View Full Version : Scored a Galaxy 2100 Video Centre


rpm1200
08-09-2013, 02:42 PM
I found this at a flea market sale. It is a top-loading portable VHS VCR with built-in color CRT monitor. It is labeled as Galaxy 2100, and the manufacturers label says Dumont Instrumentation in Commack, NY. It was made in December 1983. I assume Dumont Instrumentation has nothing to do with Allen DuMont's company, excepting any intentional misleading.

I am pretty sure it was made by Hitachi. One of the labels says "Place of manufacture:H", and it takes a Hitachi portable VCR battery. And, I found a Europe/Middle-East PAL unit that looks almost identical: Hitachi VT-680 (http://www.oldvcr.tv/collection/?Mode=View&Brand=Hitachi&Model=VT-680). But mine is NTSC. Also, I found that the Pentax PV-R020A VCR is very similar, just missing the color monitor. The Pentax and my Galaxy both have a "4-head Multi Function" badge where the VT-680's Hitachi badge resides.

It has an AC adaptor in the battery slot, which could be replaced by a lead-acid portable VCR battery. It even has connections for camera, tuner, RF out, 12 volts in, etc. The monitor reminds me of the Panasonic NV-H30L posted by Visual in another thread, but I think the monitor is much more useful on a portable camera-connected deck than on a home deck. Just as on the Panny, the monitor can be turned off.

When I got it, the picture appeared half-snowy when playing tapes, but shortly after that it cleared up on its own. The color is still off on the lower half of the screen, with a thin vertical rainbow bar appearing, and the takeup reel sometimes hesitates, causing it to stop playing older tapes.

Even though it is a 4-head VCR, the only trick play possible without the remote and tuner (which contains the remote receiver) is still frame. The Pentax manual says that slow motion and visual scan are possible with the infrared remote, when the tuner is connected.

I really like the light-up function icons (including stop, which the manual says blinks when the dew sensor triggers) and the tape recorder-style battery gauge. It has an asset tag from "Chev. - Seattle" and service stickers from Washington state and Michigan, so I know it has been across the country.

If anyone really wants one, there's the same model listed on epay right now but it needs repair.

rpm1200
08-09-2013, 02:44 PM
Visual's thread (http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=258979)

Cool battery meter attached!

Dude111
08-10-2013, 05:24 AM
Wow very nice!!!!!!

I hope you have alot of good fun with her :) (Good movies,etc)

Jon A.
08-10-2013, 06:08 AM
Wow, that's pretty sweet. Would just about any kind of separate tuner work with it? Clueless about separate tuners of course.

rpm1200
08-14-2013, 07:25 AM
Well I could just use the line inputs with any tuner, but to use the DIN jack in the back it would have to be a tuner designed for that unit. I would guess that some Hitachi or Pentax tuners would work with that jack, so I will have to keep an eye out for one...

rpm1200
08-30-2016, 01:40 PM
Update, the small idler went bad so I sprung for an MBK-81PT kit from Studio Sound Electronics ($17 for three belts, two idlers and a pinch roller). It was a pain getting the eject mechanism out and back in right, and I must have knocked off the tape counter belt because it's no longer advancing, but otherwise it's working like new. Next I want to fix the tape counter and get it going off a 12-volt LiIon battery.

djfivos
09-04-2016, 09:24 PM
This is indeed a Hitachi clone and I have the service manual for this model. it also uses the same mechanism as the portable VT-6500E.