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VCR Wanted (maybe even in disrepair)

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Q8

1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
1,751
Location
Ohio
It's funny that there seems to be some resent posts about Beta decks because over the last couple weeks the video tape bug has bitten me as well.

I haven't owned a VCR in 10 years. A couple weeks ago I decided to change that. I will probably locally or ebay buy a practical late 90s stereo VCR with HiFi and HQ and auto tracking and all the bells and whistles to convert tapes to digital and as a daily driver, but I also want a deck for nostalgia purposes. I have found that finding what I require to satisfy my nostalgia purposes is not so easy anymore, the bottom falling out of the VHS world long ago.

This is a Wanted: Dead or Alive thread, but I would much rather alive or requiring parts that can easily and cheaply be attained.

I am going to list my lofty wish list for a VCR. The dream VCR would probably be a Panasonic PV-1730. If you have one of those for sale, you need not even read the rest of this. If you aren't familiar with this model, if you look it up, it gives an almost perfect example of what I want.

The first list will be features it needs to have, the second list is features I would like it to have.

Needs list:
-Front loading, not top loading, unless it somehow magically meets the rest of the requirements.
-Manufactured between 1983 and 1985. 86 is a maybe.
-Must have linear stereo capability WITH Dolby Noise reduction (yes I know how poor of qulity sound this is)
-Must have stereo input and output
-Must have stereo headphone jack (preferred on front)
-Must have channel numbers in the flourcent display and toggle channel up and down buttons (not like the earlier 80s and top loaders with the seperate buttons for each channel)
-Must be large and heavy built (I could say something about liking my VCRs like I like my women)

Wants list:
-HiFi (if it has HiFi, it must be able to be switched manually to read the Linear/regular stereo tracks instead of the HiFi)
-Wish I could find one with the stereo light bar level meters
-Mostly silver in color
-Window on top so you can see your tape being eaten
-Input jacks on front (don't worry about this one too much because I know there are very few with that which meet my other requirements and wants)
-HQ (I don't think any had this till 86 tho)
-I like ones with the little door on top with some of the funtion controlls under it
-prerably a Panasonic or one like GE, Magnavox, Quasar, ETC which were made by Panasonic.
-prefer remote included

I'm also considering a Beta deck (of similar features and vintage), and maybe even a Laser Disc player but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.
 
Aah, the once mighty VCR. I made many mortgage payments in the '80's from selling VCR's, often by the truckload. At that time, I was with a large, national distributor. We were exclusive distributor for Sanyo in five states. In addition, we turned mind-blowing quantities of Panasonic and Magnavox, as well as no-name brands like TMK and Broksonic. Business was booming so much that we added another level to our warehouse, kicked out a tenant who rented the back end of our warehouse, and we rented three other warehouses in our industrial park.

I remember a time when four head VCR's were in short supply. We sold every one we could get our hands on, even before they hit our door. "Sorry, I can't give you 300. I can only give you 170 VCR's." They were in such short supply that we had Panasonic dealers selling Magnavox, and vice versa. Hell, they were the same chassis, anyway. We could supply VCR's when the manufacturers couldn't to their direct accounts. Allocation is a two edged sword. Those truly were the days.

With all due respect, I don't believe that a VHS linear stereo AND Hi-fi exists within the same machine. At least, I've never run across one. I had a JVC two piece portable VHS I bought in '82 that was Dolby linear stereo. I still have tapes recorded on that deck. Sadly, since the mid-80's, all decks were Hi-fi with linear MONO. Please let me know if you run across a VHS machine that does both Hi-fi AND linear stereo w/Dolby.

I strongly recommend JVC VHS, as they were the inventor of that format. Great performance and reliability. Sony is the best Beta. I've seen too much defective Sanyo product to have much faith in their build quality. My JVC portable died years ago. Of all the modern JVC's I've owned, only one has died. I've also owned two top-line Panasonic Hi-fi's and a Hitachi which all died.

Although I rarely use them, I have six JVC VHS Hi-fi machines, all made in the late '90's. I also have a GE and a Magnavox. I intend to keep them all, pack rat that I am.

A year ago, a GF gifted me her late Dad's Beta (non-hifi), Pioneer LD/CD, Realspastic 2ch receiver and Sansui QRX-5500, which I only use for QS decoding and synthesis.
 
Quad Linda said:
With all due respect, I don't believe that a VHS linear stereo AND Hi-fi exists within the same machine. At least, I've never run across one. I had a JVC two piece portable VHS I bought in '82 that was Dolby linear stereo. I still have tapes recorded on that deck. Sadly, since the mid-80's, all decks were Hi-fi with linear MONO. Please let me know if you run across a VHS machine that does both Hi-fi AND linear stereo w/Dolby.

The one I mentioned as my dream machine has Normal(linear) stereo with dolby NR nd HiFi

Take a look

http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/panasonicvhsvcrmodelpv-1730.html

If you look, there are buttons to switch between linear and HiFi and a Dolby NR toggle button. There is also a corresponding Magnavox, I can find that model number if you need. There probably is a GE, Etc. In this configuration too.
 
I don't know what drew me to this thread, or why I even looked to see what model of VCR I have hooked up, but it is a PV-1730!! Sorry, it's not for sale! I have a load of VCR tapes that I recorded over the years, including some just for Hi-Fi audio. Trade for a nice Lamborghini, maybe??

I always seem to end up with the desirable equipment, which means I must have done my homework. Of course, I've bought a few duds over the years, but they are probably in the dump now. :)

Good luck with your search. My PV-1730 has been a workhorse for decades! (Why does it keep blinking 1200?) :)
 
A couple of recommendations.

