VCRs that will last forever
 

Just picked up this Panasomic Omnivision VHS model PV-1200 VCR today at the Salvation Army. It reminded me of one of the ones they wheeled around on a cart with a TV when I was in high school, so I grabbed it for a whole $6.00. To my surprise, the damn thing works flawlessly! :) . Now, I just have to clean it up and it will see service with a TV as of yet to be determined.

Anyone have any ideas as to its vintage or know anything about them?

Of the 80s stuff, my experience is that the cheap GoldStar ones were the most reliable. Clean the idler tire once a year and she's good to go!

Here ya go buddy..

PANASONIC
VCRVHS, PV- 1200

Description:

Manufacture Years: 1979 - 1980



Additional Information:
F-stop:
Lens/Screen:




Retail
MSRP: $1,100.00
USED: $28.00
Wholesale
Mint: $15.00
Average: $8.00

Click here for a definition of Bluebook prices.


Mike

Here's a link to what was Panasonic's first VCR, or VTR as it was called. Looks pretty darn close to mine :)

http://matsushita.co.jp/corp/company...inp1977_1.html

You gotta think that for $1100 new back then, they built in the same quality into these as many companies did in stereo gear.

most of these will work well with just a cleaning,idler tire and sensing lamp.
they also seem immune to macrovision(copygaurd)

The picture/color quality is usually lacking on these old timers :(

My first VCR was a Sylvania top loader bought in 1983, even at the time I was disappointed in the picture.

Of course now compared to DVD even new VCR's pretty much suck! :D

Nice to see someone else wondering over to vintage VCR's :) I've been collecting them for quite a while. The PV-1200 is the third model I think. What tape speeds does it have available? I know they had a PV-1000 and PV-1100. I have a pair of Quasar/JCPenney twins that look just like this. They have 3 speeds on them and date from 1981. The earlier 2-speed VCR's are better in video quality because of the thicker heads. To get SLP, they give it thinner heads. They don't read as intense of a signal from the magnetic "track" as a full-sized head would. I have a 1977 JVC HR-3300 (the very first VHS) with an absolutely beautiful picture. It has the wider 2-hr heads.

New heads for these old tanks are relatively cheap ($30 or so). I'd seriously consider dropping new heads in it while they are still available. This will roll back the odometer significantly for excellent performance in its next 30 years.

Mike

This has 3 speeds. I was mighty impressed at how well it operates. Since you're more experienced than I with these machines, would you say that the build quality is superior to say today's offerings? I haven't even had the top off.

Today's offerings??? Kam you kooky old man who the hell still buys VCR's??? They've gone the way of the dinosaur, the record player and tape decks.

Now you may be able to tell me that RTR's and expensive TT's offer a better sound than CD players but there ain't no way you can say that a VHS tape provides a better picture than a DVD played on a progressive scan DVD player ;)

...

Last I heard Thor, they don't make camcorders that record on DVDs.....at least any that I can afford......

Besides which, if you have kids, a VCR is a must for all of the kids' tapes.

True if you have a library of old tapes but a DVD player can be had for like $50 now and DVD's cost the same as VHS so most people will be making the switch. I still have my VCR in the loop ;) I was just jerking your chain :)

Early VCR's
 

A repair manual from the 80's refers to these as "tank"-style machines, no doubt due to their weight and cast chassis construction. I had one several years ago and a neat feature were the book style circuit boards underneath. They're mounted on metal frames that, once released, fold open like a book to gain access to the underside of the reel table. My wife and I purhased a PV-1250 (I think) which was a button operated deck, not the piano-key transport, in 1981 and used it until 1989. It was given to her parents who still use it on occasion.
Speaking of cost: a 1979 Sears catalog lists their beta machine for $799 and if you want an optional color camera, (gasp), $1299. 'Course, the b/w was only $399, with a non-electronic "viewfinder"...

That's one of the big things with these VCR's....they are made of metal, not plastic. Sanyo started the trend in the 80's with their plastic base plates for the beta mechanisms (not sure about their VHS). Plastic tends to warp and bend where metal stays stiff and wards off motor vibrations better. Consequently Sanyo Beta machines are well known for sub-par performance. The point behind the VCR is to keep the tape as precisely aligned with the heads as possible, which a metal chassis is more apt to accomplish.

There are a lot of discrete components in these early VCRs as well. Today's may have slightly better circuitry, but it's all on silicon -- ICs can be packed more densely and more cheaply produced than individual transistors, RC networks, etc. A 1980 variant of today's circuits would be a small refrigerator in size if it could have been produced. Today they do that on what, 3 chips? However, when something goes wrong, which one would you rather work on? Modern VCRs are nonservicable one-time-use snap plastic and even if you could disassemble them, the parts aren't available from the manufacturers. Check out sci.electronics.repair and see what I mean. That PV-1250 could take a serious beating and still function. Not likely with modern junk.

old jvcs(of course), panasonics, and some sonys(for beta)

Last summer I got 7 VCRs for 35$ at a garage sale. The only one that still works (but I think only 4 of them worked at all when first I brought them home) is the oldest, a 1988 RCA. All I've had to do to it was to change a belt.

