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

Greetings everyone, I was browsing around on FB Marketplace and spotted a Panasonic Omnivision 4-Head Hi-Fi VCR model PV-1730 from 1984 (from what I could see of the date of manufacture on the back) and its in really good cosmetic condition yet, but electronically I'm not sure of the operating condition (the person I bought it from said that it works but who knows what that means, because I know a lot of the Panasonic VCRs from this time period can have issues with the idler tires being bad which will allow them to rewind and F.Forward, but not necessarily play or if they do play, they play slower than they should.)

Anyways I know some of you guys on here have had some experience with this model or other similar models and I was wondering how this VCR Compared to Panasonic's later Hi-Fi Models from the late 80s and early 90s as far as repairability and usability goes.

Thanks for your help.

I looked at three of that model back in 1993 and '94 but for very minor problems like a loose RF input jack and "the remote doesn't work" (so, I put batteries in it). :)

Is the FCC ID# on the rear panel shown as ACJ927033A? If so, I can't cross that model to any others because I haven't seen any other models (of any brand) with that ID#. And, after 25 years the memory banks have run dry. Sorry...

I believe so, I'm not sure though as the photos in the listing didn't have any close-up shots of the ID tag on the back.

I just know that from what little I could find in my research, Sylvania (N. A. P.), Magnavox (the same company as Sylvania), and GE (maybe others I'm missing as well) used their own versions of this model (they had different front panel arrangements.)

Oh, sorry, I thought you were in possession of it.

Yes, there may well be some very similar crosses but I never really knew my Panasonic model numbers well and would mostly rely on FCC ID#'s.

Idler tires shouldn't be too big of a problem. However, there WERE power supply capacitors that were going bad even 20 years ago so I would factor in replacing many/most/all in the secondary of the power supply when you get it.

Other than that and a few belts (and loose RF input jacks?) they were pretty solid and reliable machines.

Ok, that's good to hear, the reason why I mentioned the idler tires was because I've worked on/owned a few Panasonic Linear Stereo VCRs from the same time period that did have idler tire issues (the VCRs played, rewound and fast forwarded, but when they played they had a tendency to eat tapes and when they rewind they would stall half-way through a 2+ hour tape, and fast forward was virtually non-existent speed wise.

If I recall correctly there are no belts or idler tires in the PV-1730 (other than belt on the FL mechanism). Reels are direct drive. If I could find a pic with the lid off I could verify. Biggest issue with those was the head cylinder bearing wearing out causing the upper cylinder to wobble when it spins.

When they came out I would have bought one except no MTS stereo tuner.

Ok, thanks for the info, I think for my purposes (since we don't have analog TV signals anymore) it will work fine because all I need is the Hi-Fi audio for the video tape playback.

As long as the drum bearing is good. You're out of luck if it isn't.

Similar mechanism was used in portables PV-8000 (non hi-fi) and PV-9000 (hi-fi).

I saw Quasar, Sylvania, Magnavox and GE branded versions of the PV-1730 back in the day.

My Panasonic PV-4022 VCR has only one belt as well. However, if that belt breaks (or if anything else goes wrong with the VCR), I will simply store the machine and forget it, as most of the programs I have on VHS are also on DVD these days (I have an LG BP-220 DVD player which works very well). I have perhaps 60 DVDs now; the discs are generally older TV shows from the 1970s, so I have little or no use for my VCR anymore.

BTW, because television is now 100 percent digital, meaning today's ATSC TV signals cannot be recorded on NTSC standard VCRs, and because VHS video tape is a relic of the past in this day and age, VCRs are all but useless except to play back previously recorded cassettes. I honestly do not believe VCRs can be used for recording, even if connected to a cable box, again because of the incompatible video standards (an NTSC VCR cannot record or play back ATSC video). If there is a way to record ATSC video using an NTSC VCR, I would be amazed.

NTSC VCRs were phased out by ATSC video when the latter came into widespread use; because of that, NTSC VCRs, as I said, cannot record modern ATSC video under any circumstances. If there are any converters or other schemes available to allow an older VCR to record today's ATSC digital video, I am not aware of them yet. In fact I don't think such adapters will ever be made since, as I said, NTSC video is obsolete. The same thing happened with television when the standards were changed from analog to digital a decade ago, although in the beginning cable operators could connect a user's TV to cable through a converter box.

