anyone familiar with a panasonic omnivision made in 1988, model pv-2818. I have used it to view over 4000 tapes in 20 years and keeps working flawlessly. I have never demagnetized the heads or cleaned them for that matter, always meant to but ya know.....:yes:

I've seen tons more Fisher Hi-Fi VCRs than monos since the past 8 years. In fact, there is one right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fisher-FVH-980-4...3%3A1|294%3A50

Very nice unit in mint condition. It's made in 1986. 80s Fisher VCRs are starting to die out and are being thrown out in great numbers, due to high failure rate. 8 years ago, there were always at least 25 old 80s Fisher Hi-Fi VCRs for sale on eBay everyday. Today, only less than 1 a day.

There's no such thing as a Panasonic PV-2818. Perhaps it's a PV-2812? Yes, this is a 2-head mono Panasonic that is known to last forever and never break. It also uses the click-sound G-chassis mechanism that is considered to be very reliable by many technicians. It can probably last for another 10 years, and your first failure would be the power supply, bad surface-mount caps at the video board/audio board, or bad solenoid/mode switch. 2-head mono VCRs last the longest, regardless of what age. However, although still reliable, your unit is not as well-made as the mid-80s one.

yes you are correct 2812 it is. Thanks for the information as you are a walking VCR encyclopedia.:yes::yes:

Yeah I've been looking for one of those Mitsu units, if they ever came with Hi-Fi stereo that is.

One I am looking for for sure is one identical to my Video Concepts AH-2600 which is the Mitsubishi mechanism using the brush type motor for the capstan and reels.

I used to have many of those mono Fishers throughout the years, always the same problem with the reel idler.

Thanks waltchman, thats exactly the Fisher I'm looking for, a Hi-Fi with that particular Fisher mechanism I'm familiar with.

No problem. I also own the similar model of the Fisher, which is Sanyo VHR-1900. Extremely rare model. The only difference in the Sanyo brand is better reliability. I personally like the Sanyo better because this is the only Hi-Fi VCR ever made with its cassette door that opens downward instead of upward, and it has a really neat Hi-Fi LED meter mounted behind the cassette door. Watch it glow at night, and you cannot believe there is no cassette door in sight, but it transforms into a huge Hi-Fi LED meter. I am in the process to purchase the entire 1986 Sanyo A/V entertainment set (matching TV, CD player, cassette deck, receiver, amplifier, turntable, tuner, and speakers) from the original owner where I bought the VCR from him five years ago. This will be my first, true 80s entertainment set, and I won't find something like this anywhere but from him. :D However, he is 2,300 miles away from where I live. :tears:

1st VCR - Sanyo Betamax (Non - Super, non-HI-FI), around 1980. Still works.
2nd - Hitachi HQVHS-Hifi (around 1993). Still works well.

It seems someone wanted that Fisher really bad, it got to the point where it wasn't cost effective and I ended up losing...

I guess ill keep looking for a 1980's Fisher and or Sanyo, ill even settle for one that needs new belts and a new idler, I know where to get the parts!

The Fisher is at the top of my list right now, with an early Mitsu Hi-Fi being the 2nd and PV-1730 being the third, these are all well built VCRs in my eyes.

No worries. There's always another Fisher Hi-Fi VCR someday. I think the higher winning price bid has got to do with its condition, manual and remote included.

I assume you buy all the VCR parts from studiosoundelectronics.com? If so, make sure you use the "ask-a-tech" page someday, and he will tell you which VCR is good or junk.

May I ask which early Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VCR model and year you are looking? The first Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VCR ever made is the HS-400UR, but it is only 2-head. The next Mitsubishi Hi-Fi VCR included 4-head, and it is the HS-410UR, and with Dolby Stereo, which is the HS-430UR. These models are fairly hard to find on eBay, so don't see one at anytime soon. They don't have a great reliability record in my opinion since they were made before 1985, a dreadful year for Mitsubishi VCRs. A better Mitsubishi VCR choice would be the HS-411UR (1986), HS-421UR (1986), HS-412UR (1987), HS-422UR (1987), HS-413UR (1988), or HS-U50 (1990). The 1987 HS-422UR should be considered as collectible because this was Mitsubishi's final year to put LP recording speed (3 recording speeds) in their VCRs, and it was their flagship model in 1987 (before SVHS). After that, only SP or SLP til the end of VCR production in 2005.

There is a Mitsubishi HS-430UR right now on eBay (Ed in Tx has one):

http://cgi.ebay.com/MITSUBISHI-HS-43...3%3A1|294%3A50

The description implies to me that it needs new belts. But the seller wants $85 or best offer. The unit looks to be in pristine, like new condition.

