RCA Selectavision model VKT385 VHS VCR issue

[B 4204 T3]

Greetings to every one here at videokarma.org! I'm not very active on here, but I occasionally read & post on here.



I'm having a mechanical problem with a vintage VHS format VCR that I own.



I have an old RCA Selectavision VHS VCR, model VKT385, from the mid-1980s, which is just a typical monaural, two-head, front-loading VHS VCR with a 10 button wireless remote control. When I brought it home & hooked it up to my TV, the problem it had was that when I pushed the power button, loaded a videocassette, and pushed the play button, the mechanism attempted to play the tape, but then stopped after a few seconds, but oddly enough, it was able to rewind & fast-forward tapes, but a few times, it didn't wind the magnetic tape all the way back in to the cassette.



Three months ago, I took the VCR to an electronics repair shop, and the technician repaired it & got it working again. I'm watching a movie on it right now, and it's working very well. It has excellent video, audio, and recording quality, but sometimes, it still won't transport the magnetic tape back in to the cassette all the way, which mangles the tape when I eject the tape.



The repair technician told me that the VCR needed a lot of new internal parts installed, for example, belts, tyres, and idlers, and that it was difficult to work on, with a very complicated mechanical mechanism. He also told me that it's not a true RCA VCR, made in Japan, and RCA never manufactured their own VCRs, and also, that some of its parts are difficult to find today.



Does any one know what the problem could be, or if it's repairable? I know that video tapes are no-longer popular, but I'm still a loyal user of VHS & Betamax. I did a search for this particular VCR online, but I can't find very much information about; I found a few pictures of it, but information is scare.



On a side note, speaking of RCA Selectavision, I am also a collector & user of capacitance electronic discs, which also uses the same trade name.



Thanks for the help!

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

Greetings to every one here at videokarma.org! I'm not very active on here, but I occasionally read & post on here.



I'm having a mechanical problem with a vintage VHS format VCR that I own.



I have an old RCA Selectavision VHS VCR, model VKT385, from the mid-1980s, which is just a typical monaural, two-head, front-loading VHS VCR with a 10 button wireless remote control. When I brought it home & hooked it up to my TV, the problem it had was that when I pushed the power button, loaded a videocassette, and pushed the play button, the mechanism attempted to play the tape, but then stopped after a few seconds, but oddly enough, it was able to rewind & fast-forward tapes, but a few times, it didn't wind the magnetic tape all the way back in to the cassette.



Three months ago, I took the VCR to an electronics repair shop, and the technician repaired it & got it working again. I'm watching a movie on it right now, and it's working very well. It has excellent video, audio, and recording quality, but sometimes, it still won't transport the magnetic tape back in to the cassette all the way, which mangles the tape when I eject the tape.



The repair technician told me that the VCR needed a lot of new internal parts installed, for example, belts, tyres, and idlers, and that it was difficult to work on, with a very complicated mechanical mechanism. He also told me that it's not a true RCA VCR, made in Japan, and RCA never manufactured their own VCRs, and also, that some of its parts are difficult to find today.



Does any one know what the problem could be, or if it's repairable? I know that video tapes are no-longer popular, but I'm still a loyal user of VHS & Betamax. I did a search for this particular VCR online, but I can't find very much information about; I found a few pictures of it, but information is scare.



On a side note, speaking of RCA Selectavision, I am also a collector & user of capacitance electronic discs, which also uses the same trade name.



Thanks for the help!

More than likely its a Panasonic (Matsushita) made VCR and usually Panasonic VCRs from that time period (mid 1980s) in my experience usually have an idler tire that starts getting petrified (like the idler tires on the old VM turntables from the 1960s) and you'll need to replace that idler tire in order to turn the VCR's loading mechanism back to full functionality (I've owned several Panasonic VCRs from the 1980s that had the same issue you're describing and they all came down to needing the idler tire replaced and once I replaced the idler tire it worked fine after words.)

I hope this helps.

[djski]

The RCA's of that time period were made by Hitachi.

