school me on Pansaonic AG series VHS VCR's

[jdwk]

I need one, see them on Ebay don't know which one to get, need to get one that is serviced. tell me what you know.


best one? newest one? best one for transfering VHS to Digital? did they ever make a multi speed one? help me make a good descision.

SVHS?

also looking for the best Beta machine to buy? thanks for your knowledge.

[mr_rye89]

I had an AG-1970, and while quite good these units were used hard so they're worn out or marginal, the capacitors in them are bad and will affect the video quality. and they are horrendously overpriced on epay. Same applies for the AG-1980.

I have one of those weird JVC SVHS/MiniDV dual deck VCRs and it's great for making digital transfers but you need a computer with FireWire/iLink and probably linux. If you can grab one cheap then do it. I'd hit up local thrift stores and craigslist before looking on epay.

[Chip Chester]

The 1970s and 1980s are multispeed, with a basic TBC. Edit controllable with their own consumer-interface editor. I have a few, and they performed well for the task I needed them for.

The 7750s are a much different beast. Very pro, but only SP - - no other speeds. Nice TBC and line doubler. XLR in and out for audio, BNC and S-video for video. Very much a workhorse. Still have several on hand.

[mr_rye89]

I like the look of the 7750s, its basically a more modern version of my early 80s JVC BR-6400U, which lacks SVHS and HiFi audio.

[Chip Chester]

They have very nice tape handling characteristics, that made them the only machine for my captioning prep use back in the tape days. Things like play-speed jogging, without changing modes. Just twirl the dial at the right rate, then stop, reverse, crawl with no button pushes. Plus, they would allow manual sync-up like many Sony pro decks. You could "bump" at play speed to catch up or slow down to sync a 'backup' tape with the 'on-air' tape. That function alone, plus ISDN video conferencing, made me many bucks and saved a huge amount of driving.

[waltchan]

The AG Pro-Line series was first released in 1985, beginning with AG-1000 video cassette player. It has expanded greatly since. The AG-series, historically, focused more on the VHS format than digital formats today.

They were most-reliable and most-durable for first 2 years only, until starting in 1987 model with the G-chassis mechanism related. Canon also got into the VCR market in 1985 that were all clones and rebadges of Panasonic AG models, until 1988 when they got out due to poor sales. The first Super VHS (AG-1830) was released in 1988, and it marked the beginning and downfall of AG VCRs reliability and durability.

School classrooms began to be flooded with the AG-1200 series 4-head mono VCRs starting in 1989 when one VCR for each classroom began to be affordable. The first four, AG-1200 (1985), AG-1210 (1986), AG-1220 (1987), and AG-1230 (1988) weren't great sellers. AG-1240 (1989), AG-1250 (1990), AG-1260 (1991), AG-1270 (1992), AG-1280 (1993), and AG-1290 (1994) were all incredibly best-sellers. All of these models since 1989 were rebadges from Panasonic PV consumer models. Starting in 1995 with AG-1300, it began to use its own propriety mechanism chassis instead that no longer shared with PV models anymore. They were also often more-reliable and durable too, with fewer belts (or none), and no longer had any surface-mount capacitors inside. The last and final Panasonic AG VCR was the AG-2580 (2003), but it was made by JVC in order to save costs.

The award-winning AG-1980 (released in 1996) was the most-popular, but the least-reliable of the three (compared to AG-1960 and AG-1970) when S-VHS editing VCRs started to become more affordable to the middle-class families. The AG-1980 was also the only one of the three to have the common plastic slider breakage in transport mechanism.

My most-favorite is the AG-1810 4-head Hi-Fi made in 1986, and the last one that was not G-chassis mechanism related. Twin/clone model is Canon VR-HF710 and VR-HF720.

[Chip Chester]

Who is a good shop for a re-cap job on a 1980? And more importantly, are they worth any more than the cost of the job itself when it's done? I have a couple I bought for a specific project a few years ago, and while they're still working machines, I haven't done a thorough check-out of their performance in all modes. (Was just using playback.)

I have way too many VHS machines...

[AVTechMan]

Originally Posted by Chip Chester

Who is a good shop for a re-cap job on a 1980? And more importantly, are they worth any more than the cost of the job itself when it's done? I have a couple I bought for a specific project a few years ago, and while they're still working machines, I haven't done a thorough check-out of their performance in all modes. (Was just using playback.)

I have way too many VHS machines...

I'd like to know the answer to that myself, though I have the 5710 which is the brother to the 1980. For digitizing tapes (especially for clients) you can almost never have too many decks, many could be spares or backup machines in case the primary machines broke down. Kinda regretted selling the two 1980's I had....

[djski]

Originally Posted by Chip Chester

Who is a good shop for a re-cap job on a 1980? And more importantly, are they worth any more than the cost of the job itself when it's done? I have a couple I bought for a specific project a few years ago, and while they're still working machines, I haven't done a thorough check-out of their performance in all modes. (Was just using playback.)

I have way too many VHS machines...

I have re-capped dozens of AG series machines. It is a labor intensive and expensive job. The most difficult has to be the AG-DS850, which replaced the AG-7750 (the 7750 was the last good one). Problem is most techs who are familiar with the task are retired from the business, including myself.