I was actually going through some of my old tapes last night and I was actually suprised at how good a picture VHS can do. Of course Laserdiscs (when in decent condition) and DVDs (except for those shitty cheapo DVDs made from VHS masters and then overly compressed) provide a better picture, but if like me you haven't actually watched a VHS tape for a while you may be surprised.

The other benefit of course is movies on VHS are now dirt cheap. Around here you can regularly pick up large boxes of VHS tapes (usually a mix of original and home recorded tapes) for a couple of bucks. Heh, if the tapes are old enough even the ads can be entertaining.

I usually pick up at least a couple of decent movies each week that have been left in the VCRs that come across my bench. There are usually a few DVDs stuck in players as well, but most of those aren't worth watching (those stay on the bench for testing).

Most of my VHS decks are relatively new (90s), I don't even remember the last time I saw an old tank come through. I do have a big old Umatic machine around here somewhere that I will get around to checking out one of these days.

I have am 1985-86 "Panasonic" NV-630PX. I still use it (I enherited it 3 yrs ago). It can records on N.T.S.C. 3.58 too! The problem is that tuner is old (so I have to input signal from the tv, and the tv set have just 1 tuner, so the V.C.R. records what is on the tv screen) and it haves only 2 heads, so the image isn't too good. But the case is metal made (execept the front panel, which is plastic made) and it's an partial direct-drive V.C.R.
As soon as I can will repair my Betamax V.C.R. :naughty: (an 1981-82 "Sony" SL-C7E, the first model with APS-Automatic Picture Search). The side I don't like about it is that the V.C.R. works only on P.A.L. :dammit:
With all that the amatuer V.C.R.'s (V.H.S., S-V.H.S., Betamax, Video-2000) may not always provide a good image as such as a D.V.D. can, I love V.C.R.'s.
I'm sittin' and waiting for the moment when the Romanians will start to throu D.V.D. playres - I will love to jump on them and smash them with a sledge hammer - the V.C.R.'s will be revenge :lazer: :pistols:

Heh, just fix the DVD players (many have minor faults that are trivial to fix), sell them and buy more of the gear you want...

I think I'm going to get one of my relatives one of these older VHS players. They keep fixing a 15 year old RCA VCR that's not worth it. They also don't want a DVD player since have large VHS movie collection.
Gave me a good idea.

:yes:

...

I have a Fisher FVH-6600 that I bought new in 1989 that's still running like new. I've only had one problem with it over the years, and it turned out to be a little oxidation around the head that was fixed while I waited for $20. They just don't build them like that anymore!

Well, VCRs still rule for recording and erasing for time shifting. Dirt cheap and perfect for television. In fact, I have a couple piggybacked in the bedroom so I can copy rentals if I don't have time to watch them. Nothing I hate worse that renting something and having to take it back unwatched :thumbsdn:

I've snagged a few stereo ones for around $5.00 apiece, but prolly should look for one of those older ones with the little dial tuners because I've heard their technology predates Macrovision and allows for DVD dubbing.

Izzat true???

....

Recently my wife has had trouble finding shows worth watching so shes been digging out tapes I made in the late 80s/early 90s. In many cases she doesn't care for the shows I taped (old documenteries, "Our World", the Smothers Brothers, etc.) so she just fast forwards through the show & watches the commercials!

I just parted out our first VCR, an '86 Panasonic. I probably should have saved it but the power supply board had some crispy critters on it & a blown fuse. My Mom really ran that thing to death. I was looking for one to use back in the tv room; one of the ones in the pile is a Sears (Sanyo) that I bought at a flea market 10 years ago for about $10. The second time I used it the tape got destroyed. It must have been a fluke because now everything seems okay so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Its a stereo unit.

Early 80's RCA VMT400 VHS
 

Just returned from a trip to the attic to dig this beast out. I gotta stop reading these threads. Too much stuff re-appearing around here.

This was a high-end RCA VCR somewhere in the early 80's...my poor years. It is a slim-style, not a tank. I think I paid around $700 for it. About half the price of that used Chevy Malibu wagon I owned then. It has not seen a volt for over 10 years and powered right up. The only thing not working is the channel select on the remote and I cannot set the clock. When I last ran it, it had a head bearing noise that is now gone. Time will tell.

It is a SP-SLP only machine and is working like a champ. Not sure if it plays LP yet. It's claim to fame is it has an early digital frame buffer of some sort, probably field rate, that all playback goes through.

