I'm converting some old VHS tapes to DVD, and all is going well.
The last VHS tape, however, is different than the others. Where you would normally have 2 "cogs" for the two reels, this tape only has one, while the takeup wheel "cog" is more or less blocked off:
When I insert the tape, it doesn't go down all the way into the player (I'm assuming because the plastic piece above is blocking where the gear would normally go). The VHS player panics, and spits the tape out.
How can I resolve this? And to satisfy my curiosity, what is this piece and why is it there?