r/VCRs

UPDATE: There appears to be a mechanical failure too. I inserted a sacrificial cassette (an instructional video for something we no longer own) and hit play. The button lit up for a bit, but then the mechanism seized and it won't eject the cassette anymore... It still shows the icon though.

This was a VCR I picked up at a thrift store for relatively cheap. Thinking that Sharp was a good brand, I brought it home, and although it powered on, I got no audio or sound...

Help would be appreciated; I'm still new. Should I try the RF out?

my niece knocked over my tv and now it eates tapes and turns off immediately

any explanation for this

I have this old Panasonic Pv-V4525S VCR. It currently likes to eat tapes and turn off after trying to lower the vhs into the tray. The error code is 0103 if I hold the channel down button after it shuts off. I Already cleaned up the oxidized rotary switch and taped over the forks to give a better contact to the traces underneath, since they were not giving a good contact unless I pushed down on the switch. But It still runs into the same problem. I also soldered some test points to the rotary switch (Pins 1 through 5) to test if it makes good contact while running. When in eject mode Pin 1 and five make a good connection, and when trying to load the vhs 3-5 and 4-5 make a good connection as well. I've been trying to follow this service manual but I'm not too well versed in this field as I'm better with newer hardware. Any help would be appreciated! Here also the service manual: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/2753965/Panasonic-Pv-V4525s.html?page=2#manual

I recently had a tape being weird and it my vcr just shit it's self and the dock the holds the tape doesn't slide up or eject the tape. Now when I try to eject the tape it just spins some of the film and then turns off,

Any suggestion to fix/ repairs?

I've played a tape of Star wars on it, and it works fine. Someone was throwing it away, so I took it to replace my dad's broken one.

https://preview.redd.it/1vakdio92uah1.jpg?width=2949&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b43d516b264c3287bcc161b95e44f581e8f543fc

This Emerson VT1322 (Orion built) took a few weeks to get to the bottom of. Back in ‘94 it retailed for $650 which would be about $1400 bucks today. Local repair guy said it wasn‘t worth fixing. From where he sits he’s probably right. But for me, I really wanted it to work. When I got it, it was covered in soot and wouldn’t take a tape in at all, but the price was good considering the current market. Cleaned it up, opened it up, and troubleshooted one problem after another. It was Carrie who saved it. Wedging the book in, I isolated the last problem. But the main fix was probably retiming cams 1 and 2 and cleaning the mode switch. There was a pin out of place in the loading mechanism near the clutch, too, causing the tape not to fully seat, which affected the rotation of the capstan/idler system. Let’s just say I learned a lot about VCRs in the last few weeks. Life lesson about perseverance learned from a CRT. Side note: Macrovision can make it tough to hook an extra VCR to an early 90s TV/VCR combo.

(PROBLEM IS NOW FIXED) To be fair, I’m new to VCRs and have no clue what I’m doing except for some basics I learned to try and fix it. Bought it in an auction where the person smoked inside (no idea if that would affect anything, but there was some residue inside that I cleaned). I don’t know what’s wrong with it, and I need some advice on how to fix it, or if I’m even able to.

Hey there yall. I bought this vcr as part of a bundle for 10 bucks and it keeps snagging on my tape for some reason and I dont know why, this is my first time ever working with these so im pretty unsure. The model is an RCA VPT296. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I just got this Sony DVD Player/Video Cassette Recorder SLV-D500P from an estate sale and have hit a snafu with playing any VHS tapes. I've tested two tapes and keep having this problem where the two rollers don't pull the tape to the drum. I was able to make it work once, but they just don't seem to want to pull all the way.

Does anyone have any guidance on how to fix this?

EDIT: My husband helped out and we were able to get it to (somewhat) work! We have to push down on the tape slightly right after putting it in the VCR for the rollers to grab the tape. It will play the video but only if it's rewinding or fast forwarding. Back to the drawing board!