VCRs that will last forever

[Adam]

Last summer I got 7 VCRs for 35$ at a garage sale. The only one that still works (but I think only 4 of them worked at all when first I brought them home) is the oldest, a 1988 RCA. All I've had to do to it was to change a belt.

[Carmine]

Of the 80s stuff, my experience is that the cheap GoldStar ones were the most reliable.

Wow, just like Daewoo, we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one. I'd say those VCRs are what dragged down the Gold Star name and forced them to buy the Zenith name, then progress on to "LG".

They had one of the first VCRs at $200, and what stinking heaps. I worked at K-mart in the late 80s, and could have built a fort with returned Gold-Starsky-VCR-skis. We bought my grandparents one, and the heads were shot in a year. (That's what GS factory service said). Then I stuck it in a newer box, and swapped it out due to my connections at K-mart. I know I did that at least twice, because it started to get humorous (and I never felt a moment of guilt for returning their crapola products... Grandpa barely even knew how to turn on the VCR, let alone wear out the heads.)

I bought a MagnaFunai out in Phoenix at an estate sale in 2002-ish. ($5) Used it twice, then it ate a tape. I was so angry, I ripped it in half with just my bare hands (cut them to hell too) I even posted the pics on AK!

[Chad Hauris]

I've got Beta, 3/4" U-Matic, and VHS machines and tapes but I have got real frustrated with the head clogging from tape oxide shedding...if you have video tapes that play I would get a DVD dubbing system and dub NOW because the tapes will disintegrate.

The funny thing is that old reel to reel tapes from the 50's don't do this...the tape may be more brittle but the oxide does not disintegrate.

I have found DVD's and TIVO so superior to VCR's that the only time I have used the VCR in the last two or three years was to watch the few movies I have that don't seem to be available on satellite or DVD.
I probably should set up some of my Beta VCR's again though...one year at Texas Recycles day I got about 7 early 80's Sony Beta VCR's that all have mechanical problems but should be fixable. I can use them with some relatively new Betacam tapes I have

[andy]

...

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by andy

The funny thing about those 80's Golstar VCRs is that their mechanisms were almost identical in design to Panasonic's. A lot of parts were different, but the basic design was clearly based on Panasonic's. Of course, there was no comparison between the two in terms of quality. A few parts like the main cam gear were exactly the same. I wonder is Goldstar bought the design off Panasonic, or just copied it?

Goldstar copied this chassis from Panasonic AG-1800 and AG-1810. Extremely identical with exact same belt sizes. The PV models that you regularly serviced before used larger belts and were not truly identical, although they were similar.

[dr*audio]

I used to have to work on these old soldiers. They had an idler wheel which would go bad, clutches which had to be rebuilt, and a gazillion belts in them. In my opinion the Panasonics of the late 1980's, which had what they called the "G" mech, were far superior. You got VHS Hi-Fi, NO friggin' idler wheel to wear out, and I think 2 belts. They wre built very well. They had a cast / machined aluminum chassis for the mechanism. I have one I picked up for $10 at a garage sale 10 years ago. My kids played the crap out of it and it's still working great.