• A VCR was acquired

    David Troetschel • 02/18/2019 at 03:51 • 0 comments

    I managed to pick up a VCR from a local thrift store along with a cassette.

    Its innards are clearly labeled, but complex.

    There are many redundant components for what i intend to use it for but it will do as an initial exploration.

    Ultimately I want to determine, what if any affect nearby electro-magnetic radiation have upon the magnetic read heads as concerns audio (as in my experiments with cassette players) and video output (to be determined)

    The read heads were examined and then tested using an existing VHS tape.

    The operating mechanism was examined with Eno Zaimaj who assisted in conducting preliminary test on influences of video and audio playback.

    As compared to "normal" playback, introduction of a cellphone with a known emission pattern exhibited an effect on video quality in the form of intermittent white flashes and brief pulses and stripes of color, subtle in nature. The influence must be at a close range and seems to have limited results.

    To confirm the observed pattern, the tape itself was bypassed by tripping mechanical and a seemingly optical switch so that the VCR read in play mode as if a tape was loaded when it was in fact empty. This yielded a dark screen and even in the presence of the phone emission source displayed no prominent effect, less so than when it was mixed with the reference video.

    The initial finding seem promising, further investigations and documentation will follow.