1987 GE 3 Head Hi-Fi Stereo VCR Acquired Today

[vortalexfan]

Hello Everyone, today I went through some more of my great-grandfather's stuff today and I was able to get my hands on his 1987 GE 3 Head Stereo VCR Model 9-7675 which is a rebadged Panasonic VCR, but I'm not sure which Panasonic model this GE VCR crossed to.

This VCR has been in storage for over 10 years and hasn't been used on a regular basis for at least 20 years or so and when I got it home and went to test it out, the VCR still worked like brand new yet which I was shocked about that because most VCRs that sit unused for long periods of time usually need new belts at least, but not this one.

The really surprising part is how good of picture and audio this thing produced, the video quality out of this thing was near HD Quality (720i quality or early CRT HDTV quality) and the sound quality was like that of a High Quality Stereo Receiver from the 1970s, and I had this VCR Hooked up to my 2015 Vizio 60" LED HDTV, and this was a 3-Head VCR!

I would appreciate some information about this VCR and how much of a score this VCR was (my guess is that this VCR was NOT cheap when it was brand new in 1987).

Here's some pictures of the unit in question posted below.

[dishdude]

That's not a Hi-Fi VCR, it's stereo. Some lower end models up until around 1990 offered this as a lower cost way to get better sound. It's a well built and pretty cool unit having all the buttons on the front panel, a nice big VFD along with on-screen display.

This is right at a transition point in VCRs and includes a lot of old and new features. A cool find for sure.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by dishdude

That's not a Hi-Fi VCR, it's stereo. Some lower end models up until around 1990 offered this as a lower cost way to get better sound. It's a well built and pretty cool unit having all the buttons on the front panel, a nice big VFD along with on-screen display.

This is right at a transition point in VCRs and includes a lot of old and new features. A cool find for sure.

Ok, so what's the difference between a "HiFi" and and a "Stereo" VCR? I thought a HiFi VCR was Stereo?

Also I thought Non-HiFi VCRs didn't have Stereo Tuners? This one has a Stereo Tuner complete with MTS Stereo decoding and two different SAP modes.

This VCR has the Same exact features as my JVC HR-D630U Which is a HiFi VCR from 1987.

Anyways just asking out of curiosity.

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Ok, so what's the difference between a "HiFi" and and a "Stereo" VCR? I thought a HiFi VCR was Stereo?

Also I thought Non-HiFi VCRs didn't have Stereo Tuners? This one has a Stereo Tuner complete with MTS Stereo decoding and two different SAP modes.

This VCR has the Same exact features as my JVC HR-D630U Which is a HiFi VCR from 1987.

Anyways just asking out of curiosity.

This is a great explanation. You have a linear stereo deck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Or...r_audio_system

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by dishdude

This is a great explanation. You have a linear stereo deck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Or...r_audio_system

Interestingly enough that article said that Linear Stereo Decks were Superior to HiFi Decks because the audio channel heads don't have to switch back and forth like HiFi decks do.

[KentTeffeteller]

They are inferior, not superior. Regular linear track was bad enough, splitting it in half for Stereo even worse. Want VCR based audio, get a Sony U-Matic or Beta deck, and a PCM F-1 and do it right.

[John Adams]

I had Beta Hifi units. If my memory is correct; beta had space left on the tape layout to add the hifi audio to the video track. VHS used a separate stereo head to record a linear audio track, non hifi. About 2 years after Sony developed HiFi, VHS came up with a way to add the audio to the spinning video track. One deck I had, had the ability to turn off the video so you could use the vcr as an audio recorder with near CD quality.

[Electronic M]

As long as tracking and tape is good VHS HiFi has FAR better audio than the linear tracks....Heck it IIRC frequency response, noise and dynamic range are better than CD quality.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

As long as tracking and tape is good VHS HiFi has FAR better audio than the linear tracks....Heck it IIRC frequency response, noise and dynamic range are better than CD quality.

I do have a JVC Hi-Fi VCR from 1987 (this one is actually a Hi-Fi VCR, complete with its original manual and remote), its a Model HR-D630U.
This was the Hi-Fi VHS version of the HR-S8000U S-VHS VCR that JVC made at the same time (same front panel layout and everything).

But I have reserved the use of that unit for my LCD Projector setup in my basement.

See picture below.

[waltchan]

The original Panasonic belts from factory are some of the most-durable and longest-lasting around. They never, ever melt, or turn to goo.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by waltchan

The original Panasonic belts from factory are some of the most-durable and longest-lasting around. They never, ever melt, or turn to goo.

That's good to know.

I used to have a Panasonic Omnivision Stereo VCR from 1984 that I had given a friend of mine so he could have a VCR again and that one for some reason has an issue with wanting to eat tapes when stoping a tape during playback and going to eject it from the machine, which is something to do with the idler tire I think because that machine has brand new belts on it and the belts have nothing to do with the loading and unloading of the tape from the cassette housing during playback and stop/eject.

BTW the VCR was working when I gave it to my friend, but then after a while of him having it was when it started acting up.

[Electronic M]

Diodes and transistors sometimes short when they are feeding excessive current into a shorted capacitor.

I'm not one to advise on troubleshooting that kind of issue as once something that new fails that bad I usually throw it out.

If all you care about is the tape there are ways of recovering tapes from dead mechs.
If the tape isn't threaded onto head drum simply locate the motor that actuates the eject mechanism and hook a 9V battery up to get it to spit the tape out (reverse polarity if it don't move the right direction), or if the eject mech is jammed unscrew stuff above the tape till you can lift the tape out by hand.

If the tape is threaded before you can work the eject mech you need to find the threading motor and get it to spin to the unthread position (9V battery again is good for that) then find a way to spin the supply or take up reel on the tape to suck all the tape back into the cassette. Once all the tape is back into the cassette shell you can safely skip to the above paragraph on the eject mech.

[damen]

Somewhere on the power supply "box" you should find the Panasonic part number, should start with something like "VEJS" or similar. Shorted transistors, avalanche diodes and the caps were frequently bad together. Sometimes it was cheaper to order the whole unit from Panasonic rather than piece it back together. With the part number you may be able to search for one.

[centralradio]

Agree .Linear audio track from the stationary ACE head.EP speed sounds like AM radio with the wow and flutter like a cheap cassette recorder..SP mode was like FM radio on a cheap blank cassette.

It was a god send when the HiFi stereo VCRs came out .Thats when I bought a Panasonic HiFi Stereo portable VCR with tuner in 1985...Since it did not have a built in MTS decoder.I had the Rat Shack Realistic TV-100 MTS receiver hooked up on it..

vortalexfan.Thats Youtube gold with those old tapes..

With jammed tapes.I usually hand wind the drives with my fingers to get the tapes out.Do it slowly for the tape damage dont get worse.

[old_tv_nut]

40 71 could be just a date code for 40th week of 1971, if that fits the date of manufacture of the VCR.
Edit: although that seems very early.