VCRs that will last forever

[dr.ido]

I was actually going through some of my old tapes last night and I was actually suprised at how good a picture VHS can do. Of course Laserdiscs (when in decent condition) and DVDs (except for those shitty cheapo DVDs made from VHS masters and then overly compressed) provide a better picture, but if like me you haven't actually watched a VHS tape for a while you may be surprised.

The other benefit of course is movies on VHS are now dirt cheap. Around here you can regularly pick up large boxes of VHS tapes (usually a mix of original and home recorded tapes) for a couple of bucks. Heh, if the tapes are old enough even the ads can be entertaining.

I usually pick up at least a couple of decent movies each week that have been left in the VCRs that come across my bench. There are usually a few DVDs stuck in players as well, but most of those aren't worth watching (those stay on the bench for testing).

Most of my VHS decks are relatively new (90s), I don't even remember the last time I saw an old tank come through. I do have a big old Umatic machine around here somewhere that I will get around to checking out one of these days.

[Telecolor 3007]

I have am 1985-86 "Panasonic" NV-630PX. I still use it (I enherited it 3 yrs ago). It can records on N.T.S.C. 3.58 too! The problem is that tuner is old (so I have to input signal from the tv, and the tv set have just 1 tuner, so the V.C.R. records what is on the tv screen) and it haves only 2 heads, so the image isn't too good. But the case is metal made (execept the front panel, which is plastic made) and it's an partial direct-drive V.C.R.
As soon as I can will repair my Betamax V.C.R. (an 1981-82 "Sony" SL-C7E, the first model with APS-Automatic Picture Search). The side I don't like about it is that the V.C.R. works only on P.A.L.
With all that the amatuer V.C.R.'s (V.H.S., S-V.H.S., Betamax, Video-2000) may not always provide a good image as such as a D.V.D. can, I love V.C.R.'s.
I'm sittin' and waiting for the moment when the Romanians will start to throu D.V.D. playres - I will love to jump on them and smash them with a sledge hammer - the V.C.R.'s will be revenge

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by dr.ido

The other benefit of course is movies on VHS are now dirt cheap. Around here you can regularly pick up large boxes of VHS tapes (usually a mix of original and home recorded tapes) for a couple of bucks. Heh, if the tapes are old enough even the ads can be entertaining.

Recently my wife has had trouble finding shows worth watching so shes been digging out tapes I made in the late 80s/early 90s. In many cases she doesn't care for the shows I taped (old documenteries, "Our World", the Smothers Brothers, etc.) so she just fast forwards through the show & watches the commercials!

I just parted out our first VCR, an '86 Panasonic. I probably should have saved it but the power supply board had some crispy critters on it & a blown fuse. My Mom really ran that thing to death. I was looking for one to use back in the tv room; one of the ones in the pile is a Sears (Sanyo) that I bought at a flea market 10 years ago for about $10. The second time I used it the tape got destroyed. It must have been a fluke because now everything seems okay so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Its a stereo unit.

[Dave A]

Just returned from a trip to the attic to dig this beast out. I gotta stop reading these threads. Too much stuff re-appearing around here.

This was a high-end RCA VCR somewhere in the early 80's...my poor years. It is a slim-style, not a tank. I think I paid around $700 for it. About half the price of that used Chevy Malibu wagon I owned then. It has not seen a volt for over 10 years and powered right up. The only thing not working is the channel select on the remote and I cannot set the clock. When I last ran it, it had a head bearing noise that is now gone. Time will tell.

It is a SP-SLP only machine and is working like a champ. Not sure if it plays LP yet. It's claim to fame is it has an early digital frame buffer of some sort, probably field rate, that all playback goes through.

If you do a manual tracking adjustment in any mode and go too far, it mutes the video to black. Too much sync garbage for the frame buffer. It does a true digital freeze frame, pic in pic and pic move from corner to corner, and two useless DVE (their early term for this) functions...pixelated and solarization to amaze your neighbors with. About the same functions we had at the TV station I worked at then.

It has a true digital slow function with tracking adjust and speed adjust. They are perfect after using the remote tracking adjustment.

I bought it for the freeze frame and slow function. It was useful in my early 3/4" productions where I needed a freeze or slow-motion. I would loop the video through it and get my freeze on the fly. Or I would copy to VHS to get the slow. Don't look too closely at the blanking width or the digital artifacts at the top of the screen. The client never knew.

I may add it to the old VHS to DVD dubbing system I am running to clear the house of all those old tapes. It will be perfect for the problem tapes that look nasty on the current VHS decks I am using.

