I have a Mitsubishi HS-U448 VCR. It plays my VHS tapes fine, but I can't get a blue screen when I turn it on. When I press 'play', the movie looks great. Once I hit 'stop', it'

SOURCE: VCR eats tape when rewinding

A couple of possibilities: 1. Braking problems: When VCR goes from FFWD, REW, Play to stop, there are a pair of "brake pads" engaged to stop the reels, and prevent tape spillage out into the machine. These pads, often rubber like, are on levers which contact one side of each reel. If you take the cover off the VCR, and look down where the tape is loaded, you will like see these brake assemblies. If the rubber pad is missing, or lever pivot points gummied up, then this is your issue. 2. Take up reel isn't being engaged to take up the tape on tape eject. When a tape is loaded into the machine, tape is pulled from the cartridge and threaded into play ready position. When eject mode is engaged, the tape must be pulled back into the cartridge, or you will have tape hanging out the front end of the cartridge, and may get caught on the VCR internals, or at least be mangled by the cartridge door. The often issue here is likely the idler assembly pivot point is sticky. This idler pivots, moving from the take-up reel (right reel) to the supply reel reel (left one), depending on what mode is selected. FFWD & play to the right, left for REW. If this idler is gummed up at it's pivot point, movement will be sluggish at best, and might not be engaging the right reel quickly enough to pull tape in before tape eject. This idler is sitting right between the reels down where the tape sits. A little light oil on the pivot point may be enough to loosen it up. Otherwise it might need to be removed and the old grease removed, and a drop or two of light oil applied.

SOURCE: mitsubishi hs-u545 vhs vcr

Is timer selected? If so, you cannot "interrupt" it during this selection...accordianman

SOURCE: Plays for 3 secs, stops, and then ejects

This unit needs to have the "idler" changed as well as the belts. Over time, the internal rubber parts get hard ans slippery. There are safety checks inside that will stop the unit when problems are detected. With a slipppery idler assembly, the tape does not get wound into the cassette after passing the heads. Rather than have the tape collect inside and be destroyed, the unit stops. This is a relatively simple repair that any shop should be able to perform. Expect a parts cost in the $35 range. In my opinion, this unit is worth the repair as it will continue to provide service to you for years to come. New replacement units tend to last only a year or two.

Dan

SOURCE: Can we tape digital feed on a VCR and play it on an HD-ready tv?

You should be able to accomplish this. Run the antenna to your converter box. Run the video and audio outputs of the digital converter box to the inputs on your vcr. Your vcr should then be able to record the program (select line-in as the channel when setting up the recording). Hook your vcr audio and video output to your tv.
It's best to use a converter box that has an event timer - this allows the converter box to turn on at a specified time and channel. Otherwise you will need to manually set the channel you wish to record on the converterbox, and leave it turned on.

SOURCE: When VCR is turned on the TV screen turns blue but

I left it in today for an estimate of repair. Thanks for your interest.