Which is better or more preferred? I've seen the dry tape cleaning cassettes and the one where you put a few drops to clean the heads.

None of them to clean a DVD player. The only thing you can do with those is lift the cover off and blow the dust out with clean compressed air. Do Not touch the optical assembly--if you can even get to it.

Koz

Shoot what a stupid mistype on my part. I menat DV Video camera cleaner tapes! OY! *slaps head*

VCR cleaning tapes can be dangerous. They are basically very fine grain sandpaper running through the delicate rotating video heads. The wet version may actually be worse. They can stop the heads from rotating and prevent the tape from ejecting.

First, VCR heads--most of them--are self cleaning. The are designed to slowly wear away and take dirt with them. The early version of the M-II professional format didn't have head wear, almost at all, but you had to stop every so often, take the machine apart and clean the heads manually. It wasn't a good tradeoff.

You can clean the heads manually if you feel up to it (we are talking about a VHS machine, right?). Unplug it, take the screws out of the cover, lift it off, and find the silvery round head stack. If you give it a gentle push, it will spin.

Put a little rubbing alcohol on a paper towel and gently hold it against the rotating stack and spin the stack with your other finger. Do not move the paper towel. You should feel the little heads bumping by under your finger.

The first time you look at the paper towel, you should see a little brownish smudge. That's the "dirt" or tape dust. Do it all again until the paper towel comes off clean.

You should clean all the tape contact surfaces like that, but that can get dangerous in a small space like the inside of a VCR.

Put the case back on, plug it in, and check it out. You can power it up with the case off if you want to see what happens to the tape inside a modern VCR. Do NOT shine bright lights inside the machine while it's running. No sunlight, no flashlights. Normal room lighting is OK.

If we're talking about a MiniDV Camcorder, they are very dangerous to clean manually. Run the approved cleaning tape *only* for the approved time and that's it. Those heads, too, are self cleaning and the only time they will fail is if you have a really dirty or ratty tape.

Koz

Thanks Greg. I did mean MiniDV Camcorders. I will stick to the approved cleaning tape when I'll need to. I just purchased my first $2000 Mini DV camcorder, so I wanted to know how cleaning was performed.

What's a VCR? I've never even heard of VHS. Is that like a what some people refer to as records or LPs?

I'm just teasing.

Our facility stands ready to record your video onto any format except Edison Cylinder. Our Cylinder Cutter is in the shop.

Koz

My dad just bought a cylinder player.

Anyone want an mp3 of Alderman Davis' stump speech?

Anyone know who Alderman Davis was?

(I hope it's not copyrighted)

Isn't Alderman Davis the guy from the TV Show Good Times? They nicknamed him Balderman Davis.

Ohh, ya caught me.

I can't remember his actual name...I know the cylinder my dad played for me was an alderman...but much after that...

I could hardly make out three words strung together! Maybe when he gets a new needle...

I'm sure you are all waiting in eager anticipation for that!

I think I have Persident McKinley speaking.

Koz