1987 GE 3 Head Stereo VCR Acquired Today
 

Hello Everyone, today I went through some more of my great-grandfather's stuff today and I was able to get my hands on his 1987 GE 3 Head Stereo VCR Model 9-7675 which is a rebadged Panasonic VCR, but I'm not sure which Panasonic model this GE VCR crossed to.

This VCR has been in storage for over 10 years and hasn't been used on a regular basis for at least 20 years or so and when I got it home and went to test it out, the VCR still worked like brand new yet which I was shocked about that because most VCRs that sit unused for long periods of time usually need new belts at least, but not this one.

The really surprising part is how good of picture and audio this thing produced, the video quality out of this thing was near HD Quality (720i quality or early CRT HDTV quality) and the sound quality was like that of a High Quality Stereo Receiver from the 1970s, and I had this VCR Hooked up to my 2015 Vizio 60" LED HDTV, and this was a 3-Head VCR!

I would appreciate some information about this VCR and how much of a score this VCR was (my guess is that this VCR was NOT cheap when it was brand new in 1987).

Here's some pictures of the unit in question posted below.

That's not a Hi-Fi VCR, it's stereo. Some lower end models up until around 1990 offered this as a lower cost way to get better sound. It's a well built and pretty cool unit having all the buttons on the front panel, a nice big VFD along with on-screen display.

This is right at a transition point in VCRs and includes a lot of old and new features. A cool find for sure.

Ok, so what's the difference between a "HiFi" and and a "Stereo" VCR? I thought a HiFi VCR was Stereo?

Also I thought Non-HiFi VCRs didn't have Stereo Tuners? This one has a Stereo Tuner complete with MTS Stereo decoding and two different SAP modes.

This VCR has the Same exact features as my JVC HR-D630U Which is a HiFi VCR from 1987.

Anyways just asking out of curiosity.

This is a great explanation. You have a linear stereo deck.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#Or...r_audio_system

I had Beta Hifi units. If my memory is correct; beta had space left on the tape layout to add the hifi audio to the video track. VHS used a separate stereo head to record a linear audio track, non hifi. About 2 years after Sony developed HiFi, VHS came up with a way to add the audio to the spinning video track. One deck I had, had the ability to turn off the video so you could use the vcr as an audio recorder with near CD quality.

Interestingly enough that article said that Linear Stereo Decks were Superior to HiFi Decks because the audio channel heads don't have to switch back and forth like HiFi decks do.

They are inferior, not superior. Regular linear track was bad enough, splitting it in half for Stereo even worse. Want VCR based audio, get a Sony U-Matic or Beta deck, and a PCM F-1 and do it right.

My Panasonic 4-head "Omnivision" VCR, which I bought new some time in the 1980s, still works great with my 32" Insignia TV. This Panasonic VCR has, IIRC, just one belt, which is still in one piece and shows no signs of wear. The only reason I still have a VCR in this age of DVDs, streaming, etc., is I still have 60-some VHS videocassettes, most of which are old ('70s-early '90s) TV series and a few movies; however, since most of those shows are now available on DVD, streaming, etc., I don't use the VCR much anymore.

When the VCR finally quits, I probably won't have it repaired, but will as I mentioned gradually replace the VHS tapes with the same programs on DVD, as my LG DVD player, purchased new some years ago, still works every bit as well as when it was new.

BTW, I've heard of 4-head VCRs (as I mentioned in another post, my Panny PV-4002 has four heads), but VK member Vortalexfan's 3-head deck is a new one on me. How did Panasonic get away with using just three heads in this deck? I would think at least four heads would be the minimum number required to make a usable VCR.

The third head is only used during pause and scan to clean up the image. For normal playback and recording it operates like a two head.

As long as tracking and tape is good VHS HiFi has FAR better audio than the linear tracks....Heck it IIRC frequency response, noise and dynamic range are better than CD quality.

The original Panasonic belts from factory are some of the most-durable and longest-lasting around. They never, ever melt, or turn to goo.

Yeah and pay $1500 for a machine that was about that much brand new? No Thanks.

U-Matics don't even have commerically available movies titles available for them, it was strictly a commercial grade recording format that was used for TV Studio Archival Purposes.

I've had some Betamax Machines and while I agree they produce great audio and video, they are a pain in the butt to service with their odd-ball loading mechanisms, plus trying to find movies for them is super hard and costly, let alone trying to find a decent Hi-Fi Beta Machine for a good price (I had one once that I picked up from Goodwill but I ended up selling it to a friend of mine who needed one to replace his that the video heads died on it).

