What would cause this video colour problem?

Recently I had a video recording made of a funeral. I was given the
VHS video tape at the end of the service. When I got home and played
the tape I noticed that the picture kept alternating from colour to
black and white. I tried adjusting the tracking control and I tried
playing the tape in a different video tape recorder but with no luck
in fixing the problem. The picture is stable and the sound is clear.

Can someone please tell me what might have caused this problem? Is
there some way of fixing the problem?

Regards Brian

 

"Brian" wrote ...

Go back to the source (undisclosed?) and see if they can play
it back successfully on the original recorder. If they can, then
likely it is a significant alignment/tracking problem. Use their
machine to make a good copy.

If it won't play for them, either, then it is likely a more serious
problem that may not be fesable to try to "fix". You may have
to just turn off the color all together to salvage it.

 

Thanks Richard,
I'll try and get the source to make a test recording
and if it has the same fault when played back then I know that nothing
can be done.

Regards Brian