Sony VO-5630 U-Matic VCR

[villelaustela]

Some background: I work as an IT/AV-support in my old school. Some years ago (during a move caused by a building-wide renovation project) I discovered some boxes of U-Matic tapes, with markings indicating they included recorder lessons, school events etc. Later on I discovered huge suitcase with Sony -logo on the side: it was the camera unit used to record those tapes! The camera itself was a huge thing with separate CRT viewfinder of the same size. Also some Sony price lists were found but no U-matic recorder. I decided to move the tapes to a safe place for awhile until a working player is found. (Just about anyone else would have thrown the tapes to trash and I found the locker by chance! ).

After the renovation was finished I moved the tapes next to my office and stored them in a locker. I had heard that an old friend of mine have a Sony U-Matic VCR and he even promised me to sell it to me but the sale didn't happen until last week. The deck is huge and very heavy (almost 24 kg).

I bought the deck but soon a problem was discovered: the tape loaded and ejected but no playback or winding modes worked. Soon after opening the top cover the problem was located, a small drive belt in the tape loading mechanism was loose. After measuring the belt I was able to buy a close replacement form a local electronics store (the replacement belt is Ø 40,0 x 1,2 mm, square. The original belt seem to have been a bit thicker). The belt was responsible for driving the tape guides in the tape threading (which, in U-Matic systems, is very complex, see photos attached). The drive unit is easy to take off, it's fixed by three screws and the wire to the motor is socketed. The belt was replaced and some old grease was wiped off from the mechanism.

After this simple repair the deck seems to be working perfectly.

The tapes (around 100 pcs.) include very rare material of the 1970's and 80's history which is otherwise largely lost. Many of the current teachers do appear on the videos and will create a lot of nostalgic moments (and some laughing out loud due some horrible 70/80's fashions!). Also on the background a lot of interesting detail can be seen on what sort of AV-stuff was used here at the time. Some tapes also include contemporary tv-shows recorder from TV. Later tapes from the 1980's are even recorded in color. Fortunately most of the tapes have proper markings of what they include. In some cases full names and dates are given which really helps going thrue the lot.

So far the tapes I have watched have been in working condition. The colour tapes are of varying quality; some have horrible noisy colours and contrast is very low and highly-luminated items cause very visible (green!) refelections and ghosting when moving. Resolution is pretty good, and some of the best b&w tapes do have very little to complain, especially those where the camera-man has been paying more attention to fine-tuning the camera exposure and audio levels. I found some un-used tapes and I will try some recordings later.

BTW; if anyone happens to have a copy of the user/service -manual I'd love to have a copy (or PDF). Also information about the Tv-output connector would be appreciated. At the moment I am using the BNC video output and RCA audio outputs.

These are very sturdy decks and look-and-feel very professional. I especially love the solenoid clicks during the threading and the style of the control panel (can be folded out as seen in photos 1 and 2) and the control buttons (red and blue coloured with indicator lights on the top). The cassettes have window (or are completely transparent) to see the reels. The tape-chamber is lit and has a mirrored flap so the tape-movement can be seen thrue the outer lid.

Technical specs can be found here.

(I have a small similar style Sony Trinitron colour monitor in use at school, too. It's very likely to have been used with some similar U-Matic deck in the past).

1st photo: Sony VO-5630 VCR-unit. Big, heavy and stylish!
2nd photo: top cover removed, one circuit board lift up to access the mechanics.
3rd photo: a simple motor-gear unit which is used to engage to tape threading. Motor is on the bottom (not visible here) and drives the gearing on the top by the belt
4th photo: tape in playback mode. The unit where the belt was replaced can just be seen on the bottom-left.
5th photo: an example of the working unit. (Low-quality colour video here).

[ppppenguin]

These are solid and reliable machines. Forget about the TV output, it is simply video and audio on an 8 pin connector that was often used in the 1970s and 1980s to connect to suitable monitors. See EIAJ 8 pin connector here: http://www.labguysworld.com/Connectors.htm

[Steve_P]

Is it low or hi band U-Matic? I remember these from my time at the BBC. Nice machines.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[villelaustela]

I was hoping for s-video output but fine - I'll use the composite output, then. I have a faint memory of having a cable with 8-pin EIAJ connector somewhere but can't find it now! The Sony monitor has similar BNC video input and RCA audio inputs.

Steve_P: This is a low-band -deck.

[villelaustela]

Here is a good photo of the b&w camera-viewfinder unit, Sony AVC-3250. Technical data.

Some more data and examples of the picture quality (almost the same model).

We even have the original tripod (unfortunately broken!) at school!

[threeseven]

Once upon a time I worked for a video equipment supply company, they sold video gear to educational, professional and commercial bodies. They also had a small studio for demonstrations, editing and production. They sold a vast amount of U-Matic stuff, I remember one order to supply all the Police training schools and forensic labs in the UK.
There was so much equipment on that order it took 2 months just to deliver it all !!

Anyway, my favourite toy was the U-Matic edit suite. I sat compiling tapes for hours on that thing, at the time it was amazing ! I still have one tape, VHS copy only unfortunately, of a Motocross event that I rode in. I gave a friend of mine a crash course in the use of a full broadcast quality Sony Video Camera with a £5K lens on it, loaned to me for the weekend by the company to record the event !
He wasn't too good but I treasure that tape, I rode quite well and I really felt quite the expert when I was editing it !!
Sony U-Matics were fabulous pieces of equipment and were extremely expensive, that edit suite was around £40K !!
There was an engineer there and I used to watch him service and repair them, I wasn't trained up on U-Matic, and the build quality impressed me greatly.
I may even buy one for a bit of nostalgia and as they're so cheap now !

[villelaustela]

Some of the old tapes have got broken (the joint between lead-in transparent tape and the magnetic tape has cut) during winding. I have used two pieces of 1/4" open-reel joint tape on the rear of the tape, is correct size joint tape still available somewhere?

Here is a short video of the tape threading mechanism. (Made on a Mac, .m4v, 12,5 Mb)

[ben]

Nice work. As a compulsive archivist of chance found material on tape, I am so pleased you saved all that valuable footage.

I have a Sony U matic deck even older than yours back in the Uk, its a top loader playback deck. I might even drag it back to Spain with me next month as I've accumulated a few tapes I want to check out.

[dark1stu]

The deck in that unit looks very much like my trusty VO-9850P that had the same fault. The one I have is a SP unit so it plays all three formats.

[vidformrich]

Hello,

If their is any u-matic tapes going spare at all let me know i'm trying to develop an archive of comedies, documentaries, and programmes for school and colleges. I heard that most of the OU lectures were on u-matic format until the late 90's I don't if it's true at all? it would be interesting if i could get some of those.

Regards

Rich