I don't think cable companies even offer that option any longer, and in fact cable boxes themselves are, or may be, obsolete (if they are not already). I have what Spectrum refers to as "streaming" video service, which does not use a cable box; I use a Roku device (Roku 2), which I own outright, to receive their programming. In fact, I believe these devices may be replacing traditional cable boxes, meaning cable subscribers may not need to pay for a cable box any longer. My cable bill is just under $30 a month (for TV service), with two additional charges for Internet and home telephone service; in fact, Spectrum now informs me (as of a few months ago) I no longer have traditional cable service, since I have their "streaming" video service. I will not return to any kind of standard cable, as I do not want an additional charge on my bill for a cable box. My bill is high enough as it is, with the three services I mentioned, and, being a senior citizen on a fixed income, I do not want to spend any more money than I absolutely have to for TV services.

That would be the Matsushita "G" chassis or some later incarnation... one belt on the bottom driven by the capstan motor that does it all with a solenoid that shifted modes. Compared to the chassis used in the PV-1730 VCR in question with separate direct-drive motors for supply & take-up reels, capstan, and DC motor with belt for the front loader.

I'm sure most people use VCRs to playback old tapes. You can record analog NTSC to a VCR from a DTV converter box if you don't mind the huge degradation in picture quality or are using an older analog TV. Myself I use a DTVPal DVR to record ATSC TV channels nowadays.

AH, YES! The 5 motor beast! Of, course. And, that was a few years before MTS, wasn't it?

Good luck friend, I spent over a month working on the PV-1430 earlier this year, but from what I'm reading, a lot of the mechanisms are different on your model.

MTS came to be in late 1984. The Panasonic 1730 missed MTS by about a year. At the time I ended up buying a Mitsubishi HS-430UR with MTS which was both Hi-Fi and linear stereo with Dolby for backward compatibility with my older non-Hi-Fi stereo tapes I had recorded on other linear stereo machines I had owned (Panasonic NV-8200, PV-6000, PV-1780) off of cable using FM stereo radio as the audio source.

I got the VCR today, and it looks nearly mint (it looks like it was hardly used) and I'm going to give it a test run as soon as I get a chance to hook it up to my TV and pull out some of my old Hi-Fi Stereo Pre-Recorded tapes to see if the video heads are still up to par yet as was suggested on here.

The only thing that's missing is the original remote which I think I could source one on the 'Bay for cheap.

This VCR seems to be about on par with my old JVC Hi-Fi VCR I have that I picked up at Goodwill complete with its original remote and Owners Manual for $10, and about on par with the old Fisher (Sanyo) Hi-Fi VCR that I'm working on for my Uncle.

Post some pictures of inside and out, for posterity if nothing else. Hard to find.

I sure will. :thmbsp:

OK so I got a chance to plug in and power on the VCR and unfortunately its not working, when you go to power it on, it attempts to go through the power-up sequence but then it gets stuck at the part where it attempts to test the takeup reel motors and only the left takeup reel motor does anything the right takeup reel doesn't do anything, its just "dead".

This VCR did have a service shop tag on it from a repair shop in Salt Lake City, Utah that was dated 1989 and when I opened the VCR up to take a look inside it acted like the only servicing that was done in the VCR was on the topside (maybe the main loading mechanism belt was replaced at that time) as the underside panel screws were still torqued to factory specs and made the famous "crack" noise that screws make when they've been unscrewed for the first time in their history on vintage electronic devices.

With all of this in mind what might be wrong with this VCR and can it be repaired easily?

I have some photos I'll upload as soon as my google photos account starts to cooperate again, because right now its not loading correctly for some weird reason. :thumbsdn: :sigh:

Do you have a dummy test tape to put in it? A tape shell minus the tape and innards? So you can run it through its paces without ruining a tape.You're finding out about the complexity of those machines.


Without a service manual to check voltages and signals it will be difficult. Could be a reel drive IC. First thing needed is to check all power supply output voltages.

Why bother with Google? Just upload the images to the Videokarma website.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...6&d=1652446072

Well the problem is the pictures were taken with my phone, and using Google photos is the only way I can get the pictures from my phone to my computer without having to mess with my phone's microSD card.

As far as sacrificial tapes go, I have some old blank tapes that were NOS that someone gave me that I can use for that purpose, and the VCR seems to be in a "lockout" mode as it won't let me load a tape into the VCR and without the VCR being able to power on it won't allow me to load a tape into the VCR.

I never do it that way so can't help there. I use either my Canon or Nikon cameras for my pictures.

You MIGHT be able to trick it by turning the TU reel by hand when you power it on, which should send a PG signal to the microprocessor.

Other than that, without a service manual and putting it on a bench to check things with an o'scope and DVM, don't know what to tell you.

Ok. Let me try posting the pictures onto here from my phone.