NEC N895EU, Dolby Linear and Hi-Fi, also has mike inputs on the front. Cool for recording live to hi-fi
Panasonic AG-7350 has both linear and Hi-Fi but no Dolby on linear

I am not aware of any Beta decks that did linear stereo since Beta was the first out with Hi-Fi, I only saw linear on VHS until that format had Hi-Fi
 
VCR is how this all began for my post quad days. Dolby pro logic is quad, L-C-R are channels l-r-rr and the rear was lr combined. I do not know what decoding was used, but I still have tapes that sounded awful good. In the day music VHS was the tits. You needed a Hi-Fi VCR, and it decoded the dolby signals really well. I bet you can find one on e bay. They put lots a music on VHS too. And man did it sound good!
 
yes I've got a Quasar VH6405 Hifi stereo HQ 4 head with about 40 hours use and about 24 years of dust..purchased in August 1990 and made in 1990 and of course a slightly more than expensive freight bill from where I live in Melbourne.
 
CobraJet said:
I don't know what drew me to this thread, or why I even looked to see what model of VCR I have hooked up, but it is a PV-1730!! Sorry, it's not for sale! I have a load of VCR tapes that I recorded over the years, including some just for Hi-Fi audio. Trade for a nice Lamborghini, maybe??

Wow, interesting coincidence. I was just put together what I wanted in a VCR and was browsing VCRs online and I found that it met and exceeded all my functionality and asthetics wants and desires. I don't blame you for wanting to hold on to that. Let me check and see if I have any extra Lamborghinis laying around. ;)

CobraJet said:
Good luck with your search. My PV-1730 has been a workhorse for decades! (Why does it keep blinking 1200?) :)

I hope I can find one or the cooresponding one to one of the other brands Panasonic made them for. Have you ever had to have it serviced? I'm guessing the audio is great and the video is good?
 
Mark Anderson said:
A couple of recommendations.

NEC N895EU, Dolby Linear and Hi-Fi, also has mike inputs on the front. Cool for recording live to hi-fi
Panasonic AG-7350 has both linear and Hi-Fi but no Dolby on linear

I am not aware of any Beta decks that did linear stereo since Beta was the first out with Hi-Fi, I only saw linear on VHS until that format had Hi-Fi

The NEC seems to be even rarer. I am not sure if Beta had linear stereo, I think they did but they did HiFi well before VHS.
 
ChristopherLees said:
yes I've got a Quasar VH6405 Hifi stereo HQ 4 head with about 40 hours use and about 24 years of dust..purchased in August 1990 and made in 1990 and of course a slightly more than expensive freight bill from where I live in Melbourne.

Yeah, looking for something a bit older, and that probably would be a pretty big shipping bill.
 
leevitalone1 said:
They put lots a music on VHS too. And man did it sound good!

Most of my tapes are music video/concert tapes! I still impulsively collect them even though I haven't had a VCR for 10 years lol
 
Quad Linda said:
Yes, indeed that machine appears to have both Hi-Fi and Dolby linear stereo.

Here is it's Kinfolk by Magnavox

http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/magnavoxvhsvcrmodelvr8445sl01.html

It seems to have Dolby Linear Stereo and HiFi. The headphone jack is on the back though :( That's not very convenient. Also while the flipdown controlls makes for a clean look, that's just one more thing to fail.


I used to have a 1985 General Electric Model With Linear Stereo. I forget if it had Dolby. I think it did. Definately didn't have HiFi. Had headphone jack. It had the channel numbers in the main flourecent display. It was on this chassis I believe. It had to be a pretty pricey model with those features. I got rid of it when it started eating tapes. Probably would have been a simple cleaning and belt change. After that I had a 1982 top loader with wired remote. I went a step backwards because it was a gift. Lol. It got given away at the same time as the first one. It started eating tapes and for a long time had a distortion band at the top that wouldn't go away no matter how much I cleaned the heads.
 
With all due respect, the discussion here refers to Dolby Noise Reduction on linear stereo (NON VHS Hi-fi audio) tracks, NOT Dolby Surround decoding.

VCR is how this all began for my post quad days. Dolby pro logic is quad, L-C-R are channels l-r-rr and the rear was lr combined. I do not know what decoding was used, but I still have tapes that sounded awful good. In the day music VHS was the tits. You needed a Hi-Fi VCR, and it decoded the dolby signals really well. I bet you can find one on e bay. They put lots a music on VHS too. And man did it sound good!
 
Also if anyone knows or can find the equivelent model numbers from other companies with the same features/chassis as the 1730 let me know.
 
I found the model numbers for some of the equivalent VCRs to the Panasonic PV-1730. Would also be interested in any of these.

Sylvania VC3645GY01

Magnavox VR8445SL01

Quasar VH5846XE

There probably also is an equivalent GE, Sylvania, RCA and Curtis Mathis as these were also companies Panasonic manufactured VCRs for.

My hunt has not yet concluded.
 
Ah, I finally found out the equivalent GE Model number, which I believe I would like the GE maybe even more than the Panasonic for the classy GE styling.

General Electric: 1VCR5018X

Too bad there was one on ebay I missed last month cause I didn't know the model number :(
 
I guess this thread is a few years old, and you haven't mentioned digitizing tapes since the original post, but I'll put in a plug for the Canopus ADVC-300 as the A/V converter. I recently had a number of unique VHS tapes to convert (not musical content), and the Canopus did a beautiful job, with excellent reproduction and perfect sync. There's one on eBay for $200 or so plus shipping. You'll need a firewire port for it to work.
 
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