VCRs that will last forever

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by waltchan

The smaller size is called S-VHS-C, which is similar to VHS-C, and works for camcorders only.

unless you have one of these beasts.. the JVC HR-SC1000U that would handle both standard and C sized cassettes with no adaptor.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

unless you have one of these beasts.. the JVC HR-SC1000U that would handle both standard and C sized cassettes with no adaptor.

That's a nice unit, although I never own one. There is also a JVC HR-SC10000U (10000 instead of 1000) S-VHS that does the same as well.

[Rental Limo]

If you are interested in Beta please check out this guys stuff on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uSZ9mK85FQ

[jfrog1983]

Speaking of the N965U I got off ebay, in transit to me the guides seemed to work their way loose, not to mention the front being damaged somewhat, so now I am looking for the replacement updated guides for this thing, or a repair shop that's still in business that will fix it.

My other option is to use parts out of this Yamaha VCR I have, where I did sucessfully glue down the guides where they come loose, and mechanically that vcr works but it has electrical problems. Anyways, i might be able to swap guides between that and the NEC, already sucessfully done that with a parts Sony and a Sony SLV-676UC that I fixed over the weekend

Speaking of that Sony, I have 2 of those SLV-676UC units, and they are very nice VCRs IMO. They have some common problems, like the capstan bearing failing and the half load arm getting stuck, I was able to fix all that on one by taking the stronger bearing out of the parts sony and relubing the half load arm. What's nice about these early 1990s Sonys is they usually only have common mechanical problems that are easy for me to fix, almost never any electrical problems, and the big one is that they seem to play tapes from almost any machine, even in EP, and the recordings I make seem to play in almost anything, and they have great sounding HI-Fi audio too!

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by jfrog1983

Speaking of the N965U I got off ebay, in transit to me the guides seemed to work their way loose, not to mention the front being damaged somewhat, so now I am looking for the replacement updated guides for this thing, or a repair shop that's still in business that will fix it.

My other option is to use parts out of this Yamaha VCR I have, where I did sucessfully glue down the guides where they come loose, and mechanically that vcr works but it has electrical problems. Anyways, i might be able to swap guides between that and the NEC, already sucessfully done that with a parts Sony and a Sony SLV-676UC that I fixed over the weekend

Speaking of that Sony, I have 2 of those SLV-676UC units, and they are very nice VCRs IMO. They have some common problems, like the capstan bearing failing and the half load arm getting stuck, I was able to fix all that on one by taking the stronger bearing out of the parts sony and relubing the half load arm. What's nice about these early 1990s Sonys is they usually only have common mechanical problems that are easy for me to fix, almost never any electrical problems, and the big one is that they seem to play tapes from almost any machine, even in EP, and the recordings I make seem to play in almost anything, and they have great sounding HI-Fi audio too!

Yuck!!! Glad I never own a NEC or Sony VCR. I would go paranoid if I get problems like this similar to yours. 85% of the time, all the vintage VCRs I bought and added to my collection since the last 8 years only require new belts, cleaning, and lubrication. Luckily, these problems never show up in my Panasonic, Canon, Funai, Orion, and Sharp VCRs.

Just a hint, NEC and Sony VCRs were rated below average in reliability by Consumer Reports during that time-frame.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by waltchan

Yuck!!! Glad I never own a NEC or Sony VCR. I would go paranoid if I get problems like this similar to yours. 85% of the time, all the vintage VCRs I bought and added to my collection since the last 8 years only require new belts, cleaning, and lubrication. Luckily, these problems never show up in my Panasonic, Canon, Funai, Orion, and Sharp VCRs.

Just a hint, NEC and Sony VCRs were rated below average in reliability by Consumer Reports during that time-frame.

Being exclusively in the VCR service business here in Dallas all during the '80s and '90s, that's one reason I dumped my subscription to Consumer Reports.. CR didn't know what they were talking about half the time! I found too many errors in their reviews on the limited things I knew something about. Figured they might not be too accurate on other things too.

I've repaired HUNDREDS of Panasonics with dead power supplies and many mechanical problems, Canons too in their heyday, Funai (D503 anyone? Warped sensor prisms, sticking reel drive clutches.. mode switches, cheapo plastic tape guides that break off... made lots of money fixin' those Funai-Symphonics), Sharps, even some Orions (the Emerson TV-VCRs made by Orion come to mind...)

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

I've repaired HUNDREDS of Panasonics with dead power supplies and many mechanical problems, Canons too in their heyday, Funai (D503 anyone? Warped sensor prisms, sticking reel drive clutches.. mode switches, cheapo plastic tape guides that break off... made lots of money fixin' those Funai-Symphonics), Sharps, even some Orions (the Emerson TV-VCRs made by Orion come to mind...)

So, which brand did you like?

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by waltchan

So, which brand did you like?

I like the older Matshushita-built machines with the die-cast chassis up until the G chassis which was clunky, slow, and troublesome. I like the JVCs even with their usual problems, some of the Mitsubishis.. HS-U69 S-VHS is an excellent machine, the Mit HS-U52 regular VHS darn near looks like S-VHS has excellent rec-play picture. They ALL break and have their problems though. They provided me with a good living for 20+ years. If they didn't break I wouldn't have made a career of it.

