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What went wrong with your VCR's? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: The garden of earthly delights
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What went wrong with your VCR's?
Sorry about another VCR question but I was speaking with a fellow engineer and we were chatting about what was the final straw that kills off a VCR. These faults consigned the VCR to the scrap.
The ones I have are: Supermarket Orion cheapie: Mechanism damaged so no tape loading Panasonic NV-FJ675: Worn heads Ferguson FV-10b: guides fell off Panasonic NV-F55: head bearing worn so picture slurs sideways Philips VR-969: flexi leads to front panel snapped What terminal faults did yours have? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 8,103
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Wasn't a fault of the VCR so much as new technology came along, used a VCR/DVD recorder for a short while until Sky + came along, hard disc recording killed off two formats in one go for us.
Still have fond memories of VHS, especially our first machine, this was when I first started to show an interest in home cinema. Owned a S-VHS but always wanted D-VHS, ahead of it's time if I remember correctly, HD recording and capable of DTS audio. Not sure if that's the response you were after, but hey, I'm an enthusiast.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: North Devon
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A friend of mine had a D-VHS machine but it was badly supported over here. He got all of his films imported from Canada as they weren't available over here.
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#4 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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Over the years I've had 3 Pannies, an Akai, JVC, Sharp and another I can't remember the name of.
No fond memories here, they were rubbish. I would be lucky to get 15 months out of them. Usually tracking /worn heads or just chewing up tapes. In contrast I bought a Pioneer HDD/DVD recorder around 9 years ago and after well over a thousand dvd burns it still works perfectly. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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The Multi-switch was what normally went on them in my experience. This was irrespective of manufacturer, price or specification.
Not terminal, but particularly in the latter machines was effectively so as the local repair shop would invariably clean the contacts on these, only for the problem to resurface a year down the line -- and they'd charge Ł50 for the trouble. Ł50, on a machine that sold for less than Ł150 in the first place (and often considerably less than that come the early 2000s) was not a figure most people would pay. |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
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Quote:
Over the years I've had 3 Pannies, an Akai, JVC, Sharp and another I can't remember the name of.
No fond memories here, they were rubbish. I would be lucky to get 15 months out of them. Usually tracking /worn heads or just chewing up tapes. In contrast I bought a Pioneer HDD/DVD recorder around 9 years ago and after well over a thousand dvd burns it still works perfectly.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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One of mine broke some say it cannot be fixed and was also chucked out not be me last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T80GA9kh6gg |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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We've still got our saisho one from the 80s. Still works the same as the day we bought it. No scart etc so not much use now so never used.
But it had its fair share of use back on the day |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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I don't think I ever had one that didn't make the film wobble at the bottom of the screen due to tracking errors that couldn't be corrected. If I ever put a video in an it provided even a half decent picture, it was a cause for celebration.
The trouble is that if you ever rented a film that had been played on a crappy player it would often be permanently damaged. Then if you took it back to complain, it was almost impossible to prove it wasn't your own machine at fault (although who knows? - it might have been). Good riddance to them. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Feb 2004
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Kids posting god-knows-what into the slot - but I'd had enough of the bulkiness of the tapes anyway.
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#11 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Early 80s I posted a piece of buttered toast in the VCR when I was very young.
My parents had to buy a replacement... Which got put in a cabinet with a child lock on... The VCR still works today |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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Quote:
Early 80s I posted a piece of buttered toast in the VCR when I was very young.
Coins were even more common, which being metal could cause electrical damage as well. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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Quote:
I've removed lot's of toast from VCR's, it rarely (if ever) caused much damage - easy and cheap repairs.
Coins were even more common, which being metal could cause electrical damage as well. Or my parents are just making it up to make me feel guilty! |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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Quote:
Maybe there was some jam or something on it that wrecked the machine!
Or my parents are just making it up to make me feel guilty! |
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#15 |
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Ours used to eat the tapes.
You'd be watching a film then all of a sudden lines would appear at the bottom of the screen then you'd here a crumpling noise from the player. |
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#16 |
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I suspect Scotch video tapes was a major reason for so many VHS deck failures
![]() Proof that a good advertising campaign can sell (and convince) the public as what to buy |
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#17 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
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Quote:
A friend of mine had a D-VHS machine but it was badly supported over here. He got all of his films imported from Canada as they weren't available over here.
