VHS import (via Sony DVcam), some tapes display video only in fast forward

Question

I, like many others, have been copying my VHS tapes to iMovie. This has been going fine, but I have part of one tape and all of another where no video displays when the tape is played on the VCR, UNLESS that is, one is fast forwarding or reversing, when it looks fine (though a bit faster than desirable for capture).
My old VCR died, and I picked up a nice used Panasonic at Goodwill (couldn't even find one at the local electronic store except as dedicated VHS to DVD). It seems to work fine (much better than my old one in fact).
Any idea on what my problem is? My old VHS camera was an Olympus that could also record SVHS (I think that was what the higher-quality mode was called). Is that something that requires an SVHS VCR to play? I did use to know this stuff, but it's lost in the distant-past memory cells.
Many thanks,
Steve

Answer 1

It sounds as if the questionable tapes may have been recorded in LP (Long Play) mode. This gives a much narrower recording band on the tape, which may not match up with other tape decks unless the head alignment exactly matches the original.
Maybe your new, er 'used', Panasonic doesn't have an LP playback speed, or - as it's a 'used' machine - the heads aren't quite as properly aligned as they should be ..or perhaps that was the case with your old VHS camera.
S-VHS video won't play back at all on normal VHS equipment - although the sound should be OK if it was recorded on the normal lower-quality 'longitudinal' track (..S-VHS also embeds higher quality audio on an audio track within the video, just like digital video).
So yes; S-VHS does need an S-VHS machine to play it.
LP recordings need an LP-capable VHS player (..most are..) but tolerances between the original equipment, on which the tape was recorded, and the playback device need to be fairly tight.
Have you tried adjusting the Tracking control? ..or try playing the tapes on a JVC player which has a 'BEST' facility, and which tries to adjust the tracking for you.
Otherwise, as Bengt suggests, try to play the tapes on various other machines till you find one which gives a decent picture!