You were right, I received new (different) discs from Japan today, the player plays them perfectly, both sound and video.
And those discs that I had, I most likely ruined when washing.

I glad that’s solved!

Yes indeed, that was not a good action at all. But, I am glad to hear that you got some good discs, and that your stylus is still good (probably the most important fact here).

The discs looking worse near the end than the beginning would be because the stylus moves a longer distance per second of video on the outer part of a disc versus the inner area. (I am assuming that VHD discs are played starting at the center, as laser discs are.)

If you want a real challenge, you could attempt to learn whether your washed discs could be re-lubricated or restored some other way. But, trying anything like that might cause damage to your player's (unreplaceable!) stylus, so it is almost certainly not worth even trying.

You're not supposed to get the discs out of their caddie by yourself.

That's why they are encased in the first place.

https://disclord.tripod.com/vhddiscworld/id3.html


Yes, you permanently damaged them, you can trash them now.

Julien

But still, even these last discs that I bought have significantly worse video and sound reproduction from the middle of the disc, and especially at the end.

Hey dejavu,
just out of curiosity because I would like to know if it is a language thing / no fingerpointing.

What do you mean by "washing" the discs? Are you talking about cleaning them with the wrong substance (Isopropanol or similar) or do you literally mean you... well... did wash them in a sink?

Cheers,
Markus

I washed it in running water with liquid soap in the sink.

Wow okay.
Please make this a sticky post so nobody else will ever try to test this again... ever.