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#18 |
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Thanks for the input - all interesting to an engineer (me).
![]() I will add that the I had a couple of S-VHS machines that were worn out with using only S-VHS tapes. They were more abrasive and the static audio and video heads were almost burnt away - all those were scrapped as no-one will touch those decks due to alignment. The Panasonic Z-mech decks seem to last well and the mechanism is hardy but just a small plastic bit snapping sends them to the scrap (like a double cog). |
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#19 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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Quote:
I suspect Scotch video tapes was a major reason for so many VHS deck failures
![]() Proof that a good advertising campaign can sell (and convince) the public as what to buy But main reasons were cheap construction (in later years) and incorrect maintenance in the earlier years. People generally waiting until their VCR failed and then got it repaired, rather than following the manufacturers servicing schedule. However, I can see the reason for that - it would have been a LOT more expensive for servicing than repairs. The majority of VCR faults were mechanical, belts, pulleys, clutches, switches and of course head wear. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Quote:
I've removed lot's of toast from VCR's, it rarely (if ever) caused much damage - easy and cheap repairs.
Coins were even more common, which being metal could cause electrical damage as well. |
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#21 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,487
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Quote:
Perhaps they just fancied a new machine, rather than paying to have it repaired?.
Quote:
But main reasons were cheap construction (in later years) and incorrect maintenance in the earlier years. People generally waiting until their VCR failed and then got it repaired, rather than following the manufacturers servicing schedule.
However, I can see the reason for that - it would have been a LOT more expensive for servicing than repairs. So it wasn't just people not maintaining their VCRs, it was repair companies not wanting to do the work (presumably, in reality, because they didn't want people coming back three months after a service with a broken machine and expecting a free repair). Having said that, these were the same guys who refused to even look at an Akura VCR with a minor fault on the grounds that it was a "voodoo brand" -- despite it being British-built, and based on a mechanism that was incorporated into many other machines! Oh, and dismissing my (correct) claim that an Osaki portable TV was, in fact, a badged Philips unit. Repair shops brought about their own demise in most cases. |
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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Quote:
I remember someone telling me WD40 is not very good for VCR's.
![]() Carefully applied small drops in the correct place is excellent for VCR's - and a VERY, VERY common method of unseizing seized up levers etc. Blindly squirting WD40 inside many things destroys them, and is a total disaster inside a VCR or cassette player, both ow which rely on friction to work
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#23 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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[quote=jjne;66634065] We actually asked a number of repair shops for a quote for a VCR service, and were told not to bother -- the cost of servicing would outweigh any benefits. [/quite] Like I said, it's more cost effective to simply repair them. Quote:
So it wasn't just people not maintaining their VCRs, it was repair companies not wanting to do the work (presumably, in reality, because they didn't want people coming back three months after a service with a broken machine and expecting a free repair). It's just seriously expensive to service as the manufacturer specifies. Quote:
Having said that, these were the same guys who refused to even look at an Akura VCR with a minor fault on the grounds that it was a "voodoo brand" -- despite it being British-built, and based on a mechanism that was incorporated into many other machines! ![]() Quote:
Oh, and dismissing my (correct) claim that an Osaki portable TV was, in fact, a badged Philips unit. I've certainly repaired various Osaki units in the past, but can't for the life of me remember what they might have been inside?. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: The City and County of Bristol
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Quote:
I suspect Scotch video tapes was a major reason for so many VHS deck failures
![]() Proof that a good advertising campaign can sell (and convince) the public as what to buy
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#25 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Up the street of recent events
Posts: 1,616
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I forgot to add as well, my grandparents used to have a VCR which was made by a company called "Goldstar" or something similar, and eventually, they had that VCR replaced, because even though it played VHS tapes OK, it refused to record onto VHS tapes of any brand!
The ended up buying a newer VCR, (can't remember the exact brand name), but they don't even have that any longer. My grandad has two old VHS VCRs in his shed, but the electricity plugs on them appear to be a bit unsafe due to being loose! (The VCRs were from the days when the consumer had to fit the plug onto electrical items themselves).
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