[Philips210]

Hi.

Yes the Panasonic G deck was complicated and not the easiest to service. Always thought it made lots of clonking when going through various modes. Some machines just got on with the loading cycle. Other Panasonics were good though, as were JVC mechanisms. The latter were in my view the best for servicing. I recall how easy to service the Ferguson 3V29 and 3V35 series were that used JVC decks. Spares were readily available and resonably priced.

I didn't dislike the Philips Charly deck. It did seem flimsy but can't recall any serious problems and always successfully serviced those decks. The electronics in the Philips machines was very reliable. You did get the occasional power supply problems in those machines that used a switch mode power supply though service kits were readily available and again easy to fix.

One deck I wasn't keen on was the one used in the Mitsubishi HS-337. Mitsubishi parts weren't the cheapest either.

I wasn't a great fan of the Hitachi VT8000 series, they seemed to suffer from a noisy drum motor not unlike later Hitachis that had a noisy capstan motor.

Some of the Amstrad machines that used to regularly edge damage the cassette tape due to a faulty clutch and pinch roller were not the best either.

I never felt comfortable working on Sony and Sanyo Betamax machines and generally only stuck with the VHS format.

Regards,
Symon