Studiosoundelectronics.com is where I source the parts, you are correct.

It doesn't bother me that the Mitsubishi units I like are the unreliable ones, I guess I like the way the mechanism sounds on those mid 1980s Mitsubishi units, these are the ones that use the capstan motor to load and eject the tape and the motor is mounted at rear right corner of the chassis. I will be happy with either a HS-400UR, a 410UR or a 430UR. That one you showed me on ebay seems to be a bit high for a non working unit that needs belts, I have seen pristine stuff like this at thrift stores going for $15 at the most. Maybe I can talk the seller down, who knows...

How are you finding this stuff on ebay? I search for it and it doesn't come up, only a bunch of newer VCRs and remotes and medical grade VCRs. I tried searching for "mitsubishi vcr".

No surprise. They were the inventor of online DIY VCR repair kits. I have already sent him more than 1,000 e-mails since the beginning of 2001. Very nice guy with very detailed e-mails. I am rated by him the most number of e-mails sent he ever receives from a buyer.

The ad title says "Mitsubishi VHS," so it will not show up in eBay search if you type in "Mitsubishi VCR." I used to own a Mitsubishi HS-400UR before, but it arrived with only "EEEE" at the clock display, making the unit totally inoperative, no response, unrepairable, and the VCR told me it was extinct. VCRs should never do this. I wasn't able to fix it due to its bad design, so I tore the whole thing into pieces to relieve my anger.
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The only Mitsubishi VCRs I have in my collection today are HS-423UR S-VHS and HS-U82 S-VHS. I used to own a HS-300UR (very first), HS-304UR, HS-400UR, HS-422UR, and HS-710UR (portable) before.

I worked and finished restoring a Mitsubishi DD-6000 DVD player (Toshiba-made) today. It was the first progressive-scan DVD player ever made in history, and it was Mitsubishi's last Made in Japan DVD player. It retailed for $750 new. The most embarrassing thing I saw was it uses a brushed spindle motor instead of brushless spindle motor found in their earlier decks, something that got into my mind for the whole day. :drool:

I bet that "EEEE" problem was the glue problem those older Mitsu VCR's seem to have, shorting out the circuit board parts making the unit die.

I am gonna start messing with changing video head drums on my own, I have like 2 VCR's now that need a new upper cylinder, that video concepts (Mitsubishi HS-400UR or HS-410UR), and a Toshiba I found today.

Glad I don't have any early Mitsubishi VCRs. I just cannot recommend early Mitsubishi VCRs for the super long run.

Replacing the upper cylinder requires a little star screwdriver to remove the shaft in the video head drum. Sometimes, soldering is required to remove a circuit board on top of the upper cylinder. Not sure about Mitsubishi, but early Panasonic VCRs made before 1982 have the easiest video head to change, in my opinion.

Problem I almost always ran into on the Panasonic-made machines was the new upper cylinder, even the OE Matshushita replacements, not fitting snugly to the hub, making the upper cylinder a bit eccentric unless you got real lucky. This would result in a lot of flutter in the linear audio on playback. I resolved that by making a test tape at SLP with color bars and a 3kHz tone recorded on it, on a machine that exhibited very low wow and flutter. I would then play that tape back with a wow/flutter meter plugged into the VCR audio output, and with the uper cylinder screws barely snug, with a plastic screwdriver handle very lightly tap the upper edge of the cylinder as it was running. Yes it sounds crude, but it works! After a few taps the upper cylinder would land at a position where the flutter would drop to less than .1% which is very good, and tighten the screws down at that point. This same tape with the 3kHz tone and W/F meter was a good diagnostic for a bad take-up clutch that plagued those Pannys in those days. The clutch would get sticky and worn, and make very rough almost vibrating takeup torque, which made higher than usual flutter so bad sometimes the linear audio would sound garbled. With the test tape and the W/F meter I could catch those clutches as they were beginning to get sticky and fail even if the unit wasn't in for that particular problem, go ahead and replace while on the bench: "Preventive maintenance".

I didn't know you had to remove the whole shaft. Ed was telling me all you have to do is desolder, and remove the 2 screws on top of the drum, and maybe use a hairdryer if it doesn't come off easily.

Luckily none of my Panasonic VCR's need new drums, even the PV-1545 that was given to me from the previous owner that bought the thing new in 1984.

Now, the power supplies on these are a different story, the caps are gonna need replacing soon.