I was dead wrong about those tape rewinder machines

Always thought tape rewinder machines were a scam to sell people something they didn't need. Picked up a Star Trek II tape from Goodwill in Portland last month and it played all choppy. Figured I'd try a rewinder for $12 just to see. Ran that tape through it three times and now the picture is clean as a whistle. Has anyone else had a rewinder actually fix a finicky tape?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kim23d ago

My buddy Gary picked up a copy of The Thing on VHS at a garage sale in Beaverton. Looked like it had been through a war. Skipped and warped all over the place. He grabbed a rewinder at a thrift store for five bucks and ran it back and forth maybe four or five times. Swears it plays perfectly now. I still think it's mostly a novelty but for really beat up tapes it might actually do something. He said the machine just smooths out the tape ribbon or something.

gavinhunt22d ago

Huh, did Gary ever actually check if there's a difference in the tape tension after running it through that many times? I mean, four or five passes seems like overkill unless the ribbon is actually getting physically straightened out. Maybe it's just the repeated heat and pressure from the rewinder that's helping, not the smoothing part?