U.S.A./Canada multysistem

[Telecolor 3007]

In U.S.A. or Canada where ever made multystem V.C.R.'s or color tv's?

[wa2ise]

Absolutely *NO* VCR was ever *made* in America or Canada. All came from Asia. As for multistandard VCRs *sold* here, oh, you could find a few in New York City, but those were quite rare. Maybe in Quebec (French speaking part of Canada) they might be more common as people could then watch French tapes from France, a SECAM country.

[old_tv_nut]

I recall some U.S. manufacturers who had sales in South America making dual standard sets (NTSC/PAL), or at least designs that could be set at the factory for one or the other.

By the way, did you know that a delta-gun CRT designed for use in the northern hemisphere is not optimum for use in the southern hemisphere unless you turn it upside down? (No joke)

[andy]

There have been a number of multistandard VCRs sold in the US. Panasonic, Aiwa and Samsung have all sold them. I have a Samsung that plays any standard and converts to any standard. It doesn't have a tuner and it only records in stereo in SP. It can also take any video input and record it in any system you want. It doesn't do the best job, but it works. Smooth motions get a little uneven and the edges of letter box bars flicker a little.

[Telecolor 3007]

"R.C.A." V.C.R.'s weren't Made in U.S.A.?!
My "Panasonic" NV-630PX V.C.R. (made in 1986, I think) plays/records in NT.S.C. 3.58.
I heard about V.C.R.'s that can transcode the standards.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

"R.C.A." V.C.R.'s weren't Made in U.S.A.?!
My "Panasonic" NV-630PX V.C.R. (made in 1986, I think) plays/records in NT.S.C. 3.58.
I heard about V.C.R.'s that can transcode the standards.

I worked for RCA 20 years ago, and we got all our VCRs from Panasonic at first and then Hitachi. We bought a large enough quantity that they customized the cabinets and buttons and the remotes for us. So that they didn't look like an obvious clone of their own branded product.

RCA = "Relabeling Corporation of America"...

[Chad Hauris]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

I recall some U.S. manufacturers who had sales in South America making dual standard sets (NTSC/PAL), or at least designs that could be set at the factory for one or the other.

By the way, did you know that a delta-gun CRT designed for use in the northern hemisphere is not optimum for use in the southern hemisphere unless you turn it upside down? (No joke)

There are some types of low focus voltage delta gun CRTs used in portables where the blue gun is on the bottom (reverse of usual).

When I was at the university in the telecommunications dept we had a Panasonic multi standard monitor...had NTSC, SECAM and 2 types of PAL.

[Telecolor 3007]

Why they turned to "Hitachi"? I heard that "Hitachi" haves the most complicated mechanichal side from all of the V.H.S. V.C.R.'s.
My "Panasonic" haves Quartz DD (Direct Drive) engine (in fact, is partial direct drive, is still uses some belts).
The V.C.R. cameras from the '80's had also Asian components.

[andy]

I think they made a mistake by changing to Hitachi. Hitach was very slow to change to a direct drive capstan motor. This limited the fast search speed to about 3 times normal speed instead of the 5 to 7 times that was typical on direct drive models. They were also a lot less reliable than Panasonic VCRs. Panasonics seemed to almost always last until the heads were worn out. Panasonic and Sony made a few VCRs in the 80's that were totally direct drive with no belts. Even the tape reels were direct drive. They weren't around long because of cost though.

[JCFitz]

Made a lot of money rebelting Hitachis.Saw quite a few Panasonic made units with only worn heads.The older units with idler tires instead of gears would need that tire replaced when it ate a tape.One problem with some mid 80s Panasonic units was if someone forced a tape in it would break a plastic piece on the right of the basket.Then the basket would jam and it would keep trying to run the motor until the drive chip shorted sometimes taking the micro with it.I saw a few.Panasonic had a bad one in the late 80s to early 90s.The one where they tried to run all loading fuctions off the capstan motor.Those things were a bear to work on and notoriously unrealiable.They would get out of time a lot.They abandoned this for the loading motor type again but this time eliminating the seperate basket motor.Late 80s Hitachi decks were POS in general but easier to work on than the Panasonic monsters with everything run off the capstan motor.

[andy]

I saw a few of those 1985 Panasonics with the shorted loading motor drive IC, burnt out loading motor and the heat from the motor melted the loading mechanism.

Those Panasonics with everything running off the capstan motor were a real step down from the older ones. I think Panasonic had just about perfected their VCRs by 1986 when they switched to an idler gear.

They did eventually work out the bugs on the ones that ran everything off the capstan motor. Their top of the line prosumer SVHS deck (AG-1980) used the same basic transport with a separate loading/mode motor to speed up editing. I think the early ones had gears that slipped too easily, but they improved tolerances later on. It's funny that they used an old consumer transport for much more recent pro decks. That says it all about the decline in VCR quality.

While we're talking about Panasonic VCRs, did anyone else notice that Goldstar used a tape transport throughout most of the 80's that was clearly based on Panasonic's from the early 80's? I always wondered if Goldstar bought the design from Panasonic, or if they reverse engineered it. The Goldstar certainly never worked as well, or was as reliable. I even replaced a broken main cam gear in a Goldstar with one from a scrap Panasonic. Panasonic and Goldstar head drums were also often interchangeable.