Mid 1980s Zenith VCR found today!

[Captainclock]

Hello Everyone today I was scouting the local thriftstores to see if I could find some interesting treasures and my first stop of course was the Salvation Army and usually they have some interesting things in there, but for some reason for the past month and a half they've had the same stuff in there and nothing interesting (the last find I had there was a set of Utah 3-way speakers from the 1960s for 3 bucks that still worked and they are currently the speakers I'm using in my late 1960s vintage Pioneer SX-1000 TD Stereo Receiver), so then I headed over to the Goodwill (usually they never let me down as far as having something interesting in there) and today I had found a 1986 or 1987 vintage JVC made Zenith VCR model VRE205 with the simulated wood grained cabinet and everything for $3 (it was 50% off day there and it was originally $5.99) so I got the thing home and tested it out and it worked flawlessly and the cabinet is in near mint condition if not mint condition (it even had the plastic tape over the display yet) it was more than likely a low hour unit like maybe it was used maybe once or twice and that was it and then it was put away. I'm not sure but this may have been the last JVC made Zenith VCR before Goldstar started making the Zenith VCRs in the late 1980s early 1990s.

I've posted some pictures for you guys to look at.

[pac.attack76]

Definitely a good find. Haven't seen one like that in awhile. I had to borrow your recliner to take another pic of my Magnavox. You can tell we shop at the same kind of stores.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by pac.attack76

Definitely a good find. Haven't seen one like that in awhile. I had to borrow your recliner to take another pic of my Magnavox. You can tell we shop at the same kind of stores.

Yep, Apparently!

And that is interesting that you happen to have a recliner just like mine, which I took the pictures of my VCR on my recliner as well.

[jstout66]

I have one of those Zenith VCR's. My parents bought it new. It saw HEAVY use. (so much that mom wore out the rubber coated buttons on the remote). I know dad had taken it in a handful of times for new belts and cleaning. It still worked when retired, but I remember the issue it had was it would not stay on, unless a tape was in it. (it also did double duty as a cable tuner) so you could power it up, but you had about 3 seconds to put a tape in before it would turn off. Once the tape was inserted, you were golden.

[pac.attack76]

I've seen a couple machines that did that. I have a couple of Zenith vcrs that i need to go through. Picked them up for $2 and never got around to them.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by jstout66

I have one of those Zenith VCR's. My parents bought it new. It saw HEAVY use. (so much that mom wore out the rubber coated buttons on the remote). I know dad had taken it in a handful of times for new belts and cleaning. It still worked when retired, but I remember the issue it had was it would not stay on, unless a tape was in it. (it also did double duty as a cable tuner) so you could power it up, but you had about 3 seconds to put a tape in before it would turn off. Once the tape was inserted, you were golden.

My parents first VCR which was a belated wedding gift for my parents was a 1990 vintage Zenith VRG 75 (which was a Goldstar made Zenith) and it had the on-screen prrogramming, 99 Channel Cable Compatible tuner, and it was a 2-Head Monorural VCR (which was no biggie because at the time the only TV my parents had was my dad's Zenith "Space Command" TV from 1985 that my dad had bought brand new in 1985 with money he earned from his first job, and that VCR saw heavy use as well but the remote's buttons were still pristine yet because they were made of actual rubber (not rubber coated) and that VCR was still in use uo until 1996 when it was retired to the basement which after that it didn't see much use and then after that it finally died in 2005 when the video processor board died on it.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by pac.attack76

I've seen a couple machines that did that. I have a couple of Zenith vcrs that i need to go through. Picked them up for $2 and never got around to them.

I have a couple of Zenith VCR's, that talk to you. At least, that's what it says on a label. Has a voice chip in it, not one of the better quality VCR's.
I had a gift certificate for $5.00 from the GW. I had to use it before Oct 20. I ended settling for a really nice JVC VCR marked $4.99.
I think, it needs a belt or two, for all the functions. The one under the tape transport???. It spills the tape all over the place. Haven't worked on one in a while. The small loading belt slips, as well.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I have a couple of Zenith VCR's, that talk to you. At least, that's what it says on a label. Has a voice chip in it, not one of the better quality VCR's.
I had a gift certificate for $5.00 from the GW. I had to use it before Oct 20. I ended settling for a really nice JVC VCR marked $4.99.
I think, it needs a belt or two, for all the functions. The one under the tape transport???. It spills the tape all over the place. Haven't worked on one in a while. The small loading belt slips, as well.

Sounds a little bit like what my JVC Made Zenith VCR Model VR-1830 does, except it won't load or play the tape.

Thankfully the VCR I found recently doesn't need any work and works as found, and like I said I think its because it was a low hour unit.

[Captainclock]

So what's the Base Tac panel for? I'm curious because I know that the old Zenith Televisions used to have a little panel on the back that was for add-on accessories like a MTS Stereo Decoder or a Cable Box Adaptor or a Closed Captioning Decoder etc.