need tips. loosing stereo tracking on vcr
 

what is it that makes a video loose its stereo tracking?

after lending a friends 15 year old panasonic 2 head vcr i realised it works much better at keeping the stereo tracking over my 5 year old 4 head stereo sharp vc-h600!

i have tried adjusting the tracking to best position possible without loosing picture but still no go.
also tried pressing on the video tape with my hand while playing and moving the tape about in all directions, left, right, tilt up, push forward, no go.

i remember there was a trick for music cassette tapes we used (at our poor community radio), when it starts play up muffled and dull, we would take the tape out and lick or put a bit of saliva on the tip of the tape and most of the time it worked!

i have not tried this yet with video but i would apreciate any tips, no matter how stupid it may sound for getting the video to keep its consistency in stereo tracking, of course it does not happen with all tapes but as i said my friends 15 year old 2 head vcr never lost its tracking with the tapes i had problems with.

owen.