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Old 08-21-2010, 02:21 AM
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darklife darklife is offline
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General Electric model 9-7120 clock flashing 12:00

edit: Skip to second post as I figured out this part of the problem..

Got this VCR many years ago out of the trash. It's dated 1986 and is mono only but seems to be a really nice unit.
Problem is that the clock flashes 12:00 and there seems to be no way to set it. It has clock buttons but they do nothing.
It's rather annoying that it constantly flashes 12:00 so I covered the screen with electrical tape and it's been that way for a few years now.

Anyone have a clue as to why it can't be set? I haven't opened the hood yet but my guess is that something is wrong with the internal clock itself, or I'm too stupid to figure out how to set it using the buttons but I swear I pressed every combo I can think of.

Also many of the buttons on the front have to be pressed really hard to make internal contact. Any idea how to clean them?
BTW I know my way around repairing electronics but just haven't got around to fixing this yet so any information before I open it up is appreciated.
Thanks guys.

Last edited by darklife; 08-22-2010 at 12:26 AM.
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Old 08-22-2010, 12:25 AM
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darklife darklife is offline
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Update: I opened it up and found that most of the panel buttons just weren't making contact when pressed. I sprayed them with some part cleaner and pressed them a ton of times. After doing that now all the buttons work well and I was able to set the clock.

I did find another problem though. When playing videos the audio seems to flutter a bit. It's not too noticeable but when music plays back you can hear it.
Anyone have some ideas how to fix that?

Thanks. I'm new to videokarma but have been on audiokarma for some time.
Nice sitting back watching old films of the family from 10 years ago that I haven't seen in ages.
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Old 08-22-2010, 07:03 PM
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Dave A Dave A is offline
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The flutter may be edge damage on the audio track edge of the cassette. If the audio level goes up and down, the warped edge of the tape may be lifting away from the head just a bit as it goes by. The edge (I forget which...upper or lower) will have a wavy look to it.

Find a tape that is presenting the problem and eject it at that point and open the door to look at it...the fingernail pressing the little buttons at each end of the door assembly will let you open it.
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Old 08-22-2010, 09:14 PM
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darklife darklife is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
The flutter may be edge damage on the audio track edge of the cassette. If the audio level goes up and down, the warped edge of the tape may be lifting away from the head just a bit as it goes by. The edge (I forget which...upper or lower) will have a wavy look to it.

Find a tape that is presenting the problem and eject it at that point and open the door to look at it...the fingernail pressing the little buttons at each end of the door assembly will let you open it.
It's all tapes that play like this. It has to be something with the VCR itself. It's not the volume level, it's more of a wow sound like the audio pitch flutters.
I cleaned the heads and rollers and all seems to be fine. Not sure what's causing it.
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Old 08-23-2010, 07:37 AM
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Tony75 Tony75 is offline
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Had that problem on one of my old National (Panasonic decks), cleaned everything (no improvement) changed rotor and stator for capstan (not much change) replaced a couple of extra idlers and gears in reel drive (little improvement). Was quite prepared to assume it was a kind of servo problem on the main board and left it alone for a while. Later on the tension band for the supply reel disintegrated (as they do after a while) replaced this and re-adjusted it, and wow and flutter is much better as a result.
Hope this helps.
Tony
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Old 08-23-2010, 08:35 AM
Barry777 Barry777 is offline
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Take a look at your pinch roller - sounds like it has a lot of small cracks. This will make the tape speed (and thus the audio) vary several times per second, resulting in a fluttering effect without upsetting the picture.

A similar effect happens when a Hi-Fi tape is played back with the tracking slightly misadjusted, but there is usually a "fart" sound along with it. The problem you have sounds more like a typically aged and dried-out pinch roller. You can probably still get a new replacement.

The suggestion above about tape edge damage also makes sense. Make sure your VCR isn't actually causing it, as that would make all tapes appear have the problem also (if not the pinch roller). Try playing a tape first in the GE, then another VCR to make sure it still plays in a known good VCR. Not a bad idea to make sure the tape isn't getting curled on the top or bottom from guide posts drifting out of alignment. However, the pinch roller is the strongest suspect in a unit that age.

Last edited by Barry777; 08-23-2010 at 08:39 AM.
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Old 09-02-2010, 04:04 PM
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holmesuser01 holmesuser01 is offline
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If the tape edges are fine, and the pinch roller is in good shape, and the capstan is clean, the problem could be the IC that controls the capstan motor. I had a time that this was causing problems on some of these Panasonic built VCR's. When I tried to 2nd guess the situation, I began stocking this IC. Then, never had to replace one again. Somewhere here, I probably still have this IC.
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