Y DON'T my videos work but some do? Surely 10 vhs haven't suddenly gone bad?

[Videopainic]

I don't have any close family left that I grew up with and in devastated that these videos just suddenly don't seem to work.

Some do so it's not the vhs player. Is there anything I can do?

They may have been stored in too high heat or near a magnetic source?

You could look for whether there are specialist stores which have experience with restoration. I would not hand over all at once (for safety reasons); I would try one and first see what they can do.
There are specialist services for converting old photos or negative film to different formats, so I assume something similar might exist for tapes.

Once you found out what can be done, it might be a good move to secure the working movies on a current format, too. You could also see whether photos can be made from still scenes.

@ForestAtTheSea thank you so much. Re storage they are just in the house and I don't think anything magnetic is around.
. I've emailed a company, I didn't realise there ate special companies but I guess many people like me have such special memories on them!

What kind of error do you have? Are they not running at all, or do they seem "empty"? Or something else? Sometimes the tape accidentally moves on the spool if they are stored horizontally, and that could mean they don't play properly anymore.

VHS tapes need storing upright, and like most media, cool (but not fridge-like) and dry spaces. The past years summers were very hot, that might have already been a factor, even if they're not next to the heating or anything.

I hope the company you found can help you with securing the tapes. In any case, with important media it's worth to make copies and store them in multiple places/formats. I still like printed photos; they don't degrade as fast as a harddrive can develop a fault.

Neighbour's shelf full of tapes had gone moldy :( you could see it on the reels through the little windows. She was lucky in that they were just bought ones, not wedding and birthday tapes that were elsewhere and still fine.

Oh no... Mine were just near the TV but perhaps too hot.

I will look for mould.

I found a company that will look at them, it's 75 pounds for 4 I think and if they are blank that won't charge me but will for courier.