R?R fun

[Dave A]

Today was bench time for three open reel video decks. An Akai VT-110 B&W, Akai VT-150 color (both very tired), and a Concord VTR900 B/W (like new from 1970 or so).

Akai VT-110 camera/PS/deck. PS good. I tuned up the camera and it looks good. The deck not so much. It tries but on play push it starts to move in to place but a microswitch engages and the whole thing says no. A project for someone else.

Akai VT-150 camera/PS/deck/genlock adaptor. PS good. The camera tries with an image that says it needs tuning...sometimes. The deck is stone cold. Could not check the genlock adaptor. Again, a project for someone else.

The Concord VTR900 made my day. I found it at Kutztown a while back and had to wait until I found my Panasonic round pin AC cord. It is a Panasonic NV-8000 in Concord clothing. I used a 8mm cam for the test. Power up was ok but no motor noise until I found a hidden motor switch on the side. Now all motors and head were spinning but it was function stiff. That went away. I tried a tape from a Sony that had speed problems and it played the speed problems but noisy. A test recording was a fail. Noise. Then it was a Deoxit effort and a head cleaning effort. Deoxit fixed a lot. Six tries at head cleaning with 90% Iso did the trick. Putting the head cover back on was the scariest so I did not drop the screws inside.

The monitor close up is a pause/still and you can see my local hummingbird.

[old_tv_nut]

Nice! Is the tape format compatible with anything else?

[Dave A]

Yes it is. It is an early EIAJ-1 (1970) B&W deck. Color came about 4 years later when color cameras became avaiable. This deck has an inventory sticker showing March, 1970 from a local high school. Serial #1155. It plays a tape recorded on a similar Sony. A little history here from the Wayback machine;

https://web.archive.org/web/20131012...0Transfers.htm

[ChrisW6ATV]

Very cool!

[ARC Tech-109]

I've had a number of those EIAJ decks in the past, Sony AV-8650 & the 3400 rover package along with the Panasonic NV-3020 B&W and 3160 color editor. Pound for pound the Panasonic had the better build quality than the Sony with more heavy brass but being a color-under the video quality was about the same. Panasonic also used a ball bearing for the capstan and sony a bronze bushing that would wear causing the shaft to tilt and run the tape up the pinch roller.
Lots of memories with those, buddy picked up a pallet of decks & cameras and other "production" equipment from the school auction in the 80's and we nerded out over those for months, still have a tape we made from back then but I'm not sure I want to play it today! Cameras were a mix of those AVC-3600's and DXC-1200's with man-sized C-mount zoom lenses. Good times were had by all.

[Electronic M]

I've got a few EIAJ decks myself including a standard color deck and a Sony AV-5000A non-standard color and a portapack.

I've also got proprietary Panasonic and Shibaden format decks that predate EIAJ... I'm keeping an eye open for a CV deck as I think I have a couple of CV format tapes.