I picked up this VCR, and it's newer than anything I usually work on (looks early 90s), but it looks to be a high end model and I'd like to at least try to get it going. I haven't yet checked the obvious, like taking the cover off and seeing if the power cord came loose or if there's a blown fuse. But I was wondering if there was some common cause of this in these units: a voltage regulator, or filter capacitor in the power supply known for going bad and causing this? I figure if it won't power on at all, it might just be a power supply issue that I can actually fix and nothing else that is wrong with this unit.

I had to replace voltage regulators on a few Panasonic built VCR's. I'd check there first.

Some JVC decks I have will play dead when the B+ rail filters go bad. Got an ESR meter?...The $15 Chinese ones on ebay are a worthwhile aid in servicing SS gear.

Agreed. These machines are now old enough for the electrolytics to be going bad.

I picked up this VCR, and it's newer than anything I usually work on (looks early 90s), but it looks to be a high end model and I'd like to at least try to get it going. I haven't yet checked the obvious, like taking the cover off and seeing if the power cord came loose or if there's a blown fuse. But I was wondering if there was some common cause of this in these units: a voltage regulator, or filter capacitor in the power supply known for going bad and causing this? I figure if it won't power on at all, it might just be a power supply issue that I can actually fix and nothing else that is wrong with this unit.
Is that the model with a separate power supply module or is everything on the main board? Do you have an idea who made it for Thompson? :scratch2:

Do you have an idea who made it for Thompson? :scratch2:

That was made by IVP- International Video Products. IVP was a joint venture with Toshiba and someone else. Was it Thomson? It's been so long I've forgotten.

That's a 1992 introduction. It is in ProScan service data index PSVR61/81. FCC ID# was G95667192. I've never worked on a PSVR81 but have worked on 10 of the PSVR61. None of them had any power supply problems, however.

FCC ID# G95667192 is shared with RCA model VR667HF. Computer says I worked on 25 of these models between 1994 and 2001.

One of the 667's I worked on in 1999 was dead after lightning damage. I found the main switching IC (RCA part number 211570) blown. Replacing it repaired the power supply but, there were other lightning related issues after that so it was a "no fix".

As others have mentioned it would not surprise me that power supply electrolytics would need to be replaced after this time.

Good luck repairing yours!

That would be about the time that Toshiba and Samsung got together to make some truly horrible VCR's. Samsuck also made several units for RCA/Thompson around this time frame.

Never heard of IVP, and this was a unique machine I couldn't identify a manufacturer on. Pretty cool info.

I wouldn't have guessed that Samsung was part of any joint venture with Toshiba but, it was a long time ago and I've had important things to think about since. :D

The Samsung era of VCR and TV/VCR branding for Thomson began about 1987 (with the RCA model VPT200) and continued until at least the time that I got out of the biz in 2001.