VCR abuse

[Carmine]

Cheap-o Magnavox (funai?) VCR eats tapes. I was trying to catch-up on my Coronation Street re-runs (Serial murderer Richard Hillman is on the run!) Amazing how easy it is to rip one of these disposable VCRs in half like a piece of paper if you're really pissed!

Well, at least I was able to get the tape out, and I won't have to worry about this POS ruining any more tapes!

[Carmine]

No antique TVs were harmed during this destruction...

[drh4683]

dont you love destroying new pos vcrs! Back in the day, my friends would find stuff that was junk, newer tvs etc. We would take slap shots at a hockey puck and try to hit and just destroy it! Same fun applied with baseball bats too! Man, stereos were the best to destroy, when that dial glass got hit by the puck, that was the best!

We made sure we didnt ruin anything worth while, I was still an old tv nut back then, so none of those EVER got hurt! We were only about 13 or so. At that time my policy for new was "if its not ok, throw it away"

[kc8adu]

i wear gloves when i tear junk apart so i dont get cut on the ginsu knife like edges.good exerscise!
my favorite is junk keyboards.
want a good bit of workout?
fold a original metal frame ibm into a v!

[Jeffhs]

Carmine,

I know the feeling. I had a Panasonic VCR which ate a cassette last year, and I literally had to wreck it to get the tape out. These modern VCRs aren't built anything like the ones from home video's early days (1970s; remember Sony Betamax?) and the first VHS units. If anything, anything at all, goes wrong with a VCR made in the last, say, 10 years or so (and all present ones, after the warranty expires), however, the best thing to do, IMO, is just put the thing out with the trash and buy a new one. The repairs would cost as much as or more than what you or I would pay for a brand new machine.

[kc8adu]

i keep only older well built vcrs like the panasonic ag1850 i got for $1 at a yard sale.
funai=junk
many private label vcrs and tv/vcr combos are funai's

[Chad Hauris]

I too have looked at Funai vcr's that broke down, and they are pretty much unrepairable, as you all have found. However, I got one (branded Magnavox) as a Christmas gift in 1996 and it is still going strong. Have a 9" magnavox TV/VCR also Funai which works great. (Another one I had broke, though). Also I do have some of those old VCR's from the early 1980's, also maybe one from the late 70's. The build quality is a lot better, but I do much prefer the sound quality from the Hi-Fi VCR's. Audio S/N ratio on those old VCR's at SLP is pretty bad, lots of tape hiss.

[andy]

Keep an eye out for a mid 80's high end Panasonic, or JVC, or one of the many brands they were sold under such as Magnavox, Philco, Sylvania, GE and Zenith. You can have hi-fi sound, full cable channels and stereo reception in a good quality VCR. Sonys from about 1988 to 1992 were not bad, and a lot easier to find.

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by andy
Keep an eye out for a mid 80's high end Panasonic, or JVC, or one of the many brands they were sold under such as Magnavox, Philco, Sylvania, GE and Zenith. You can have hi-fi sound, full cable channels and stereo reception in a good quality VCR. Sonys from about 1988 to 1992 were not bad, and a lot easier to find.

andy,

Another good place to find NIB VCRs at dirt-cheap prices is at discount stores like Circuit City, Best Buy and the like. (Used but good late-model VHS VCRs, often with high-end features, may also be found, of course, at yard and garage sales at ridiculously cheap prices or even free, if the seller wants to or must get rid of them absolutely ASAP--say if they have to move on a tight schedule and must dispose of a lot of stuff in a hurry.) VHS VCRs are being phased out in favor of DVD and DVD-R decks, so the former can be had very cheaply--even VHS machines with all the bells and whistles (stereo/MTS sound, cable ready, VCR Plus+, etc).

Even Betamax machines can be found if you do a little searching. These VCRs are long outdated and the cassettes difficult to find, but there probably are a few still reposing in basements, attics, or in dark corners of second-hand stores--and don't forget treelawns and curbs. (Yes, there are people who do not realize the value of things like this like we do here at AK; witness the old but repairable radios, TVs and other electronic gadgets we have all found by the side of the road on trash day [or that we've found on ebay, for that matter]. I once saw a late-'70s RCA color console, in a beautiful mahogany or walnut wood cabinet without a scratch on it, just a couple blocks from my apartment; if I were still living in a house, I would have grabbed that set, as we all probably would. I'm not at all sure, but I'd be willing to bet, if I were a betting man, that the set was likely perfectly good yet, with just minor problems, or none at all [e . g. the owner decided the cabinet didn't match the decor of his/her living room], or something as ridiculously simple as the remote was lost. There are people who think their TV is hopelessly broken if the remote fails or gets lost, or even if the batteries go dead. Go figure. One can only guess how many perfectly good televisions, radios, VCRs, etc. are trashed every week just because of easily repaired/corrected problems such as bad tubes, missing remotes (have these folks never heard of universal remotes?), defective power cords and the like.

[kc8adu]

a friend of mine works for the dayton waste collection dept.
he finds all sorts of nice stuff on route.
i dont think anyone in his or my family have ever had to buy electronic devices of any kind new for the last 20+ years.
his grandkids asked for a dvd player.he brings home 6 which i fix 5 of quickly.all sorts of power tools with bad batteries which is easy.
i rode a motorcycle over 5 years that he brought home from a trashpile.had it running in an hour.
2 of the trans oceanics in my collection came from the curb.
10 or more vintage tvs too.

[andy]

It's the same story around here. Just on what I pick up while driving around town is more that my entire family can use. No one in my family has bought a TV, VCR, or other major piece of electronics for over 10 years. I hate to think of what I miss considering what I find without really looking that hard. The only time I try to cover pretty much the whole town is on the 2 bulk pickup weeks a year. Based on what I saw this fall, most people seem to just throw away their window A/Cs rather than put them in the garage for the winter. I've only picked up a few A/Cs over the years, but every single one worked perfectly. Many are less than 5 years old and have high EERs.