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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

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Old 27th Apr 2020, 6:15 am   #1
Cobra570
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Default Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

So I was recently at an estate sale of a hoarder’s former home and purchased 8 brand new, unopened VCR players. Brand names such as GE, Hitachi, Realistic and Craig were a part of the bundle; however, in the bundle, I purchased 2 “Singer” VCRs (Model: VCP-115). I scoured the internet to get further information on this company/model, but I haven’t had much luck in locating definitive information.

I’m aware of the Singer brand that is popularly known for manufacturing sewing machines, but not so much familiar with their manufacturing of electronics.

Has anyone heard of Singer manufacturing VCRs?

The most information I have found is in this YouTube video’s comment section:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xPxXfj4rtaM

This comment is the only sort of information I’ve been able to track down:

“During 80s and 90s Singer's electric appliances are mostly rebadged from National (mostly white goods such as washing machine and fridge) and Sharp (Audiovisual products like TV/VCR or Mini HiFi) but exceptional for this ads, this VCR was rebadged from National. Those high quality days were gone. Now Singer only rebadged crappy, lousy products from China from Midea/Haier.”
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 1:15 pm   #2
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

It looks a bit like a Sharp VC386 or something around that time.
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 1:28 pm   #3
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Maybe you could post a few pictures, including the labels on the back and possibly the insides. Singer never manufactured VCR's themselves, so they should be bought in and often indentifiable from the details.
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 1:51 pm   #4
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

As they are still boxed as new it might be an idea to take a look at the guarantee card inside to see if it can shed any light on where or who serviced/manufactured them?

The Malaysian slogan at the end means Captivating a happy family . i think.
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 11:20 pm   #5
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

I've got the feeling I've seen a Singer television at one time, probably a basic 14" colour from the 1980s-90s.
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Old 28th Apr 2020, 12:02 am   #6
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

The only references to VCP-115 I can find so far, are to Goldstar/LG. They could be the OEM which should be easily identifiable from the type label. "Made in Korea", the FCC-ID and the code number of the label itself are the main clues.
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Old 29th Apr 2020, 8:33 pm   #7
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

I vaguely remember remember having a Singer VHS Player in for repair in the early 90`s. From memory, which is not that good these days, I recall it being based on a Orion chassis, but that was here in the UK, not sure about the USA.
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Old 29th Apr 2020, 9:14 pm   #8
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Singer are a chain of electrical appliance stores across India and Sri Lanka, they are pretty much the equivalent of Currys in that territory. They sell lots of their own branded products, everything from TVs, VCRs, DVD players to rice cookers, air conditioning units. The name is written in the same font as the sewing machine brand was, I guess they bought the brand and have expanded it.

I would imagine Singer sewing machines were a household name there as here. I would imagine they are made wherever is cheapest, probably China.
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Old 29th Apr 2020, 9:24 pm   #9
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Here's a screen capture from the ad on YouTube.

It certainly has a lot of similarities with the Sharp VC381 as Tony suggested above: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sharp_...er_vc_381.html

Or the VC-9500: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sharp_...r_vc_9500.html
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Old 29th Apr 2020, 9:47 pm   #10
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Those 1980s Sharp machines were good. Great for servicing, good spares back up, reliable, and usually simple and economic repairs.

Regards,
Symon
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 11:17 pm   #11
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

I have one of those. It's a VC481!

I gave it the once- over about 3 years ago, it sees occasional use in a second home here. From my notes over the years ( I have done a few):

NO SPOOLING, CHEWS UP IN PLAY
remove idler wheel (unclip white retainer NOTE: HAS SPRING UNDER IT AND WILL FLY OFF!) resurface/replace tyre.

ERRATIC front panel transport buttons, functions scrambled
-replace push switches ON CONTROL PANEL (GONE HI RES)

SLOWS down in play/rec, other modes Ok
-capstan belt falling apart-replaced. If still wow change pinch r.

NOT ACCEPTING CASSETTE - clean sense leaf switch on cass basket

Note also: this VCR has blank skip - when it has unrecorded tape it drops into cue, playback restarts when programme detected.
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 11:21 pm   #12
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Well done Ben!
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Old 1st May 2020, 12:06 am   #13
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

But we still don't know about the Singer VCP-115 that started this topic. The Sharp made model in the Youtube video is either a VP-118 or a VR-118, probably many years older.

If the OP is still reading this, please take some pictures, at least one of which has the type label and other things carrying article codes or such information, readable.
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Old 1st May 2020, 2:27 am   #14
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard_FM View Post
I've got the feeling I've seen a Singer television at one time, probably a basic 14" colour from the 1980s-90s.
I only worked on one Singer color set. It was the same as a Panasonic 18" model in a wood cabinet. Around a 1967 model.
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Old 1st May 2020, 3:28 pm   #15
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

As Symon said "that range were reliable" they certainly were, except the reel idler, occasional reel motor and cassette lamp, we had a lot out on rental and compared to other machines head life a was good. I really can't recall any other faults except liquid damage.
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Old 1st May 2020, 4:49 pm   #16
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Hi Tony.

Yes, the reel idler was a common issue and I found it best to fit a genuine one rather than a pattern made unit, cheaper all round in the long run. The decks in those Sharp machines were easy to work on not like the over elaborate Panasonic G deck and awkward Mitsubishi machines. The Sharp, JVC and earlier Panasonic decks get my vote. Hitachi were OK but had quite a few problems with capstan motors.

Regards,
Symon
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Old 1st May 2020, 8:40 pm   #17
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

The "G" in Panasonic's chassis stands for Garbage lol. Overly-complex and overengineered. My NV-FS200 S-VHS deck broke down because a small gear skipped a tooth or two and now the whole mechanism is wrecked. Very good machines when they work though and I still prefer them over the later VHS/S-VHS decks that keep the tape fully loaded during FF/REW.

Regards,

Fivos
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Old 1st May 2020, 10:38 pm   #18
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Quote:
Originally Posted by dj_fivos_sak View Post
The "G" in Panasonic's chassis stands for Garbage lol. Overly-complex and overengineered.
I own several. In various stages of repair.
NV-D40, D80
NV-J30
NV-G21
NV-FS100
NV-F55
GRUNDIG VS920
SONY SLV270
PHILIPS VR 6585
PHILIPS VR 813

I've tried to like them, I really have . But I just find them clunky and awkward in use, and as for retiming...never managed it successfully. One motor for every function in the deck may have cut costs a lot initally, but the downside is a million and one interconnected gears and linkages, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket, one bit fails then the whole deck goes t*ts up.

Sorry, bit OT there! One day expect to see a huge sale post from me...
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Old 1st May 2020, 10:48 pm   #19
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Hi.

I may have been unlucky with the G deck Panasonics but I noticed a few that developed noisy drum motor bearings. I found a few machines suffered from a dim VFD and faulty RF modulators as well. Good performers but excessively complicated and much more involved to service compared to a comparable JVC deck.

I have to admit to feeling more confident repairing a Philips Charly deck machine compared to a Panasonic with a G deck and that's saying something.

Regards,
Symon

Last edited by Philips210; 1st May 2020 at 10:55 pm.
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Old 1st May 2020, 11:05 pm   #20
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Default Re: Singer Brand VCR Player Identification

Even while I'm a bit of a Philips guy and I don't like G decks, I feel more confident in fully rebuilding a G deck. That is, I have done one or two sucessfully just by following the procedure from the service manual but never sucessfully rebuilt a charly deck.
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