Just picked up a Panasonic PV-1730 Hi-Fi VCR

[djfivos]

Hi. The PV-1730 was probably Panasonic's answer to the Sony SL-2700 Beta hi-fi. Like the 2700, it has direct drive reel motors and electronic servo-controlled back-tension. The same mechanism was incorporated into some Panasonic portable VCRs from the same time. The NV-180/PV-8000 being a good example.

Fivos

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by djfivos

The same mechanism was incorporated into some Panasonic portable VCRs from the same time. The NV-180/PV-8000 being a good example.

Fivos

And the stereo Hi-Fi PV-9000 portable, can't leave that one out!

[djfivos]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

And the stereo Hi-Fi PV-9000 portable, can't leave that one out!

Yeah. Quite amazing how they managed to cram the AFM circuits inside a unit that small in 1984.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by djfivos

Yeah. Quite amazing how they managed to cram the AFM circuits inside a unit that small in 1984.

Yes! But at the same time they didn't figure out how to keep the 8000 and 9000 VCRs from coming un-docked from the PV-A860 docking tuner charger power unit, until Panasonic came up with a modification kit a while later. Don't know how many of those I installed that kit in but it was a bunch!

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

Yes! But at the same time they didn't figure out how to keep the 8000 and 9000 VCRs from coming un-docked from the PV-A860 docking tuner charger power unit, until Panasonic came up with a modification kit a while later. Don't know how many of those I installed that kit in but it was a bunch!

Zenith and JVC in the 1980s had some pretty interesting Hi-Fi and Mono VCRs (one of them was a sideways loading front loading VCR) and most of those were also direct drive units as well.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Zenith and JVC in the 1980s had some pretty interesting Hi-Fi and Mono VCRs (one of them was a sideways loading front loading VCR) and most of those were also direct drive units as well.

Was warranty service for JVC and Zenith, HR-D470 sideways load, and those did not have direct drive reels. DD capstan motors, yes, and the cylinder of course. Even the relatively sophisticated HR-S5800 and S6700 that you could use two together with a remote controller for editing didn't. ☺ The big industrial VCRs might have though, we didn't see many of those.

Matsushita owned a large stake in JVC but they sure didn't share any chassis or anything else.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

Was warranty service for JVC and Zenith, HR-D470 sideways load, and those did not have direct drive reels. DD capstan motors, yes, and the cylinder of course. Even the relatively sophisticated HR-S5800 and S6700 that you could use two together with a remote controller for editing didn't. ☺ The big industrial VCRs might have though, we didn't see many of those.

Matsushita owned a large stake in JVC but they sure didn't share any chassis or anything else.

I've had a few JVC (and JVC's Rebadged as Zenith) that did have direct drive mechanisms (mostly the really high end prosumer grade Hi-Fi units.)

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

I've had a few JVC (and JVC's Rebadged as Zenith) that did have direct drive mechanisms (mostly the really high end prosumer grade Hi-Fi units.)

Look up any HR model JVC and I betcha there's a belt from the DD capstan motor to the reel drive mechanism. Pretty sure you're thinking about the "prosumer" industrial models. But hey I've been wrong more than once!


Thinking about it, some of them (HR) had a centrally located DC motor between the reels for reel drive but still used an idler wheel to move one way or the other depending which direction the tape needed to go.

You're probably thinking of JVC's "BR" line. My 2¢!

[djfivos]

The HR-D470 has a separate reel drive motor but it still uses an idler tire. There's no consumer JVC with direct drive take-up and supply "pancake motors" like the PV-1730 or SL-2700. Some Grundig European-market VHS VCRs from the mid 80s have a similar setup to the PV-1730, but those utilize the U-loading system like Betamax.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by djfivos

The HR-D470 has a separate reel drive motor but it still uses an idler tire. There's no consumer JVC with direct drive take-up and supply "pancake motors" like the PV-1730 or SL-2700. Some Grundig European-market VHS VCRs from the mid 80s have a similar setup to the PV-1730, but those utilize the U-loading system like Betamax.

Yep!

I remember getting in those HR-D470s and the Zenith version too, where the backup supercap would leak and make a mess of things on the front timer board as I recall.

Some would need the star washer under a screw on the bottom deck board to ground. I installed that washer on every similar chassis JVC that came in with even the potential of needing that, just so it wouldn't come back on me.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

Yep!

I remember getting in those HR-D470s and the Zenith version too, where the backup supercap would leak and make a mess of things on the front timer board as I recall.

Some would need the star washer under a screw on the bottom deck board to ground. I installed that washer on every similar chassis JVC that came in with even the potential of needing that, just so it wouldn't come back on me.

The one I'm thinking of, that I have currently, is the Prosumer grade version of the HR-U8000 S-VHS VCR, of course maybe I was thinking of the HR-U8000 S-VHS unit when I was thinking of one of the JVC VCRs I had (which I've had several over the years including JVC made Zenith VCRs) that was all direct drive...

And Yes I have also had the HR-U8000 S-VHS VCR as well, (which I got from the High School I went to when they retired it.)
Actually I had two of them, I also got one from a garage sale one time as well, the one I got from the school had its original remote and the one I got from the garage sale didn't, the one I got from my high school when they retired it had long since died and been junked out (including the remote) by the time I found the one at the garage sale a few years later.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

The one I'm thinking of, that I have currently, is the Prosumer grade version of the HR-U8000 S-VHS VCR, of course maybe I was thinking of the HR-U8000 S-VHS unit when I was thinking of one of the JVC VCRs I had (which I've had several over the years including JVC made Zenith VCRs) that was all direct drive...

And Yes I have also had the HR-U8000 S-VHS VCR as well, (which I got from the High School I went to when they retired it.)
Actually I had two of them, I also got one from a garage sale one time as well, the one I got from the school had its original remote and the one I got from the garage sale didn't, the one I got from my high school when they retired it had long since died and been junked out (including the remote) by the time I found the one at the garage sale a few years later.

That would be HR-S8000U...The one with the crappy switching mode power supply burns up in, melts the insulator sheet! Did not like it when I got assigned one to work on, at all! And no, not direct drive reels in that either.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

That would be HR-S8000U...The one with the crappy switching mode power supply burns up in, melts the insulator sheet! Did not like it when I got assigned one to work on, at all! And no, not direct drive reels in that either.

Ok, I thought it did have them (I had opened it up only once when I had it and I saw several motors under there but didn't realize it wasn't direct drive all around).
Sorry for the confusion.
The unit I have now which I think is the sister to the wood-grained S-VHS unit I was talking about is the HR-D630U Hi-Fi VHS VCR from 1987.

[Ed in Tx]

HR-D630U not S-VHS, a higher end consumer model, with central reel motor and idler drive. Any others?

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

HR-D630U not S-VHS, a higher end consumer model, with central reel motor and idler drive. Any others?

I didn't say it was S-VHS, I said it was the regular Hi-Fi VHS version of the S-VHS unit that JVC made that year because it had the same style front end layout.