Two items come to mind giving a tape take up problem. The take up or reel idler could be worn and I have run into some occasions where the cassette tray assembly has a slight bend to it. That places a larger load on the reels. That can affect the supply or take up reel depending on which side the carriage is bent. Obviously your problem is with the take up reel table. Try several tapes because a bad tape can also cause that.

[B 4204 T3]

Quick update, and thanks for all the suggestions.



For the last few days, I have been using my RCA Selectavision VCR, and it's still working well, but I looked online for some new parts for it. I found a company which sells parts for VHS format VCRs, and I ordered some new O-rings, a belt kit, and a tyre kit, just to be safe.



While playing some prerecorded tapes of Hollywood movies, I discovered a bizarre quirk with the VCR, which I've never experienced with any VCR before. When I loaded the tapes & pushed the play button, the VCR started playing the tapes too slowly. The front display was showing the tapes playing at SLP speed, instead of SP speed. A few minutes later, it played the tapes normally, at the SP speed. Another time, it started playing at SLP, but when I pushed the fast forward button to search, it played at SP again.



Does any one know what could be wrong, and has any one else experienced this problem before? I also played the tapes to the very end, and let the VCR rewind automatically, and when it finished rewinding, and I pushed eject, it worked fine, with the tapes completely back in to the cassette.



Thanks again!

[Blast]

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

--snip-- While playing some prerecorded tapes of Hollywood movies, I discovered a bizarre quirk with the VCR, which I've never experienced with any VCR before. When I loaded the tapes & pushed the play button, the VCR started playing the tapes too slowly. The front display was showing the tapes playing at SLP speed, instead of SP speed. A few minutes later, it played the tapes normally, at the SP speed.

Another time, it started playing at SLP, but when I pushed the fast forward button to search, it played at SP again. --snip-- Does any one know what could be wrong

I would guess that, at the least, the audio/control track head got some gunk (that's a technical term) on the control track portion of the head that made it difficult for said head to read the control track of the tape. A thorough cleaning of the a/ctl trk head is in order (although it sounds like the tape you were playing did that by itself- possibly passed on like a virus to the next user).

But, it can also be that the a/ctl track head of your VCR is out of alignment (or, at least out of alignment with the tape recorded on another unit).

However, since you say the speed problem seems to have 'fixed itself' as you were playing it I'm going back to the dirty head scenario and I wouldn't touch a thing related to alignment based on one tape.

Brian

[Blast]

Originally Posted by djski

The RCA's of that time period were made by Hitachi.

Yes, indeed. The VKT385 is a 1984 Hitachi built unit. I worked on many of them in the late 80's and 90's.

1984 was the second year for Hitachi built VCR's as RCA had given Panasonic the full boot a couple years prior in 1982.

And, it wouldn't be until 1989 that Thomson went back to Panasonic for several RCA models (VR480, VR620HF, VR625HF and VR700HF) scattered into the (still) mostly Hitachi corral.

The first three digits of the FCC ID# on the rear panel of the VCR will give the build away: AHA = Hitachi; ACJ = Panasonic; A3L = Samsung (1987 and later).

Brian

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Blast

Yes, indeed. The VKT385 is a 1984 Hitachi built unit. I worked on many of them in the late 80's and 90's.

What about mid-1980s Sharp VCRs? Did you work on a lot of them too? Also, were the 1980s Toshiba VHS VCRs rarely seen or not?

[Blast]

Originally Posted by waltchan

What about mid-1980s Sharp VCRs? Did you work on a lot of them too? Also, were the 1980s Toshiba VHS VCRs rarely seen or not?

I worked on very low numbers of Sharp and Toshiba VCRs relative to other brands.

I can give you some numbers. From 1989 to 1998 out of 111 brands (mostly VCRs) that our shop took in I worked on (which doesn't mean "fix" - but at least took the top off of): 226 Toshiba; 452 Sharp; 602 GE; 1,224 Zenith and 2,758 RCA.

