Fisher FVH 4050?

[ChrisW6ATV]

When I worked on VCRs, Fishers were by far the most troublesome. Their idlers went bad, so often that I still have the part number memorized, a VA01. That would kill fast forward and rewind, and maybe also cause the machine to start eating tapes.

[moocow111]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

When I worked on VCRs, Fishers were by far the most troublesome. Their idlers went bad, so often that I still have the part number memorized, a VA01. That would kill fast forward and rewind, and maybe also cause the machine to start eating tapes.

I've been trying it out and for the most part it has been working perfectly. I'm probably going to hit up another SA to see if they have some more VCRs.

[Jeffhs]

My Panasonic VCR from 2002 has no belts at all, except perhaps for the main drive belt. Beside that, the drive mechanism itself is all plastic gears; it works well but is noisy as all get out in fast forward and rewind. I've owned several VCRs, and have never heard such noise in one (a loud screeching sound, usually near either end of the tape, never in normal playback mode). The VCR works amazingly well for its age otherwise.

I guess the noisy drive mechanism is the nature of the beast -- cheap construction + cheap plastic parts. I'm amazed the machine has lasted as long as it has, although I don't watch my VHS tapes much since getting a DVD player about five years ago; that may have something to do with it.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

When I worked on VCRs, Fishers were by far the most troublesome. Their idlers went bad, so often that I still have the part number memorized, a VA01. That would kill fast forward and rewind, and maybe also cause the machine to start eating tapes.

Fisher was the most repair-proned and least-reliable VHS VCR brand for the 80s, according to the old Consumer Reports' VCR reliability data. Fisher VCRs could receive up to three times more repair than Panasonic. Reliability improved beginning in the early-90s.

However, the Sanyo brand itself, which also assembled Fisher VCRs, was one of the more reliable VCR brands. I was told by a tech that most Fisher VHS VCRs were designed in United States at their Chatsworth, CA headquarter, with all schematics sent to Sanyo in Japan for assembly, so that's how Fisher VCRs received poor reliability since they were American designs.