I'm more happy I got this VCR because I remember my Great-Grandparents having this VCR hooked up to their old Console TV they had in their Family Room in their old Farm House (which by the way was a 1960s vintage Zenith Color TV that they had given to my parents when I was little so they could have a second TV but it ended up blowing up on them when they tried to use it).

That's good to know.

I used to have a Panasonic Omnivision Stereo VCR from 1984 that I had given a friend of mine so he could have a VCR again and that one for some reason has an issue with wanting to eat tapes when stoping a tape during playback and going to eject it from the machine, which is something to do with the idler tire I think because that machine has brand new belts on it and the belts have nothing to do with the loading and unloading of the tape from the cassette housing during playback and stop/eject.

BTW the VCR was working when I gave it to my friend, but then after a while of him having it was when it started acting up.

I do have a JVC Hi-Fi VCR from 1987 (this one is actually a Hi-Fi VCR, complete with its original manual and remote), its a Model HR-D630U.
This was the Hi-Fi VHS version of the HR-S8000U S-VHS VCR that JVC made at the same time (same front panel layout and everything).

But I have reserved the use of that unit for my LCD Projector setup in my basement.

See picture below.

I hope you don't trash those tapes when you have no use for them anymore as I do collect the old home recorded stuff, especially if they have commercials.

I have some home recorded christmas specials that my parents recorded off the TV back in 1991 and 1993 that have some pretty amazing commercials on them, from back when TV Commercials were still cool, such as the old McDonald's Commericals that featured Ronald McDomnald and his companions like Birdie, Hamburgler, Grimace, and they are singing the song "Do You Believe in Magic?"

Then they had a bunch of commercials for some what I thought looked like really cool toys when I was a kid and watched these old tapes, including commercials for the NES (the NES was still being produced in 1991 when the christmas specials tape from 1991 was recorded) and SNES (which was out a year by the time the 1993 Christmas specials tape was recorded).

I'll have to get those tapes out and get some screen shots off of them for the commercials.

Well Unfortunately my VCR's Power supply Died, I'm not sure what's wrong with it, because I thought maybe some of the caps had died in it, and I replaced what I thought were the bad caps and sure enough it is still blowing fuses, so I'm not sure what's going on with it.

Any ideas as to what might be wrong with this unit?

Anyone?

I have a tape stuck in this VCR and can't get it out, its one of the original Star Wars Movies that was from 1995 where it was the last release of the original Star Wars Movies that used the original unedited theatrical Relase of the Films (where Jaba the Hut was actually a man in a Suit rather than the later CGI Giant Slug Like Character that they made him into in the 1997 Remaster, and the version where you actually saw who fired the first shot in the bar scene, which was obscured in the 1997 Remastered Version).

I know on the Panasonic VCRs from the 1990s that had the modular Switch Mode Power Supply units, that usually what killed the power supply in those was one of the main filter caps in the secondary of the power supplies.

Which is what I thought happened with this unit but wasn't the case because when I replaced those caps that I thought were what failed (they were bulged on the bottom and vented onto the circuit board which nearly obliterated some of the traces) the VCR is still blowing its fuses and because of that it won't power up at all, and when the fuse blows it blows so hard that the inside of the fuse turns pitch black and you can't see inside of it, which usually indicates a short of some sort but I'm not sure what would be shorted inside this VCR's Power Supply Unit, except maybe a capacitor, it isn't a bad power transformer because this VCR uses the famous Panasonic SMPS Mondule that Panasonic was known for using in all of their VCRs starting in mid 1980s and clear up until the early 2000s, on all of their VCRs.

Any help in this matter would be appreciated.

Diodes and transistors sometimes short when they are feeding excessive current into a shorted capacitor.

I'm not one to advise on troubleshooting that kind of issue as once something that new fails that bad I usually throw it out.

If all you care about is the tape there are ways of recovering tapes from dead mechs.
If the tape isn't threaded onto head drum simply locate the motor that actuates the eject mechanism and hook a 9V battery up to get it to spit the tape out (reverse polarity if it don't move the right direction), or if the eject mech is jammed unscrew stuff above the tape till you can lift the tape out by hand.

If the tape is threaded before you can work the eject mech you need to find the threading motor and get it to spin to the unthread position (9V battery again is good for that) then find a way to spin the supply or take up reel on the tape to suck all the tape back into the cassette. Once all the tape is back into the cassette shell you can safely skip to the above paragraph on the eject mech.

Somewhere on the power supply "box" you should find the Panasonic part number, should start with something like "VEJS" or similar. Shorted transistors, avalanche diodes and the caps were frequently bad together. Sometimes it was cheaper to order the whole unit from Panasonic rather than piece it back together. With the part number you may be able to search for one.

