Oldest VCR you've owned?

[DavGoodlin]

I rescued a Sony SL-8600 betamax at the shop I worked in 1985. It cost nearly $1200 in 1979. First unit with digital clock. Timer recording had only a start time and ran the X-2 speed only, had knob tuners and a wired remote pause. I got about 5 good years out of it. Worn mechanicals caused speed errors (noise) so I junked it in 2002.

At the time, the Beta SL-HF 400/600/800, Panasonic and Hitachi-made VHS units were so much better, nobody wanted to fix the heavy old tanks.

[stereorob]

i have a really early sony toploader vcr from the mid 70s, vhs format, built like a tank.
you know, the ones that work kinda like a cassette deck where when you hit the play button and it mechaniclly puts the tape on the head!! uber cool man. its in nice shape and even has the accesory clock timer for it. no digital crap on it, all analogue and electro mechanical, oh and it has wood sides so it matches most of my other gear!
and yes, it still works!

[Electronic M]

Vhs? I thought that S0ny only made betamax format machines untill it was clear that VHS had won the format war in the mid 80's.

[stereorob]

uh uh. im positive its VHS. and its from the 70s, could be wrong about the brand though, its been in storage for 10+ years, so its been awile since i saw it. but im almost positive its a sony.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Separate timer and wood side panels sounds like Sony, all right, but it will not be a VHS machine then. If it is a VHS machine, though, there were numerous brands of top-loading, mechanical-key machines between 1977 and 1979-80. All of them had the timer built in, though, as far as I remember. (Built-in timer was one of the three advantages of the first VHS VCR over the competing Sony Betamax. Can anyone here name the other two? )

[Electronic M]

Longer record time, and either a built in RF modualtor or more likely the ability to program the channel you want to record instead of leaving a mechanical tuner set to the desired channel.

[zenith2134]

oldest VHS machine I've owned was a 1981 Magnavox branded top-loader with----KNOB TUNING!---- what a relic. 2 head.

[Electrohome]

The oldest VHS VCR I currently have is an RCA VBT-200 dated Oct 23, 1977 in pretty good condition. The oldest Beta VCR I've got is an early 1976 Sony SL-7200 with the BI speed only(Then the X1 speed before 1979). I've also got a Panasonic U-Matic video recorder w/tuning(both UHF and VHF) from about 1973 approx. with a wired remote as well. I've got plenty of other pre-1984-85 VCRs as well which also includes a circa 1983 Quasar front-loader VCR.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

Built-in timer was one of the three advantages of the first VHS VCR over the competing Sony Betamax. Can anyone here name the other two?

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Longer record time, and either a built in RF modulator or more likely the ability to program the channel you want to record instead of leaving a mechanical tuner set to the desired channel.

Yes, longer record/play time is one, and a remote pause control (hard-wired) is the other (well, I am pretty sure that was standard on the original JVC VCR).

The first VCR without a mechanical tuner was the RCA VCT-400 in 1978, with a multi-button varactor tuner. That model was also the first VCR that could record multiple timed programs on different channels (four events in seven days). That feature was yet another where VHS passed Beta early; the first programmable Beta VCR was the Sony SL-5400 not released until late 1979, and it did one event in three days.

[HiFiCanada]

I rented a Panasonic, top load VHS in 1982 from Granada TV for $24 per month. $1250 was just to much money and with all the moving parts, I figure that just renting it, Granada would keep the repairs up on the machine .
A few years later, Granada closed their business in Canada and I bought the machine for approx $150.
The VCR was plain Jane, no stereo and the remote was a long wire with pause and start .

[Kamakiri]

Mine is an RCA VET250 toploader, I believe it's from 1980. It was sent to me from a generous member of AudioKarma half a dozen years ago, with the provision that I care for it well and use it. I'm all about keeping promises

[dewdude]

I have a couple of Toshiba Betamax VCRs from the early 80s. I've got a top-load Sanyo betamax from unknown period.

The oldest VHS is probably an old Sharp from the late 80s my father bought "out of necessity", he hated VHS. I also had a couple of VCRs, one was branded Goldstar, the other was RadioShack, both used interchangable parts (because I swapped them out)

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[ncodditems]

oldest vcr jvc 3300-au .. not sure what the au stands for
this is a auction find
anybody know more about it please let me know thanks
bob

[ChrisW6ATV]

Bob-

That's "the one", the first VHS VCR, from 1977. The "U" is for USA, I am pretty sure, and the "A" probably means it is an improved version of the original (HR-3300U). That model only works in the SP speed (the only speed that should be used in any case).

[Ed in Tx]

Absolutely. Either go from the Ch 3 or 4 RF out of the converter box to the Ant In of the VCR and tune it in, or go from Video and Audio outputs of the converter box to the Video and Audio Inputs on your VCR. If the VCR is mono there's probably a setting in the converter box's menu to set the audio to mix the stereo audio to mono.