We had quite a following of dealers and movie rental store chains (typically in smaller cities that would ship their units in) for RCA, GE and Zenith and not so much for the other brands that mostly came to us locally.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Blast

I worked on very low numbers of Sharp and Toshiba VCRs relative to other brands.

I can give you some numbers. From 1989 to 1998 out of 111 brands (mostly VCRs) that our shop took in I worked on (which doesn't mean "fix" - but at least took the top off of): 226 Toshiba; 452 Sharp; 602 GE; 1,224 Zenith and 2,758 RCA.

Very nice info... On the GE, do you mean the VCRs were mostly made by Matsushita or Panasonic? On the Zenith, were they mostly made by GoldStar that failed? What about Zenith VCRs made by JVC, the one with an idler-tire, high failure or not?

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Blast

From 1989 to 1998 out of 111 brands (mostly VCRs) that our shop took in I worked on (which doesn't mean "fix" - but at least took the top off of): 226 Toshiba; 452 Sharp; 602 GE; 1,224 Zenith and 2,758 RCA.

What is the exact number for JVC brand only that you've seen total? Can you check your records one more time? Thanks.

[B 4204 T3]

Once again, I really appreciate the suggestions. I've been very busy for the last few weeks, so I couldn't respond until right now.



I checked the back of my RCA Selectavision VCR, and one of the labels on the back reads:



FCC ID : AHA9670024
RCA CORPORATION
MADE IN JAPAN



From the identification code, this VCR certainly has Hitachi Ltd. as its OEM. I've read online, and also watched videos, that said RCA's earliest VHS VCRs had Panasonic as its OEM, along with other brands like Curtis Mathes, General Electric, J.C. Penney, Magnavox, Philco, Quasar, and Sylvania. It's interesting to me that back in 1982, when RCA sacked Panasonic as their VCR OEM, and they hired Hitachi to produce their VCRs, General Electric hired Panasonic as their VCR OEM at the same time, after they sacked Hitachi as their original VCR OEM, so it was like a "swap." I wonder what the story on their arrangements was; I would be interested in knowing it.



Getting back to my VCR, I've been using it for the last few days, and it's still working well. A few times, the tapes played in SLP for a few seconds at the very beginning of the tape, but then corrected itself & began playing at SP or LP. Last night, I played a homemade tape recorded at SLP, and it played perfectly.



Here is my question: If the VCR has an issue with the control track or the heads, then would it be an easy fix, or do I need to buy a service manual to do the job? The only service manual I can find for sale for this VCR is very expensive, so I don't know if I should buy it.



Thanks again!

[Blast]

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

Here is my question: If the VCR has an issue with the control track or the heads, then would it be an easy fix, or do I need to buy a service manual to do the job? The only service manual I can find for sale for this VCR is very expensive, so I don't know if I should buy it.

To answer your question, I don't know. But, in the mean time? I'd pick the the "easy/cheap fix" first. Read on.

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

A few times, the tapes played in SLP for a few seconds at the very beginning of the tape, but then corrected itself & began playing at SP or LP. Last night, I played a homemade tape recorded at SLP, and it played perfectly.

To your observation that, "tapes played in SLP for a few seconds", I will assume that these recording(s) were NOT ones recorded on the subject. And, further, that they were recordings made on other machines. So...

For the reason that you say, "Last night, I played a homemade tape recorded at SLP, and it played perfectly.", I would respond that a self-recording that shows no rec/pb issues (whereas a recording made on another VCR does) speaks volumes for a possible a/ctl track alignment issue (on the subject VCR).

To help rule out any said alignment issues take a paper towel loaded with Windex and thoroughly clean the a/ctl trk head. Up, down, back and forth, over and over... for about 30 seconds. Then, be sure and follow up with your "regular" head cleaner (i.e. clean the crappy Windex off).

Now, did that fix the said "tapes played in SLP (that were recorded on another VCR?) for a few seconds" issue?

If not, then you should confirm that the a/ctl trk head is properly aligned to a reference standard tape.

