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That's one of the big things with these VCR's....they are made of metal, not plastic. Sanyo started the trend in the 80's with their plastic base plates for the beta mechanisms (not sure about their VHS). Plastic tends to warp and bend where metal stays stiff and wards off motor vibrations better. Consequently Sanyo Beta machines are well known for sub-par performance. The point behind the VCR is to keep the tape as precisely aligned with the heads as possible, which a metal chassis is more apt to accomplish.
There are a lot of discrete components in these early VCRs as well. Today's may have slightly better circuitry, but it's all on silicon -- ICs can be packed more densely and more cheaply produced than individual transistors, RC networks, etc. A 1980 variant of today's circuits would be a small refrigerator in size if it could have been produced. Today they do that on what, 3 chips? However, when something goes wrong, which one would you rather work on? Modern VCRs are nonservicable one-time-use snap plastic and even if you could disassemble them, the parts aren't available from the manufacturers. Check out sci.electronics.repair and see what I mean. That PV-1250 could take a serious beating and still function. Not likely with modern junk.
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