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"Wet" head cleaners are okay; these usually come with a special cleaning solution that the mechanism carefully applies to the heads. While they may not always work as well as you'd like them to, at least they won't damage your gear. "Dry" head cleaners are questionable. They use an abrasive material that actually grinds the surface of the video head each time you use them. Professionals usually steer clear of this type of head cleaners because they can shorten the life of your video (and audio) heads. Here's how the service pros do it: they open up the VCR or camcorder and apply cleaning fluid with specially-designed chamois-tipped cleaners. This is not recommended for the home user--you can easily knock the heads out of alignment or otherwise damage your gear. If all else fails, pay someone to do it. It's not the cheapest way, but you'll get it done by a professional who can also clean the rest of the machine and check for other problems.
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