TV/VCR combo cant record anymore
#1
03-03-04, 08:52 PM
TV/VCR combo cant record anymore
Hi all-
Was gonna take this in to a repair shop, but thought I would give DIY a whirl here first.
I have a panasonic combo vcr/tv. The vcr stopped recording awhile back. Right before it did, it just stopped recording sound. As an aside, my wife was taping her soap opera stuff, over an older soap opera tape. The scenes are all about the same amount of time, and it synced up. Was freeking hilarious! I shoulda kept that tape.
Heh, anyhow, so it stopped recording sound, and now when it records, (it acts like its doing it) it just doesnt lay any new signal down on the VHS tape. Note that it plays back VHS just fine.
Any thoughts? Its a good TV, only a few years old. If it aint something I can do, then its goin to the shop for an estimate.
Thanks, Eric
Was gonna take this in to a repair shop, but thought I would give DIY a whirl here first.
I have a panasonic combo vcr/tv. The vcr stopped recording awhile back. Right before it did, it just stopped recording sound. As an aside, my wife was taping her soap opera stuff, over an older soap opera tape. The scenes are all about the same amount of time, and it synced up. Was freeking hilarious! I shoulda kept that tape.
Heh, anyhow, so it stopped recording sound, and now when it records, (it acts like its doing it) it just doesnt lay any new signal down on the VHS tape. Note that it plays back VHS just fine.
Any thoughts? Its a good TV, only a few years old. If it aint something I can do, then its goin to the shop for an estimate.
Thanks, Eric
#2
03-07-04, 02:53 AM
The sound not erasing part is usually something to with the full erase head not working. This fault is commonly caused by faulty connections on the erase head itself. The full erase head is the first fixed head that the tape runs by on its way through the machine.
This doesn't really tally with the picture being blank on recordings though. The only effect the full erase head not working has on a picture is that you can see the unlocked colour of the old recording wandering about in the background of the new recording.
The blank recording part sounds more like control pulses are perhaps not being recorded. The control head is the last fixed head that the tape runs past on its way through the machine. Control pulses are recorded onto the lower edge of the tape by the lower part of that head.
I think I'd initially make sure that both these heads were clean and then check for bad connections around the erase head. It's conceivable that they could have both got dirty from using a dirty or damaged tape. This might be expected to make the video (spinning) heads dirty also ...but not necessarily so. Is it a hi-fi sound video recorder?
The oscillator that runs the erase head could be faulty but I don't think this would also blank the recordings right out. You never know though. With the variations used in circuit design it might just do. A circuit diagram would be good to look at.
Apart from these things I can't think of anything easy the fault might be. It may need an experienced person to look into the cause.
This doesn't really tally with the picture being blank on recordings though. The only effect the full erase head not working has on a picture is that you can see the unlocked colour of the old recording wandering about in the background of the new recording.
The blank recording part sounds more like control pulses are perhaps not being recorded. The control head is the last fixed head that the tape runs past on its way through the machine. Control pulses are recorded onto the lower edge of the tape by the lower part of that head.
I think I'd initially make sure that both these heads were clean and then check for bad connections around the erase head. It's conceivable that they could have both got dirty from using a dirty or damaged tape. This might be expected to make the video (spinning) heads dirty also ...but not necessarily so. Is it a hi-fi sound video recorder?
The oscillator that runs the erase head could be faulty but I don't think this would also blank the recordings right out. You never know though. With the variations used in circuit design it might just do. A circuit diagram would be good to look at.
Apart from these things I can't think of anything easy the fault might be. It may need an experienced person to look into the cause.
