MOLD ON TAPES! How I Clean VHS VIDEO TAPES ** DIGITIZING HOME MOVIES 

That hacked rewinder-turned-cleaner is BRILLIANT! Luckily all my VHS is stored in a climate controlled storage unit - but every now and then I do come across a tape with some mold. Thanks for the genius idea!

if there's anything i learned from watching channels like odd tinkering and now this, people will absolutely watch 30 minute long videos of you cleaning mold off tapes (myself included)

Its always nice to see other people's tricks: the coffee filter, the fact that you scotch the tape on the reel and not struggle with that little hatch, and the bandage tape.

That’s an absolutely genius setup for a tape cleaner! I own a small media conversion studio and have been looking for a tape cleaning solution! Great content also!

Thanks so much for this video! 📼 Now I know far, far, more than 24 hours ago! Mold on a magnetic tape is such a bizarre thing if you don't know it can happen, and knowing how to clean it properly arguably matters even more than how to do good transfers, because mold can be passed from a moldy tape to all other equipment and tapes, even into your prize transfer player. But you mustn't forget to clean the case/shell from the mold as well; bits of it are definitely in the case, and if you clean a VHS cassette, you want to clean it thoroughly so it doesn't regrow. 📼

Thank you so much for making this video! You inspired me to modify one of those VHS rewinders. I subscribed to your channel.

found your videos a few days ago, and started bingeing videos, jumping around randomly, then i saw we have basically the same bankers lamp on our desks. a lot of the (private) videos on my channel are all home movies i've been asked to digitize, lol!

Love the ingenuity on that take rewinder.

Coffee filters are an interesting choice... one thing I might try as a potential alternative is (automotive) blue shop towels.

You can build a cleaner machine out of a old vhs rewinder machine.

This is a GREAT tutorial. Nice😊

Question: How many cleaning cycles do you perform on the tape before attempting to play it in the VCR? How do you determine if the VHS is ready? Do you rewind and clean the tape a certain number of times in the VCR rewinder and the Geneva cleaner, then play it and hope it works?

4:45 - they're called 'bobbins'.

Thanks for your video, from a VHS collector in the kingdom of Eswatini. I was already thinking of building a cleaning machine.

Great Job First Class !!!

Since video tape cleaners are hard to find nowadays, how many passes do you recommend doing when using a modified tape rewinder to clean the mold off the VHS tapes before playing them in a VCR? I plan on getting a VHS rewinder for this purpose.

Very cool demo, I appreciate it! Just for the hell of it, why not have some sort of small filter fan right in the area where all that mold is flaking off those tapes. If you can see it and smell it, there is an absolute TON in the air which is horrible for you (as well as all of your equipment)!

📼 I would want to wear a mask so that not quite so many of those mold-spores don't get inhaled which can't possibly be all that good for you in the long-run and maybe make you sick or something with who knows what you could come down with, I'm not sure (?) 👎😵‍💫

Hello, I'm enjoying your videos. Could you please inform me about the material on the small reel that is wrapped around the cleaning post and subsequently soaked with isopropyl?

Wonderful job 🎉

Sean, How many years have you been in the Video Transfer biz? I have 18+ yrs of Video Production Experience and about the same with the video transfer part of my Biz. i have always did Tape to DVD. a year ago i started with elgato it is a great tool for doing this to the standard mp4 (H.264). Now for transfer the super8 i have a wolverine/Reflex Scanner & a wolverine slide scanner get one of those as well your never know when you will have a customer that wants slides done to jpeg file.

If you can locate the leader pins for either ends of the tape and snap them on, they won't unspool in the player.

How did you build the cleaner out of a rewinder? The control panel of the device usually on the top cover. Removing it gets unable to turned it on.

Boring to you but very very informative. Great tutorial. 👍 Moldy tape is going to be more more regular because of age and storage issues. I use the video tape 5.3 cleaner to clean all tapes that is needing a clean. Also have you figured out anything that will replace the cleaning pads on the geneva cleaner? Thanks again for sharing your valuable knowledge.

On The Geneva Tape Cleaning Machine, I Just Found One But Its Missing The Top Blue Piece And The Two Top Pads, Question Do You Know Where I Can Get Spare Pieces Or Do You Have Any Spares? Just Curious If You Know Anywhere I Can Get These Parts?

Did u think about audio transfer from dat's vinyl and cassettes and 8 tracks and mini disc

really interesting video!

I'm from Brazil and I like your work, Where can I buy the GENEVA rewinder

Yeah VHS tapes are sadly prone to molding like crazy. I too have a few and plan to re-purpose an old VCR not suitable for playback anymore and turn it into a cleaning machine with some DIY modifications. I have already cleaned some Audio cassettes by hand a while ago and thankfully magnetic tape can be cleaned easily and it's ALWAYS worth doing it. Much better than throwing away precious memories. Also always tell people to never throw away their original Mediums like Super 8 or Videotapes because no matter how good the digitized result may look, you shall never only depend on THAT one digitization but instead keep the originals for archival purposes. You never know when you gonna need them again. ESPECIALLY film reels are very good for longterm archival purposes. Also if you can justify it financially at one point, you should definitely invest into a better super 8 transfer machine :)

what are these rollers called

What brand/model of tape rewinder did you use?

If a mouldy tape is played in a VCR, will the mould spread to other tapes if played in that same VCR?

ok so THAT's how you clean'em up. gotta give it a go.

How often do you get moldy tapes?

What happens if you play the video with mold. Besides getting the head dirty. Will the quality look bad?

Do a video on moldy betamax and 8mm video tapes.

I would've clean the tape and change the whole case with new case

Why not just transfer? Using a junk vcr for moldy tapes . If you’re using alcohol you’re damaging the tape as well. You realize alcohol is ruining the tape and destroying /removing the lubricant of the vhs You’re basically spit shining the tape to look presentable All you need is to digitize the tape.

how to open vhs rewinder cover

That cheap tape will not hold up I use legit super glue to fix broken tapes

eaast indias fault, they think being too poor to collect tapes in the 1990's counts for something. cisco lost a ten million subscriber contract in canada, because the cable box outputted 340p from the rca jack thus screwing old fashioned tape rec devices

Using Alcohol to clean the vhs tape its not a good idea tape will get more damage.how can u use a Alcohol.

???,, no response..