I own and have pretty much distilled it all down to the 3 in my house now; a JVC HR-S5900U, a Mitsubishi HS-U790 (that I had to replace the whole mechanism in), and a Mit HS-430U because it has hifi and Dolby linear stereo for my old tapes I made on a pre-HiFi Pana PV-1780 in '83-84. I have a Mit HS-U52 I fixed up for a guy, even ordered a new remote for it, and he never came to get it! (Been here 2-3 years, just lost interest in it) I like a lot of the older Sony VHS machines too. Yeah they have their issues but I can work on them. I guess it gives me a bit different perspective picking those for familiarity and ease of repair since I can probably keep these running into the foreseeable future. Sony and JVC might actually have parts for older machines too. Mitsubishi- if it's more than 5 years old forget it... usually "Part NLA".

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

I like the older Matshushita-built machines with the die-cast chassis up until the G chassis which was clunky, slow, and troublesome.

What about Canon standalone VCRs (not portables) like VR-HF600, VR-HF710, and VR-HF720? They all were made by Panasonic, used aluminum die-cast chassis, and linear power supply (heavy transformer) instead of switch-mode power supply?

I also own a Mitsubishi HS-U82 SVHS that was brand new in the box. Any comments you want to say about HS-U82?

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by waltchan

What about Canon standalone VCRs (not portables) like VR-HF600, VR-HF710, and VR-HF720? They all were made by Panasonic, used aluminum die-cast chassis, and linear power supply (heavy transformer) instead of switch-mode power supply?

I also own a Mitsubishi HS-U82 SVHS that was brand new in the box. Any comments you want to say about HS-U82?

The Canons standalone (and portables) were basically rebadged and painted different color Panasonic Industrial machines AG-1800 I think on your 600, nice heavy-duty machine.

HS-U82 I recall basically same mechanism as HS-U52 I have but does it have the Piezo heads that auto track the tape for noiseless video on FF-Rev search? Trying to remember if it was that one or the HS-U80.. one came in with the slip-ring commutator on top of the cyinder to drive the Piezo heads was completely worn out, and no longer available. The customer really cried about that. (Without my file cabinets full of service manuals I begin to get a little fuzzy on remembering all the details.) Keep the pinch lift cam mechanism lubed, an eye on the brake pads as they wear out and make the tape snap off the hub at the end of Fast rewind sometimes because it doesn't stop fast enough, and back-tension band, pinch roller. reel belt.. normal wearing parts stuff. Maybe give the rotary mode encoder switch a little shot of DeOxit.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

HS-U82 I recall basically same mechanism as HS-U52 I have but does it have the Piezo heads that auto track the tape for noiseless video on FF-Rev search? Trying to remember if it was that one or the HS-U80.. one came in with the slip-ring commutator on top of the cyinder to drive the Piezo heads was completely worn out, and no longer available. The customer really cried about that. (Without my file cabinets full of service manuals I begin to get a little fuzzy on remembering all the details.) Keep the pinch lift cam mechanism lubed, an eye on the brake pads as they wear out and make the tape snap off the hub at the end of Fast rewind sometimes because it doesn't stop fast enough, and back-tension band, pinch roller. reel belt.. normal wearing parts stuff. Maybe give the rotary mode encoder switch a little shot of DeOxit.

Yes, same mechanism. HS-U82 has this Piezo heads with noiseless video search.

[waltchan]

I wonder if anyone has any opinions with Fisher VCRs in general? Consumer Reports rated Fisher the worst of the worst brand, doubling the repair rate from the second worst brand, which was Hitachi. However, Consumer Reports rated Sanyo the second most reliable brand after Panasonic. With Fisher VCR's worst repair record throughout the whole 80s, it prevents me to buy a used Fisher Studio Standard Hi-Fi VCR on eBay, although I would like a Fisher, since Fisher only made high-end VCRs. What is the difference between Sanyo and Fisher, and why was there a very huge gap in reliability difference?

[Ed in Tx]

In that time the Fishers were failing left and right for the slipping loading belts and to a lesser extent slipping reel drive idlers. Not too many electronic falilures but some. Oddly at that time Sanyo and Fisher had different lines of VCRs with totally different mechanisms and designs. Might have even been a year or more of overlap when Sanyo was still Beta and Fisher was VHS. Lots of Fisher VCRs were sold through places like Rent A Center included with complete Fisher AV systems. Hitachis were also plagued with loading belt and reel drive problems as well as the DC-DC converters and end sensor phototransistors that failed like crazy for a few years.

[jfrog1983]

Is that Mitsubishi you guys talking about the ones with the video head drum motor mounted on top of the video head and seperate motors for supply and takeup?

As for the fishers, I keep finding non Hi-Fi ones and only problems I've seen with those is the rew and ff not working. I'm still looking for a Hi-Fi one with that same mechanism.

[Ed in Tx]

The Mitsus that had the cyl stator board mounted on top was HS-305-330 type models their first front-loaders. The HS-300U had separate motors for the supply and TU reels, capstan, cylinder, and loading. While it was touted as superior with all those motors, fact was you had that many more things electronic to fail. Very complicated machines.

The Fishers that won't FF and Rew need a new reel idler or just the idler tire if you can't find the whole idler.