If you do a manual tracking adjustment in any mode and go too far, it mutes the video to black. Too much sync garbage for the frame buffer. It does a true digital freeze frame, pic in pic and pic move from corner to corner, and two useless DVE (their early term for this) functions...pixelated and solarization to amaze your neighbors with. About the same functions we had at the TV station I worked at then.

It has a true digital slow function with tracking adjust and speed adjust. They are perfect after using the remote tracking adjustment.

I bought it for the freeze frame and slow function. It was useful in my early 3/4" productions where I needed a freeze or slow-motion. I would loop the video through it and get my freeze on the fly. Or I would copy to VHS to get the slow. Don't look too closely at the blanking width or the digital artifacts at the top of the screen. The client never knew.

I may add it to the old VHS to DVD dubbing system I am running to clear the house of all those old tapes. It will be perfect for the problem tapes that look nasty on the current VHS decks I am using.

And to help another question, Macrovision was disabled on Beta copies because Beta inserted a new sync pulse which is where Macrovision is hidden. Not sure if early VHS did the same trick.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane and a prod to get this beast running again.

Dave A

I still have a 1981 Lloyds VTP (yep! a Video Tape Player!) that is a front loader, plays all three speeds, has auto-rewind and stop/eject and still has a very vivid picture and excellent audio considering it's linear mono. Funny how the linear audio went to hell in the Hi-Fi machines when they came out.

Wow, just like Daewoo, we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one. I'd say those VCRs are what dragged down the Gold Star name and forced them to buy the Zenith name, then progress on to "LG".

They had one of the first VCRs at $200, and what stinking heaps. I worked at K-mart in the late 80s, and could have built a fort with returned Gold-Starsky-VCR-skis. We bought my grandparents one, and the heads were shot in a year. (That's what GS factory service said). Then I stuck it in a newer box, and swapped it out due to my connections at K-mart. I know I did that at least twice, because it started to get humorous (and I never felt a moment of guilt for returning their crapola products... Grandpa barely even knew how to turn on the VCR, let alone wear out the heads.)

I bought a MagnaFunai out in Phoenix at an estate sale in 2002-ish. ($5) Used it twice, then it ate a tape. I was so angry, I ripped it in half with just my bare hands (cut them to hell too) I even posted the pics on AK!

I've got Beta, 3/4" U-Matic, and VHS machines and tapes but I have got real frustrated with the head clogging from tape oxide shedding...if you have video tapes that play I would get a DVD dubbing system and dub NOW because the tapes will disintegrate.

The funny thing is that old reel to reel tapes from the 50's don't do this...the tape may be more brittle but the oxide does not disintegrate.

I have found DVD's and TIVO so superior to VCR's that the only time I have used the VCR in the last two or three years was to watch the few movies I have that don't seem to be available on satellite or DVD.
I probably should set up some of my Beta VCR's again though...one year at Texas Recycles day I got about 7 early 80's Sony Beta VCR's that all have mechanical problems but should be fixable. I can use them with some relatively new Betacam tapes I have

...

I have Panasonic's very first Hi Fi model the NV-850 which first came out in early 1984, I also have an NV-F66 which I brought brand new in late '91 & I have 2 NV-FJ630's one I brought brand new for about $320 & the other I brought from a op shop for $35.

The older dicast decks were more robust then the later decks such as the R4 which Panasonic now uses. I prefer the NV-F66 (G mech) over the newer decks any time.

Actually, Matsushita/Panasonic had VCRs out long before that..! They obviously didn't use the VHS format though-- they were EIAJ-2 format, which was basically the ol' EIAJ-color 1/2" open reel video format, but repackaged into *cartridge* form. The cartridge had just one tape reel though-- you inserted the cartridge into a front-load slot in the machine (much like on a modern front-load VCR), and internally it would automatically thread the tape out of the cartridge and onto the (internal) take-up spool that forms part of the mechanism. Of course, this meant you had to rewind the tape entirely before you could eject the cartridge.

Come to think of it, though, perhaps that doesn't qualify as a "VCR" though since a tape "cassette" tends to imply two reels of tape in the same cartridge. Oh, well, whatever. :)

"GoldStar" it's named today "LG", not "Daewoo".
Btw, "Daewoo" opened a car plant in Romania (Craoiva, capital of Dolj county, southern Romania). We still have the right to produce "Daewoo" cars. This cars are a lot better then thoes bloody "Dacia" 1310/Solenza/Logan (all my rescpect for "Dacia" 1100/1300 with French :rockon: engine)

Hi,
There are many GOOD movies not available on DVD , still on VHS tape! Such as "The Seven Ups", or the Original" Blade Runner", not director's cut, Etc.
I still play my VHS tapes.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who liked that movie! :thmbsp:

I'd love to have a collection of all those great old 70s movies. Problem is, I was just -2 to age 5 when most of them came out, so unless they showed on TV, I'm not familiar with them. (Back before UHF became a wasteland of infomercials and the "WB")

Just picked up Black Ceaser and Truck Turner brand new on VHS for .99 at the grocery store. I know those are Blacksplotation, not exactly the same thing as French Connection, Bullit, or the Seven Ups, but close enough!