And to help another question, Macrovision was disabled on Beta copies because Beta inserted a new sync pulse which is where Macrovision is hidden. Not sure if early VHS did the same trick.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane and a prod to get this beast running again.

Dave A

[dr.ido]

Heh, just fix the DVD players (many have minor faults that are trivial to fix), sell them and buy more of the gear you want...

[vintagecollect]

I think I'm going to get one of my relatives one of these older VHS players. They keep fixing a 15 year old RCA VCR that's not worth it. They also don't want a DVD player since have large VHS movie collection.
Gave me a good idea.

[andy]

...

[dr*audio]

Those were the G mech Panasonics, right? The ones with the cast aluminum transports, and no idler wheel to wear out, they were gear driven, or had reel motors, I forget which. I have one, still working, though I hardly use it.

Originally Posted by andy

I grew up fixing and selling used VCRs.

1985/1986 (and early 1987) Panasonics last forever after the power supply is recapped and the pinch roller is replaced. The high end ones (4 head + hi-fi) have tuners that can get all 2-99 cable channels and receive stereo broadcasts. Panasonic VCR quality went to crap in late 1987. GE, Sylvania, Philco and Magnavox were also made by Panasonic.

A 1985-88 JVC or Zenith (made by JVC) is another good choice. JVC was more generous with its tuners and was very reliable. Most could get at least channels 2-99 and received stereo broadcasts. The later ones even had a real time counter which is very unusual on a solid 80's transport.

I never cared for Hitachi/RCA because they insisted on using a belt driven capstan that meant it could only do a frustratingly slow 3x visual search. They also had an unreliable DC-DC converter powering the display and tuner control.

Fisher is another one to avoid. They made a few high end ones, but they were never very reliable and stuck to a slow 3X search speed even though they were direct drive.

Sharp, Sanyo and Mitsubishi were also nothing special.

also, don't bother with anything Korean like Goldstar and Samsung. They were the Durabrand of the 80's and 90's.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by dr*audio

Those were the G mech Panasonics, right? The ones with the cast aluminum transports, and no idler wheel to wear out, they were gear driven, or had reel motors, I forget which. I have one, still working, though I hardly use it.

No, that was the previous Panasonic chassis. The G-chassis decks were made in 1988-1990.

[Bogframe]

I have a Fisher FVH-6600 that I bought new in 1989 that's still running like new. I've only had one problem with it over the years, and it turned out to be a little oxidation around the head that was fixed while I waited for $20. They just don't build them like that anymore!

[Celt]

I still have a 1981 Lloyds VTP (yep! a Video Tape Player!) that is a front loader, plays all three speeds, has auto-rewind and stop/eject and still has a very vivid picture and excellent audio considering it's linear mono. Funny how the linear audio went to hell in the Hi-Fi machines when they came out.

[daro]

I have Panasonic's very first Hi Fi model the NV-850 which first came out in early 1984, I also have an NV-F66 which I brought brand new in late '91 & I have 2 NV-FJ630's one I brought brand new for about $320 & the other I brought from a op shop for $35.

The older dicast decks were more robust then the later decks such as the R4 which Panasonic now uses. I prefer the NV-F66 (G mech) over the newer decks any time.

[Richard D]

We were talking about items being non repairable, One of the first Hand held GPS units for the public in the early 1990's was made by Motorola in the USA and was designed with plastic clips for the top and bottom halfs. Once it was snaped together it could not be opened again EVER without breaking it. If it was it make it waterproof or spacedust proof but that was not the case. UNIT IS NOT WATER RESISTANT on the back. After about 6 months half the display went out unless you twisted the unit. Motorola did offer me the option of a refund, the whole production run was crushed and shredded. Hey, What ever happened to the Motorola Trillium satelitte phone system?

[bgadow]

Around that same time I was sent shopping for a cordless phone for my sister. I really wanted something American made & finally found the one Motorola had out. It looked pretty nice, too-a flip phone that fit easily in the pocket & just a good all-around design. The phone lasted about a month. Tech support was helpful & mailed out a replacement right away; they just had me send the defective one back at their convenience. Years later I needed a phone for work so searched out one of these. By then Moto had discontinued them & all I could get were reconditioned units. I had 3 in all & none of them lasted more than a few weeks. I put them all in a box & sold them to a fellow at a yard sale we were having. Charged him 25 cents. He probably overpaid. Really ashame.

[Adam]

I picked up a Beta machine at a thrift store today, 1984 Sears SR 1000, it plays B II and B III. I brought it home put in a tape and it worked. The head was dirty, so I put in a Beta head-cleaning tape I picked up at the same thrift store today, and it cleared it right up. I couldn't believe it, I've never brought home any video tape player this old and just had it work with no difficulties like that.