Hold it fellas, before this gets any more off course.
Blocked heads don't usually result in no image at all. You might get a partial image with the rest a black & white scramble, but you should get something. No image at all suggests either a cabling problem or the TV not being happy to sync to the wobbly* VHS signal.
Sync - a timing signal. This is your main concern. Unless a flatscreen has a SCART socket, and you previously used that set with a VCR, then it's safer to presume the TV won't lock onto VHS sync via its AV inputs.
Don't panic though, there is a solution. Grab an aerial cable and hook up RF OUT on the VCR to ANT IN on the TV.
Next, take the TV remote (yes, the proper TV remote. No, not the Sky remote or Virgin remote that just happens turn the telly on and off, and do the volume), then hunt around for some batteries because the ones in the proper TV remote are either flat or have leaked. Clean up the contacts and fit the batteries.
Up and running yet? Good.
Your TV has a tuner for Freeview,
but also a tuner for analogue TV signals. That's what you're going to switch to:- analogue. That's the right type for the VCR. (Read TV manual if unsure how to engage analogue tuner.)
Put the VCR on and set a tape playing so long as you're sure it won't eat the tape. Use a non-precious cassette if in doubt. (Get feature film from local charity shop / car boot.) Alternatively, see if you can work out how to switch on the VHS tuning test pattern. Could be a small switch on the back of the VCR.
Now get to the
TV tuning menu. You just need analogue tuning, not digital. Set it going and let the telly search for the VCR signal. Follow the telly instructions for allocating a channel and storing the setting. Switch off the tuning signal if you used it.
At this point you should have some kind of picture from the VCR. It might be just snow if the VCR is in tuner mode, or the picture and sound from a tape if playing. This should show you whether or not the tape heads are blocked.
Once you have RF working then, if you wish, you can continue to try to get a signal to the TV by AV, but personally I wouldn't bother. RF is close enough to AV quality just for monitoring. Leave the AV connections free for the USB capture device.
Next, getting AV Out to work.
Where a VCR has SCART, it might have one or two. For those decks with two SCART sockets, let's start by eliminating the one you
don't want to connect to. This would be the DECODER so ket, sometimes coloured blue, but in all cases it should say DECODER over the socket.
The socket you
do want will probably be labelled
TV. The next stage is getting picture and sound out of it.
Since the SCART connection has 21 pins (not 25, that would be DB25 for say a parallel printer port connection), then there are enough pins for SCART to be a bi-directional connection. Because of that, any adaptor plug or lead involving RCA plugs or sockets could be either an input or an output connection. We want it to be an output connection.
Here's the tricky part then, because vendors are either ignorant or careless, and because ordinary Joe end-users don't really understand directionality, finding a one-way lead that is correctly named is something of a lottery.
The safest option is to get something switchable. If there are only two options, either In or Out, then it's a 50/50 chance that one is correct. If there's no signal, then it's the
other setting. Simples.
"
Ah, what about RGB via SCART?" - some might ask.
For a DVD player or a set top box, yeah, sure, you'd need to think about that. VCRs though are all composite devices. They don't use RGB.
That should be it. If the VCR is working correctly, and you can see picture and hear sound via the RF connection, then AV should work too unless some bodger has had a go.
eBay is full of VCRs. A lot come from house clearances or picked up at car boot sales. Some chancers give them a rub over within damp rag and try to claim that the remotes are available online cheap. The good VCRs come from homes where the machine has been owned from new and might even have been in regular use. They're more expensive, but a safer bet. Here's one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235481167115
* wobbly - yep, technical term, right there. LOL