We were talking about items being non repairable, One of the first Hand held GPS units for the public in the early 1990's was made by Motorola in the USA and was designed with plastic clips for the top and bottom halfs. Once it was snaped together it could not be opened again EVER without breaking it. If it was it make it waterproof or spacedust proof but that was not the case. UNIT IS NOT WATER RESISTANT on the back. After about 6 months half the display went out unless you twisted the unit. Motorola did offer me the option of a refund, the whole production run was crushed and shredded. Hey, What ever happened to the Motorola Trillium satelitte phone system?

Around that same time I was sent shopping for a cordless phone for my sister. I really wanted something American made & finally found the one Motorola had out. It looked pretty nice, too-a flip phone that fit easily in the pocket & just a good all-around design. The phone lasted about a month. Tech support was helpful & mailed out a replacement right away; they just had me send the defective one back at their convenience. Years later I needed a phone for work so searched out one of these. By then Moto had discontinued them & all I could get were reconditioned units. I had 3 in all & none of them lasted more than a few weeks. I put them all in a box & sold them to a fellow at a yard sale we were having. Charged him 25 cents. He probably overpaid. Really ashame.

I picked up a Beta machine at a thrift store today, 1984 Sears SR 1000, it plays B II and B III. I brought it home put in a tape and it worked. The head was dirty, so I put in a Beta head-cleaning tape I picked up at the same thrift store today, and it cleared it right up. I couldn't believe it, I've never brought home any video tape player this old and just had it work with no difficulties like that.

I got a old top-loading RCA at a thrift today, model VCT400X, 1979, it worked when I got it home, head is a bit dirty though. I also got a CED player, RCA SFT100W, but I don't have any CEDs, so I don't know if it works or not.

I've been collecting Beta and VHS VCRs in the past several years. Most of my (small) VHS collection is all made by Panasonic. A Magnavox and 2 Sylvania's. They all worked perfectly as is. I got several ones from the 90s from other manufacters, but they aren't built as well.

My Beta collection also works well. Still got my first VCR I've had since I was 5 (parents gave it to me.) A Sony Super Beta SL-100. All original parts, direct driven. Works as good as it did over 20 years ago.

I need to find more early 80s VHS machines...

I also have a Panasonic Omnivision VHS VCR in my entertainment system. Bought it new about three years ago, a replacement for a Panasonic Omni which ate one of my cassettes just hours after I had finished recording the tape. Hated to lose that first Pana, since it had VCR Plus+ and worked really well until the cassette jammed. (I had to practically wreck the machine to get the cassette out; even then I had to break the tape as well :no: ). I kept the remote, though; it works with my current Panasonic VCR just fine. I have no intention of giving up my VCR as I have a large library of VHS cassettes, mostly old movies and '70s-'80s TV series, and I do tape shows every now and then (mostly time shifting). But my DVD player gets more use these days than the VCR. Some day I might look into a DVD recorder so I can transfer my VHS tapes to DVD, but for the time being, as long as my current VCR works as well as it does, I'll keep it around.

Panasonic claims on its web site that its VCRs are built to last; as little as I use mine since getting the DVD player a year and a half ago, I don't anticipate any problems for quite a while. I bought a Panasonic-built GE VCR, my first VCR, in 1984 that lasted six years before the heads wore out, an Emerson VCR after that which lasted several years, and a Magnavox VCR which lasted five years before the heads gave up in it too. The first Panasonic followed, which lasted two(!) years, replaced by my present Pana VCR. Assuming the machines are still available several years from now, I will likely replace that VCR with a VHS/DVD dual deck when the time comes. I would think, since VHS will definitely be a dead format when digital TV becomes standard in a little more than three years, these DVD recorders will be very popular and as inexpensive as VCRs are today.

BTW, I don't think DVDs are quite as cheap as VHS cassettes yet; at least they aren't at the stores I frequent. I can get RCA and other brands of blank VHS tapes at Big Lots for 98 cents apiece; I haven't yet seen blank (recordable) DVDs that cheap anywhere. I can get CD-Rs designed for data storage at dirt-cheap prices as well (I bought a spindle of 30 Imation CD-Rs at Big Lots last year for something like $3.99), but I wouldn't try to record video on them. I am not really sure what the difference is, if any, between CD-Rs designed for data storage and disks meant for video recording, although I have successfully transferred still images (jpeg) to CD-R from my computer's hard disk.