Well unfortunately when I was trying to remove the take-up reel assembly I ended up having one screw that happened to be torqued down too tight at the factory (which seems to be the case on every single VCR I work on) and when I was trying to unscrew the screw I ended up stripping the head out (because they used brass for the screw rather than stainless steel or some other harder material) so now I have one screw that's stuck in the take-up reel assembly and I'm able to get it out without having to resort to the possibility of having to drill it out.

What have you guys done in situations like this?

You need a JIS screwdriver. I hear they prevent stripping screw heads out.
You see those are not Phillips screws, they are Japanese Industry Standard screws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ves#JIS_B_1012

Ok, I was wondering why all of the Japanese made electronics I've seen and worked on had "JIS" marked on the cases somewhere, it was a reference to the type of screws and screwdrivers they needed to use to service them. :scratch2:

Can JIS screwdrivers be bought at your everyday hardware store like Ace or TruValue or Lowe's or do you have to buy them online?

Amazon sells them. I've never seen them in the usual box stores. I'm not saying that they don't, but I've never seen them. I've only read about them myself but people say they are real game changers.

I did find a service manual for this VCR (its the Sam's version.)

I found the correct page for the Motor Drive Circuitry, hopefully that will help others follow along. :yes:

OK, so I looked at the Service Data and it looks like IC2007 is the one that controls the motor control board and was the one you were talking about possibly being bad am I correct?

It's possible but without doing some testing with a service manual, scope and DVM don't get me to lying!

I'm not going to, I'm planning on taking a look at it more closely after I get off work tonight. :thmbsp:

Since I now have my 'scope figured out how to work it I'll see if I can figure out what's what on the VCR.

Be sure to check for a shorted electrolytic capacitor somewhere in that motor drive circuit too, could be something as simple as that. As old as it is that's a possibility.

Well I looked through the service data and I found 4 electrolytics in particular that seem suspect in the motor drive circuit that could be causing my issue, C18 (C1118 in the Sam's), C30, C32, and C34 (C2530, C2532, and C2534 respectively in the Sam's) that are all in the 11.9V Source (15V) rail, and the 12V Source rails for the supply and take up reel motors.

One in particular looked kind of out of place (it looked a little newer than the rest of the capacitors in the unit and also it was a higher capacitance rating than what's called out in the Sam's), which is C30 (C2530) which is supposed to be a 100 µF 16V but instead had a 470 µF 16V capacitor in that spot, which unless there was some sort of design change made to the unit that wasn't reflected in the Sam's (or that was reflected in the Sam's) I think someone installed the wrong size capacitor in there, which I'm apted to think that someone put the wrong size capacitor in there because as I said the capacitor was a completely different style of capacitor than the rest of the capacitors in there.

Re-read your post. It's probably OK depending where it is in the circuitry. I wouldn't necessarily trust Sam's as gospel either! Might have been a change during production.

If I had that machine first thing I would be doing is checking every electrolytic in it with my ESR meter. I actually have two, one I used at the shop and the other for home use, it's that important and useful.

Won't let be attach two files! What the ...??!

OK I see what's going on. I already attached that one in another thread a while back.

Another pic (right side) testing the Hi-fi audio board from an old JVC VCR. Those old surface mount caps were notorious for failing.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...4&d=1339600483

Unfortunately my ESR Meter died recently (the LCD Display won't come on anymore) and it was one of those "kit" units that you could get on ebay for $10 (the one that could come either cased or uncased.)

The Sam's for this VCR is from 1987 and my VCR is from 1984...:scratch2:

You need to get another one then. I wouldn't even attempt to fix this old stuff without an ESR tester. Can save hours of work, and the old equipment you're trying to fix.

I just did, I bought an old analog one.

I have posted a screenshot of the section of the schematic with the capacitors in question including the 470 uF 16V Capacitor and its overall circuit context.

:thmbsp:

First ESR meter I ever used was an analog one, Capacitor Wizard I think it was called. The shop owner bought it in the mid-80s for us technicians to share. I got tired of having to track it down every time I wanted to use it and found the black digital one, a kit from Dick Smith Electronics in Australia, so I could have my own. Still works great!

I saw some capacitor wizards for sale on epay but the price was too rich for me, $275! :thumbsdn:

I ended up getting a MAT Electronics Analog ESR Meter model MUL3333 that can test capacitors in-circuit and it was only $45 (I will have to use the cables from my old ESR Meter as the original cables didn't come with this unit but they were basically just your standard mini-banana plug style cables.

so what do you think of the circuit diagram I uploaded showing the capacitors in question?

Yikes! They were expensive back then too but not that much!

Sounds like a deal. Both of mine test in-circuit. As long as the applied AC voltage is below the conduction point of the semiconductors in the circuit .6 V or less they will do that no problem.

I'll look at it in a little while. Busy fixin' food.

Ok, thanks! And that's good to know.