Old Races - How to Watch Them

So I have MANY hi end VHS tapes - probably 200+ races recorded in hi speed so they are essentially - the best quality possible. These are from 1988 - 2002 with some races missing from 1992 and 1993 - as there was no cable TV offered at the college I was at. Conosour helped me out with those so thankfully I have much of those two seasons now.

 

In any case - despite getting hi end tapes - a decent 4 head hi fi VCR and recording these races at the optimal speed, they look like complete ****.

 

So I am thinking - why pay someone to bump these to a USB or online account when they already are garbage?

 

So I get the F1 app - holy cow there are very few races that they offered in their historical library - few may be generous at that.

 

So what to do... Where or what is the best option(s) to watch older races with decent quality?

 

 

Hopefully not teaching Granny to suck eggs but ...

 

Have you tried fast-winding the tape to the end and then rewinding before playing? I think it helps overcome what I technically call stickiness.

Good advice Odseybod, it's ALWAYS a good idea to do that with a tape that hasn't been played in a while. When I worked in BBC Radio all our tapes were stored 'tail out' so that WHENEVER they were played the whole tape had to be rewound before playback.

My VHS collection is similar and Tony’s advice is spot on.

Perhaps someday I’ll settle down and convert to digital. But they were all recorded on great stock and with a four-head NEC deck — and to be honest, I love the look and feel and flaws the very same as I prefer old music LPs to crummy and sterile CDs.