Video Recorder Sound But No Video

Thanks to Brian Conneller for the following question about playing back videotapes via a SCART connection.

VCR: Sound but no video

“I have connected my old VCR recorder/player to my digital TV via SCART connections. When I play the tape I get the sound but not the vision.

I am only concerned with playing old tapes, not recording onto them. Can you help?”

Sure – We’ll help if we can. Here are a few things to check:

First off, make sure you have inserted the SCART connector firmly into the socket on the video recorder and on the back of the TV set. SCART leads have 20 tiny pins inside and if the plug is not connected firmly into the socket, then not all of the pins make contact, resulting in either a loss of audio, video or both

One end of a SCART lead

If you’re sure that the lead is firmly inserted at both ends, then the next thing to check is the SCART lead itself. It’s very easy for the pins inside a SCART lead to get bent, again leading to a loss of video, audio or both. Try a different lead.

Still no video?

If you’re sure it’s not the lead or the connectors that are at fault, then it’s either the video recorder’s output, or the TV’s Line In that’s at fault. More things to try:

• Does your TV set have more than one SCART socket? If so, try another one, remembering to switch the TV to the other “Line In / AUX” channel
• Do you have something else with a SCART socket, such as a Freeview box or DVD Player? Try plugging this into your TV via SCART. If it works, it proves that the lead and the TV are OK, meaning the fault may be with the video recorder
• Try plugging the video recorder into a different TV via SCART. If the video plays OK on another telly, you’ve proved the VCR and the SCART lead are OK

If you’re still having problems, please add a comment below giving as much information as possible on what you’ve tried.