Pro Umatic and VHS haul.

[AmigaMan]

I've used a bunch of JVC U-Matic machines, the CR-8250U included. Very, very nice decks.

The trasport design, reliability, and tape handling easily beats every Sony U-Matic machine (apart from maybe the BVU-8xx and 9xx series, but those were a lot later). 100% direct-drive, dynamic braking, servo tension, timecode track, etc. They also play back just about anything, including SP tapes, with no problems. I'd still be using them if I didn't have a rack full of Sony BVU-9xx's.

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by AmigaMan

I've used a bunch of JVC U-Matic machines, the CR-8250U included. Very, very nice decks.

The trasport design, reliability, and tape handling easily beats every Sony U-Matic machine (apart from maybe the BVU-8xx and 9xx series, but those were a lot later). 100% direct-drive, dynamic braking, servo tension, timecode track, etc. They also play back just about anything, including SP tapes, with no problems. I'd still be using them if I didn't have a rack full of Sony BVU-9xx's.

I had a Sony BVU 950 when i lived in the UK.

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by AmigaMan

I've used a bunch of JVC U-Matic machines, the CR-8250U included. Very, very nice decks.

The trasport design, reliability, and tape handling easily beats every Sony U-Matic machine (apart from maybe the BVU-8xx and 9xx series, but those were a lot later). 100% direct-drive, dynamic braking, servo tension, timecode track, etc. They also play back just about anything, including SP tapes, with no problems. I'd still be using them if I didn't have a rack full of Sony BVU-9xx's.

Oh and as you have used the JVC before....when i hit fast search the picture loses lock and starts rolling ( in other words i cant see a picture in search mode ), should the picture search do this or is it a fault ?

[AmigaMan]

Yeah, unfortunately they only have one forward/reverse search speed without an external controller. I've never had a monitor that could maintain lock during high-speed shuttle from one of these decks, and in one case it quite literally burned out the horizontal output section of one of my monitors (but it was probably on its way out anyway). I always had digital infinite-window TBCs connected to mine, which maintained an image quite well during shuttle.

[AmigaMan]

I used a couple of them with VE-90 and VE-92 editing controllers (the JVC versions of the Convergence ECS-90), and they had a very interesting infinitely variable shuttle (compared to the stepped shuttle speeds you get with most other machines). I think either vinyldavid or I have some standalone wired remote/shuttle controllers for them somewhere.

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by AmigaMan

Yeah, unfortunately they only have one forward/reverse search speed without an external controller. I've never had a monitor that could maintain lock during high-speed shuttle from one of these decks, and in one case it quite literally burned out the horizontal output section of one of my monitors (but it was probably on its way out anyway). I always had digital infinite-window TBCs connected to mine, which maintained an image quite well during shuttle.

Maybe when the University has its next sale the TBC's will be there for $5 a pop.

[Electronic M]

Cool finds! I got my first U-matic deck reciently.....It is THE first U-matic the Sony VO-1600(I almost fell over upon learning this a couple weeks after buying it)! The darn thing still works, but shows signs of needing belts(just as I was told). I'm at a bit of a loss on where to find belts for it as the things belts are more like vacuum cleaner belts than anything I've seen in any tape machines of any format before. Perhaps I should pull the belts and go to a vacuum cleaner store and see if they have anything close.....

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Cool finds! I got my first U-matic deck reciently.....It is THE first U-matic the Sony VO-1600(I almost fell over upon learning this a couple weeks after buying it)! The darn thing still works, but shows signs of needing belts(just as I was told). I'm at a bit of a loss on where to find belts for it as the things belts are more like vacuum cleaner belts than anything I've seen in any tape machines of any format before. Perhaps I should pull the belts and go to a vacuum cleaner store and see if they have anything close.....

Thats the great thing about my JVC.........No belts !!!!

Yeah maybe vacuum cleaner belts would do the trick.

[Cogsinister]

I couldn't believe it, stopped at a house clearance today and found this, it was part of a lot of stuff that cost $15, including 3 60 min tapes.





Works well, records a beautiful picture quality and the sounds pretty good.

[Electronic M]

Nice score there!

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Nice score there!

The recorded picture quality from it is superb.

[vinyldavid]

I have the VO-5850 too... Wow, what a coincidence.

[Cogsinister]

Originally Posted by vinyldavid

I have the VO-5850 too... Wow, what a coincidence.

It sure is...

[Dave A]

I bought a BVU-950 a few weeks ago from that place. Sony top-of-the-line. Came from a tv station with the TBC card. Free shipping convinced me. $250. Arrived with a dented power supply cover which I bent back and all is well. I got it to xfer my vast library of 3/4" but it has another future.

I am setting up a small obsolete format recovery service. 3/4"/VHS/Betamax/8mm/Hi8 through a TvOne proc amp and a waveform scope in place. Need a Digi8 camcorder. Using a Panasonic DVcam for transcoding to my Macbook Air with FCP7 for digital files or a stock DVD recorder for archive.

I did a short 1989 Betamax xfer this AM to DVD for a friend and it was perfect.

[AmigaMan]

One of my primary functions in engineering for an educational cable access station before it shut down a couple months ago was maintaining Sony VO and VP series 3/4" decks. Our scheduled playback consisted entirely of 3/4", from a bank of 8 VP-9000's and 2 VO-5000's, along with every other variation used in the duplication, editing, and satellite downlink recording systems. At least a few decks failed every week.

Your VO-5850 looks like it hasn't been abused much, so that's good. From my experience there are a few things you should check before using it much. First, the rubber pinch rollers don't last long in any of these decks. They turn shiny and hard with heavy usage, and when they do they tend to diagonally crease the tape every couple inches, causing basically irreversible damage (we lost several master programs that way, since you don't notice the problem until AFTER the program is played). Second, the motor and gear assembly that operates the loading ring should be cleaned and lubricated (with something like silicone grease), as the gears tend to wear quickly, causing frequent jams during loading/unloading. The same goes for the tape elevator mechanism, which is easily removed by disconnecting the connector on the back right corner of the assembly, and removing the retaining bracket from the top. Also, if you want to manually test the mechanism without having a tape loaded, simply disconnecting the tape elevator connector will bypass all the sensors, and allow you to enter any function without putting the deck into an error mode. This trick was very useful for troubleshooting, and distributing the silicone grease on the gears before risking tape damage. It works on any non-BVU font-loading Sony U-Matic deck.

Of course, our machines were used a LOT over the years. 2-4 hours of playback every day from the time they were made up to recently. We burned through pinch rollers, belts, idlers, heads, motors, and gears like none other. Fortunately we had a large NOS parts stock, which I got when they shut down to maintain my BVU's. Your deck has likely had a much better life, so with just a little maintenance it should last years.

As a closing thought, those Sony decks aren't as reliable as the JVC's, but when Sony decks break, any part can be accessed and replaced in less than 10 minutes. The JVC decks need a lot less work, they're faster, gentler, they have more precise transports (compare the two side by side with the tops off rewinding a tape to the beginning and see how they handle it... like night and day), and no belts, but troubleshooting them can be hell in the rare event that something goes wrong. Both produce great pictures and sound.