont have a vcr can you just pinch the tape in a microfiber cloth with iso on it and pull the tape through?
Great video!
Would you clean a second time to improve? Or would that be risky? TY BTW: I'm so klutzy, notsure I could do this. I have a couple of vcr's, even one that takes VHS tape and records onto dvd. But I have pretty bad amount of mold. We'll see.
do you always press against the tape before starting? I managed to snap one pressing as it was going. thanks
I am just asking out of curiosity, but you know how some VHS Tapes do that jitter to the Blue Screen if it's an older tape? Does this process fix that sort of thing?
Would a method like this work on a VHS rewinder/fast forwarder with just the spools attached? It seems that there would be enough space for cleaning in a case like that, but I'm not entirely sure.
ud have to modify it, thats what i was thinking of. Cause it wont rewind unless you drop the tape it and close it, then u might have to drill into the plastic housing to have a entrance area to sitck in a cleaner cloth or whatever you plant to use.
I had baby tapes found in the Attic some of them were moldy some of them are not the ones that were not moldy played fine I feel okay knowing that the other ones that were okay played fine so The moldy one should be okay?
So the thing with all these cleaning mold videos is not one single person plays the tape after lol so is it playable??? I I been digitizing all my vhs but I have one moldy one I would love to know if it will be able to copy after cleaning
Excellent,I will try that,thanks.
Why use several q tips to make tool? I would use a (handle end) of a teaspoon or similar to wrap the microcloth onto? Better flat surface? Or do you want the tool to flex? Good video nonetheless.
I still use VHS tapes
Same
This is the 1990 VHS of Hunchback of Notre Dame from the Hollywood Movie Greats Collection.
I have that exact VCR, btw.
This is amazing.. I wanted to 3d print something but this is a much better idea
Excellent...Thank you.
Could you open the vhs and submerge it in an ultrasonic cleaner instead?
+1 for the NES
+2 for the Famicom
Before and after showing the tape played would have been nice.
My home VHS tapes don't have clear windows so I have no idea if mold is causing the to look all messed up.
If the reel is damaged in the middle you will see lines fading in and out sadly this is impossible to fix, no way round fixing this, this happens if the reel is poor quality or the tape got jammed in your VCR and screwed the tape reel. Do not use a VCR that is of low quality stick to ones made by Panasonic, HS860 or NV Series they are reliable.
I have been doing this for 6+ years for clients. I live near the coast with high amounts of humidity (lots of mold).
It usually improves the tapes by 50-90%. There are rare cases where the mold does damage the tape beyond repair. Its time consuming but worth the results.
@@masongovender9231 Hi mould can damage the reel or recording of a tape, if the video or tape is important i strongly recommend you make a copy or transfer it over to DVD then that way you have a backup.
I’ve heard that putting mouldy tapes into a vcr player can damage them..the mould will collect on the video heads and over time will break it..and if there’s mould on the video heads and you put a clean tape in, it can transfer onto that tape and make that mouldy too 😮
That's exactly how I do it! But you forgot to clean the tape path of the VCR because mold spores will get stuck on the tape guides and heads. :)
Any advice on how to clean the tape path of the VCR? (sorry, I realize your post is over a year old, thought I'd ask just in case)
@@maxsol84 get some kimwipes and 90+% rubbing alcohol and spin it around while you gently hold the moistened wipe against the head. Look up how to clean dat recorders - same thing
you have to be gentle because the heads are fragile
No way!! 👍🏻 awesome dude
Yes that mould was dead white mould. Cool video, I've been cleaning tapes using a similar method.
Would it ruin your vcr if you fast forward the vhs tape if there is lots of mold on it?
Jody Wagner Yes... definetely. You will contaminate your vcr and all the tapes you put inside afterwards. You can ruin your heads too if mold gets in contact with them.
JMA I been doing one with lots of mold on them then Cleaning my vcr with rubbing alcohol and so far no mold has returned to the tapes I finished after watching them with the vcr I use to clean them 😁
Do you have a tutorial on how to open the tape?
11:37 i think i see the Brand quasar on that vcr underneath his NES. Does anyone know the model number? It could be from 1995 or 1996.
You should use an older VCR which does not have the tape laced round the drum in fast wind. That way you don't risk contaminating the whole tape path with mould or harming the heads
Where can you get that Rubbisg Iso alcohol please?
Now keep in mind tapes tend to wear out after a number of plays and rewinds so the poor picture isn’t necessarily due to the mold effecting it.
I have moldy tapes and I would like them clean but it might take a very long time to clean them all I might try it one day!
good job what you did
It worked thank you
Brilliant thanks
there are 2 lines of mold at the start of my star wars vhs tape. im afraid to touch it, should i leave it alone?
Also works on old recorder tapes...be careful, not all tapes can handle isopropal alcohol...one of the oldest of the recorder tapes had the outer layer stripped...
Does this method work with a moldy audio cassette as well?
If it has moId. think it would work. It’s just tape. But you may not be able to remind and forward it like he did on a machine. . You could use a biro pen to turn the reel and a cotton bud on the tape. Cleaning the inside of the tape holder would probably be more fiddley if you had to do that
Thank you
does it have to specifically be 91% rubbing alcohol?
do you know how to get rid of statics from your VHS tapes?
Late reply, but one thing you can to is clean the VCR head.
Does alcohol damages vhs tape?
Thank you dustin from the past
I have a few moldy tapes in my collection.
Aren't there oils on the tape itself? Wouldn't rubbing alcohol be bad for that?
Hi! I'm afraid to screw up my vcr cleaning my moldy tapes. Could this be done manually, without the vcr?
Fabián Peña Loyola you can get some old vcr from goodway or somewhere sells oldies
Fabián Peña Loyola yes technically .
Any old junk VCR off eBay or Craigslist will work as long as it fast-forwards and rewinds. Don't contaminate your "daily driver" doing this.
Man. I was really hoping to clean a tape of mine but I dunno if I wanna open up my vcr 😂
But awesome job.
Throw it away not worth mold spreading on your other tapes
@@KingJonathanThe1st dont throw away thats bad for the enbironment
Will they still play
Hoping you can help. I have an old hi8 mp sony cassette tape and its playing sound but no video. Would this work or what could be a method to take here? I have several other tapes and they all work fine. Note, when the audio plays i only get a white screen
I suspect that something is wrong with your camcorder or tape deck than the tape itself. Have you tried playing it on a different device?
Dustin Kramer I’ll try but like I mentioned i tried several other of the same tapes and they work fine. Weird? Thanks!
Impressive.
Parabéns !
What are the gesture symbols of the video?
Nice
I used to have that same vcr lol
Can I use petrol instead of rubbing alcohol?
A few of my Thunderbirds VHS tapes are starting to mould
11:36 hey! That NES, cool videogame
Wow dude this actually worked i didnt use the iso but im surprised thank you man i though my old vhs was trashed