Until yesterday, it played VHS tapes fine. Today, it decided to play only sound from the VHS side. VHS heads have been cleaned monthly.
Sound is clear and Hi-Fi stereo, but picture is flickery snow. Unit outputs via RCA yellow/red/white cables to input on my TV. TV IS set to correct input because we can see and hear DVDs when playing from that function.
Periodically, counter window displays strange "U:01" code. Is this an error code associated with loss of picture?? Is play head video finally shot??
You should clean the heads only when needed, not monthly. If you use a cleaning tape it will eat your heads really fast if used so frequently. I have been using VHS machines for years without any need for cleaning, usually problems arise only when you try to play a rented or old tape that sat unused for years.
Before thinking tired heads you could consider some dirt in the heads. You can let it play a long tape for some hours and see if it improves, quality tapes have good cleaning habilities. As a last resort try a good (wet) cleaning tape.
What did you use to clean the heads - the reason I ask is that if using one of the cassette based cleaners then these can are often abrasive and cause premature head wear, cleaning monthly is also too often unless the machine gets a lot of usage. Cleaning tapes also normally have a limited life (can be as little as 10 or 20 cleans) before they're worn out and start putting more dirt back on than they take off so if you've been using the same tape to clean the machine every month for the last 6 years that could be it.
My VHS machines only get cleaned when the picture noticeably degrades and then manually with either a chamois cleaning stick or cotton bud dipped in head cleaning fluid and my oldest machine is over 20 years old now and plays like when it was new (only replaced to get hifi sound - still used as source machine for copying my older home-recorded tapes to DVD at times).
It's possible it's not head wear but dirt on the heads - some machines have auto head cleaner built-in (usually a wheel covered in short lengths of cleaning tape that gets wiped across the heads whenever machine senses low playback signal level) to avoid the need for user to do their own cleaning, however the cleaner can get dirty with age and wipe dirt back onto the heads after user has cleaned them.
I cannot find any repair info for your machine but service manuals available online for a couple of other JVC machines I looked at would indicate that the U:01 error means the heads are dirty / clogged so need better cleaning.
If you can't get head cleaning fluid, alcohol will do. Let it dry thoroughly before playing a tape, or blow it dry with compressed air. Take care to clean the guide "ridge" under the helical-scan headwheel as well. The bottom edge of the videotape rides on that guide, and any dirt collecting there will cause the tape to ride above its proper position. You probably know all that already...
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.