Agree .Linear audio track from the stationary ACE head.EP speed sounds like AM radio with the wow and flutter like a cheap cassette recorder..SP mode was like FM radio on a cheap blank cassette.

It was a god send when the HiFi stereo VCRs came out .Thats when I bought a Panasonic HiFi Stereo portable VCR with tuner in 1985...Since it did not have a built in MTS decoder.I had the Rat Shack Realistic TV-100 MTS receiver hooked up on it..

vortalexfan.Thats Youtube gold with those old tapes..

With jammed tapes.I usually hand wind the drives with my fingers to get the tapes out.Do it slowly for the tape damage dont get worse.

Big issues with PCM digital audio on VHS. Tracking less reliable. And HQ no go. In terms of VHS VCR machines are concerned, you have a Panasonic built machine from when they built a really good VHS VCR, then the most reliable VCR on the market for consumers . VHS HiFi is excellent, but without a picture, sometimes interchange between machines suffers. And the non Defeatable DBX type compander (to conceal the head switching cycle) does suffer from audible pumping and breathing sometimes. You've got a nice VCR here built when they were still made to last. Before they went downhill. :tresbon:

I think I may have figured out what failed on my VCR's Power supply, the Safety Cap (which in this VCR's Case was an X3 style safety cap rated at 130 pF and 2.7 MΩ) failed.

I would guess that a failed safety cap would kill a VCR power supply? :scratch2:

Those are usually installed across the line and neutral and are designed to fail "open". Long term it should be replaced, but the VCR should run fine without it.

If somehow the safety cap shorted, then that would definitely pop a fuse upstream.

How would I tell if it was shorted?
When I measured across it with my multimeter with resistance mode it measured O. L. right away.

Then it's not shorted. Have you checked other components in the power supply? I've heard of transistors shorting when a switch mode power supply fails.

There's only 3 transistors in my VCR's power supply and all three of them checked fine.

The only other component that measured questionable was the bridge rectifier (D1).

What do you mean by measured questionable?

Well the side of the bridge rectifier that has the (+) and (-) marks on it measures .003V both directions and beeps and the (~) side measures 1.2V both ways and doesn't beep.

Hmm that sounds shorted. On the diode setting, the two ~(AC) pins should measure open (both directions).

For the DC side (+ and -) you should see close to 1.0v but only in one direction.

That's what I thought. There's a number on the bridge rectifier, I think I might have something in my parts stash that might work, (I had found a couple of baskets at the local SA a couple of years ago that were full of NOS TV and VCR parts like IC chips, capacitors, resistors, diodes, fuses, rectifiers, rectifier bridges etc. that came from a local appliance store that went out of business.)

The Bridge Rectifier in my VCR that was bad is a S1WB S40 Rectifier Bridge, at least that's the numbers on the top of the rectifier bridge which when I look that number up on google, nothing shows up... :scratch2:

See picture below.

40 71 could be just a date code for 40th week of 1971, if that fits the date of manufacture of the VCR.
Edit: although that seems very early.

That seems a bit too early for a date code, unless Panasonic was using up old parts when making their VCRs, because this VCR is from 1987... :scratch2:

Yeah, on second thought, not likely.

If it follows the numbering scheme used on this example, the last two digits are a date code (perhaps the first month of 1987 ?)

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/3...BA-1202965.pdf

Perhaps the 40 indicates 400 volt? :scratch2:

just a WAG,
jr

Well I ordered some diodes from mouser that had similar specs to the original rectifier bridge (which I did find a spec sheet for an S40 type S1WB rectifier bridge), so we'll see what happens when it gets here, I had also replaced one of the main filter caps (the 4.7 uF 200 VDC filter cap) that tested bad (had extremely high ESR value of 15k ohms.)

UPDATE: Replaced the bridge rectifier and the VCR is still blowing fuses, so I wonder if maybe the Q1 is bad in the power supply board (the transistor on the heatsink.) when I did the diode test it seemed like it checked fine, but maybe I wasn't doing the check correctly.

What would the correct replacement for that transistor be? I looked up that transistor (it was a Panasonic part number) and it didn't seem to cross-reference to anything currently being made (no NTE parts or anything.)

If its anything like my unit, the heatsink transistor was bad after the fuse kept blowing. my mistake was not using a dim bulb tester the first time around, so I had to buy the replacement transistor TWICE. Luckily there was some NOS on ebay.
Yours has no C or B value on it?

I'm guessing you're right that that heat sunk transistor is bad on my VCR, it did have a code on it, but I can't remember what it was now, and I made the mistake of putting the power supply back into the VCR.

I'll take a look in the morning.