VCRs that will last forever

[Richard D]

I thought Omnivision was the company that made the Cinema 180 inflatable dome theaters lenses and films in the mid 1970's. Anybody remember those?
Richard

[waltchan]

Nice 1988 Mitsubishi HS-413UR Hi-Fi with all its accessories. Second highest-end model after HS-423UR SVHS:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=220357548115

[waltchan]

I like to announce a new winner of a VCR that will last forever. Originally, it was Panasonic AG-2100 video cassette player, but now, General Electric 1VCP6020X video cassette player is now my top rated unit. It's a top-loading 2-head mono video cassette player made in 1985 by Panasonic. The extra points I gave for the General Electric 1VCP6020X is top-loading feature:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=260353947844

Extremely simple-designed machine, and most surprising is it comes with a linear power supply. It may last for 100 years.

[jfrog1983]

I've got a new search, and that's for a Hitachi 4 head Hi-Fi stereo with the reliable 6 belt chassis.

Wow, I've never seen people go so crazy over a 2 head mono VCR, 41 bids!

[andy]

...

[Jeffhs]

My first VCR, bought new in 1984, was a Panasonic-built GE. It worked very well the six years I had it, but the heads finally wore out. However, the rest of the deck was in very good shape. Should have had it repaired, as I paid some $400 for it.

BTW, I saw another listing for a Magnavox (Philips?) VCR on the same page as the GE we're discussing. I had a Maggie VCR almost exactly like that one in the early 1990s. Like my GE unit, the Magnavox lasted just about five years before the heads wore out. The rest of the deck was probably still in excellent condition. My Magnavox deck was one of those VCRs that was ready to play out of the box (almost), as all one had to do was connect the antenna/cable, connect it to the TV, plug it in, and the machine would do its own setup--channel mapping, clock set; then it would be ready to go.

By the 1990s almost all VCRs were plug-and-play, with no setup of any kind required (except, of course, for the hookup to the TV and the signal source, be it cable or OTA antenna). Today's VHS/DVD players are probably even simpler yet to connect, as they do not have RF tuners, only needing a connection to the TV's A/V jacks or an RF modulator, the latter for older sets without such jacks. However, the darn things (not unlike VCRs by the '90s, until they went out of production) are made with cheap plastic parts and will not last much longer than the warranty period. I recently read in a post on FixYa.com that stated even today's DVD players won't last very long; specifically, Memorex-branded players have a cheap capacitor that swells and splits open after about nine months, a year at the outside. The reason? The firms that make these DVD players make them to sell cheaply, so they cannot use quality parts in them. (I had a CyberHome DVD player that lasted three years, then stopped reading discs; I swear, it was built more solidly than the player I bought last year to replace it.) I'm concerned about this (the possibility of premature failure), as I bought a Memorex DVD player for about $40 from Big Lots last summer. It works well at the moment, but I'm not looking forward to having to replace the machine this year.

Who actually manufactures Memorex-branded DVD players? Memorex itself was originally an audio-tape manufacturing firm, eventually, as technology evolved, branching out to video tape and compact discs--not to mention blank DVDs.

I seriously doubt, however, that Memorex was ever directly involved in the manufacture of DVD players; as a matter of fact, I think their DVD players are rebadged machines (like everything else these days) made by Orion or some other offshore manufacturer.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Who actually manufactures Memorex-branded DVD players? Memorex itself was originally an audio-tape manufacturing firm, eventually, as technology evolved, branching out to video tape and compact discs--not to mention blank DVDs.

I seriously doubt, however, that Memorex was ever directly involved in the manufacture of DVD players; as a matter of fact, I think their DVD players are rebadged machines (like everything else these days) made by Orion or some other offshore manufacturer.

Memorex DVD players are made by Changhong in China while the DVD/VCR combos are made by Orion.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by jfrog1983

I've got a new search, and that's for a Hitachi 4 head Hi-Fi stereo with the reliable 6 belt chassis.

Is that the 3+2 Hi-Fi Hitachi VT-1700A on eBay right now? I used to own one, but I donated to Goodwill after I received my 5+2 Hi-Fi as a replacement.

[jfrog1983]

I have a beat up 3+2 Hi-Fi, I could grab that one on ebay since it's most likely in better condition, has a remote, and is a different model than the one I have, and yes I am looking for one of the 7 head units.

[markdi]

so is there such a beast as a 8 head vcr ?

who made a 7 head ?