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.
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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.
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