How did the tracking function work on VCRs?

[MaxDSP]

Anyone still remember VCRs anyway?


My mom's watching an old ass movie on VHS right now, and I had to adjust the tracking for it. How did that work?

 

[amdskip]

Doesn't it do something to adjust the track mechanism that the tape is "projected" through?

 

[amnesiac]

it positions the head up or down a very tiny bit to compensate for mis-positioning of the tape itself, AFAIK.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
it positions the head up or down a very tiny bit to compensate for mis-positioning of the tape itself, AFAIK.

Yep, pretty much.

 

[dman]

Before autotracking, the wheel would let you manually adjust the angle of the head to the tape. Now it's automagically done but they sometimes have an override (and sometimes Not--I hate that).

Diagrams and explanation here. Pretty interesting, never read it before!

 

[crab]

Originally posted by: dman6666
Before autotracking, the wheel would let you manually adjust the angle of the head to the tape. Now it's automagically done but they sometimes have an override (and sometimes Not--I hate that).

Diagrams and explanation here. Pretty interesting, never read it before!

OMG I used to have that old skool black vcr back in the 80s-90s....Shown in that pic is only part of it...it had like a big caddy (think docking station) that went under it, and beside. The dock had a tuner, a clock, lcd etc. The player section you see could be carried around with a strap....a video camera was hooked to it, and the VCR recorded. It lasted like 15 years untill we upgraded.

Here's the entire thing
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