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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc. |
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27th Aug 2019, 6:01 pm | #1 |
Pentode
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Ware, Herts, UK
Posts: 171
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Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
Hi there,
Here's an effect I've not seen before. Dusted off an old Panasonic HS830 (s-vhs) deck that I had not used before, and before deciding to do too much with it, thought I would try a tape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwzpfb6UoJE As you can see the picture has a great big noise bar at the top (which sometimes rolls to the bottom), a "wobbling" image and uniform noise-like horizontal bars at equal distances throughout the picture. If I hadn't tried multiple known-good tapes, i would have thought it was recorded during a high pressure "tropo-" event. Cleaned the heads and no change. Any ideas? Rob |
27th Aug 2019, 7:12 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,715
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
First thing I would want to do is eliminate the possibility of gross mis-tracking due to one or both inclined tape guides being misaligned.
How well does it play back a recording you've made on it, in its current state?
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-- Graham. G3ZVT |
27th Aug 2019, 7:31 pm | #3 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
Posts: 891
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
Could be a lazy cap in the power supply or head preamp. Leave it running with a known-good tape and check up on it after an hour or so to see if there's any improvement.
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Regards, John |
27th Aug 2019, 10:39 pm | #4 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Durham, County Durham, UK.
Posts: 640
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
I'll also go with a tape guide issue, doesn't look PSU or heads. The machine I believe is fitted with the Z mech and a couple of gears were prone to breaking a tooth or two which meant one or both of the guides weren't fully located into the V blocks.
John. |
28th Aug 2019, 8:48 am | #5 |
Pentode
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Ware, Herts, UK
Posts: 171
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
Thanks John and Graham. I think you're onto something. After laceup, the guides still have some play (backwards) into the V blocks. I'll investigate....
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30th Aug 2019, 3:48 pm | #6 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Wales, UK.
Posts: 6,921
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
You can usually carefully persuade the left guide to locate in the V-block - if that removes the bar you've found the problem. They had odd gears with internal springs whcih always gave the impression of being about to jump out of alignment! Replacing the pair is best -provided you can find them.
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31st Aug 2019, 1:53 am | #7 |
Heptode
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Lefkada, Greece
Posts: 969
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
That looks like a misaligned tape path. Use a flat-tipped screwdriver and slowly adjust the tape guides until you get a perfect picture and noise-free hi-fi sound. A scope probably needed to bring it to factory alignment.
Fivos |
31st Aug 2019, 1:43 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Haarlem, Netherlands
Posts: 4,199
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
But never try to adjust until all mechanical defects are either ruled out or repaired.
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1st Sep 2019, 11:36 am | #9 |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ripley, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 785
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
I would make certain that there is absolutely no dirt or foreign matter preventing the control head being in proper contact with the tape.
It is unlilely that the tape guides have become out of alignment on their own during storage, so I suggest that they should be one of the last things you resort to adjusting, especially if you do not have a proper alignment tape. John123's suggestion is also very valid, as many electrolytics go low capacity if left un-polarised for a lengthy period of time, causing weird faults to appear, and is an easily done test, too. Tony Last edited by boxdoctor; 1st Sep 2019 at 11:41 am. |
1st Sep 2019, 5:31 pm | #10 |
Pentode
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Ware, Herts, UK
Posts: 171
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Re: Panasonic S-VHS HS830 - Broken Video Head?
Thanks for all the comments. On close inspection it appears one of the drive cogs that completes the lace into the V-blocks is split. To make matters worse, I also managed to split the ribbon cable to the lower video drum during disassembly (doh!) so I think think this machine is going into the spares pile for now.
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