Rca vbt200 vcr

[RitchieMars]

I've been helping my dad clean out the old trailer that I grew up in, now that someone has decided to fix it up and live in it. For years, it's been nothing more than a storage building with 27 years of old junk in there that we haven't laid eyes on in ages. Among many other things, I found what appears to have been our first VCR, bought for about $150 used back in the mid-80's. From the looks of it, I had bet that it was probably the first VCR ever made and that seems to be about right. I read that they cost $900 or so when brand new? Wow...



It's not exactly in the best of shape, but it seems to have some hope left. It'll fast-forward, and rewind, but it won't play. The tape starts to move but stops, and it eventually just clicks off. Referring back to another thread, someone had suggested that a similar problem was caused by the play idler. Not sure where that is. Anyways, not sure what I'm going to do with it or if I should attempt to repair it. Just thought I'd get some advice!

[Electrohome]

The RCA VBT-200 was indeed the first North American VHS VCR on the market in September-October of 1977 with a retial price of about $999 and came with a wired pause remote. The VBT-200 was also the first 2-speed VHS VCR with the SP and LP speeds and can record up to 4 hours in the LP speed on a VK-250(T-120) blank VHS tape. The beginning of the end for Betamax.

[mbates14]

id replace all the belts and clean up all the idlers, use some rubber restore solution, ive had some pretty good results with that.

then clean and lubricate all moving joints in the mechanism.

[Telecolor 3007]

Just curios, who manufacturd the mechanical part of this V.C.R.?

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

Just curios, who manufacturd the mechanical part of this V.C.R.?

It's made by Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar, and National), which means made by Panasonic.

[mbates14]

Originally Posted by waltchan

It's made by Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar, and National), which means made by Panasonic.

You forgot technics. hehe.

And the STK series of hybrid IC. Supposidly they are sanyo ICs, but only seen em used in matsushitas stuff.

did matsushita own sanyo as well?

[Ed in Tx]

My first VCR was a Magnavox VH8200BR01 version of that RCA VBT-200, which were basically rebadged, restyled Panasonic PV-1000s. Still have the Operating Instructions that came with it.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by mbates14

You forgot technics. hehe.

And the STK series of hybrid IC. Supposidly they are sanyo ICs, but only seen em used in matsushitas stuff.

did matsushita own sanyo as well?

Lots of STKs used in many brands. Just off the top of my head, Pioneer used STK0029, 0039, & 0040 ICs in the SX-580, 680 and 780 receivers; Mitsubishi used a high fail STK5371 regulator IC in the HS-430 VCR.

[mbates14]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

Lots of STKs used in many brands. Just off the top of my head, Pioneer used STK0029, 0039, & 0040 ICs in the SX-580, 680 and 780 receivers; Mitsubishi used a high fail STK5371 regulator IC in the HS-430 VCR.

Before my time. hehe.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

My first VCR was a Magnavox VH8200BR01 version of that RCA VBT-200, which were basically rebadged, restyled Panasonic PV-1000s. Still have the Operating Instructions that came with it.

Do you still have the VCR, because this one can run forever?

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by mbates14

did matsushita own sanyo as well?

Since 2008, Sanyo is now owned by Panasonic. The Matsushita name was phased out and discontinued at the same year.

The founder of Sanyo is the brother-in-law of the founder of Panasonic. The founder of Sanyo also used to work for him. So, yes, Sanyo has always good relationship with Panasonic, and, many times, Sanyo products last longer than Panasonic.

[Vidiot]

Originally Posted by Electrohome

The RCA VBT-200 was indeed the first North American VHS VCR on the market in September-October of 1977...

Actually, the JVC HR-3300 beat it by just a couple of months. I seem to recall it being available in July of that year. No question, the RCA was a better machine overall, except for having slightly narrower heads and noisier SP pictures.

I'm not sure if Panasonic's version of the RCA hit at the same time, or if RCA negotiated an exclusive. I think the deal was, the Panasonic version did come out overseas, but not immediately in America.

[Gunslinger]

might still have some oarts for the VBT200. They sold for 1500 bucks when they first came out.