How are you going to find this reference standard tape? I'm not sure. But, it MIGHT BE this "other" machine (that I believe you may have spoke of) could make them. ??? Maybe that's your tool. ??? You're going to have to decide. It might be that those "prerecorded tapes of Hollywood movies" you mentioned are suitable "reference standards".

If you know of another properly aligned Hitachi built VCR (because not every manufacturer had similar ideas of alignment - a topic for yet another discussion - but even ANY other VCR might prove to be a suitable <cough> 'reference standard' VCR) that shines in terms of alignment I would make a tape on it and call it your "reference standard". Would I advise you align your VCR to it? Are there any lawyers present?

To summarize, as I said a few paragraphs up, a VCR that plays back its own recordings, better than recordings from other machines, may not have a correctly aligned a/ctl trk head (i.e. aligned to the real world 'reference standard' <cough>).

Here's another tip: I wouldn't screw around messing with the alignment of an a/ctl trk head that you didn't know wasn't screwed around with in the first place. Unless you're ready to unscrew it back.

Hope any of that helps.

[B 4204 T3]

Thank you for the suggestions & quick response.



When I typed my response yesterday, I guess I should have been clearer with what I wrote about my experience with the VCR.



The tape that I played a few days ago is a newer Sony T-120 VHS video cassette manufactured some time back in the mid-to-late 2000s, which was recorded at SLP, approximately ten years ago. It was not recorded on this VCR. While I was playing it, I frequently had to adjust the tracking knob. Most of the time, I just keep the tracking knob in the midrange position, which is the spot where it clicks when it gets turned, but when I played the tape in this position, there was a lot of static in the picture, and it was only clear when I moved the tracking knob all the way in either direction. The studio-made movies play fine with the tracking knob in the customary midrange position.



I guess my plan for the VCR, at least for now, is to experiment with it by making some test recordings on it at all three tape speeds so I will have references for it, and also try recording on one of my other VCRs, so I can compare the differences they make. I will also clean the audio control track head thoroughly using your suggested method.



I don't really know anything about the history of this RCA/Hitachi VCR, since it was a $10.00 Craigslist find that I bought six months ago at someone's house, and when I had it repaired by the TV/stereo dealer near me, the technician must have only done the basic repair procedure; for example, changing the belts, tyres, idlers, and lubrication, but not any advanced, in-depth service. I don't know exactly what he did with the VCR, but it's just my guess.



Once again, I can't thank you enough for the advice; I really appreciate it. If you can think of any other suggestions, then I really welcome them.

[Blast]

I'm just now getting caught back on on the thread.

Originally Posted by B 4204 T3

The tape that I played a few days ago is a newer Sony T-120 VHS video cassette manufactured some time back in the mid-to-late 2000s, which was recorded at SLP, approximately ten years ago. It was not recorded on this VCR. While I was playing it, I frequently had to adjust the tracking knob. Most of the time, I just keep the tracking knob in the midrange position, which is the spot where it clicks when it gets turned, but when I played the tape in this position, there was a lot of static in the picture, and it was only clear when I moved the tracking knob all the way in either direction. The studio-made movies play fine with the tracking knob in the customary midrange position.

In my opinion this does not describe a problem. The tracking control is there to provide compatibility from one machine to another. I will practically guarantee you that you won't be able to record a tape on a factory aligned Hitachi VCR and play it back on a factory aligned Panasonic (and vs. versa) with moving the tracking control to some point slightly off center- this was always my experience. It was so consistent that, back in the day, I knew how far and which direction to turn a Panasonic's tracking control before I ever played a test tape recorded on a Hitachi. This is totally normal.

What I was describing in terms of "reference standard" was a complete inability to properly play back a tape regardless of speed or the setting of the tracking control, not just a centering of the tracking control.

[Electronic M]

If it tracks Hollywood tape releases correctly, but doesn't track tapes from another home unit correctly that suggests your VCR is working fine, and the other home machine that recorded the tape is not aligned correctly.