TIL tracking down a bad audio sync on a bootleg Star Wars tape took me 4 hours

I found a beat up copy of the original trilogy on VHS at a thrift store last month. The audio was off by about 2 seconds in every scene after the first 10 minutes. I spent 4 hours adjusting the tracking and rewinding the tape thinking it was my player. Turns out someone had just recorded it off TV with a camera pointed at the screen, so the audio was naturally delayed. Has anyone else run into a weird fix that took way longer than it should have?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.stella16d ago

Wait, you actually fixed it by adjusting tracking? I used to think those old VCR settings were just for show but now I realize how much they actually matter for tape quality.

paulschmidt15d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way myself, totally get it now.