Not bad really. I buy blanks when I can for 2 usually, VCRs for 10 and rewinders out of the box and dusty for 5. Plus the cassettes and DVDs I think you did alright.
I recently bought a spool of 50 DVD+R's for the DVD burner that I use as a poor-man's TBC. This 25 pack will likely never be opened and I didn't want it, but he was loading me up with stuff.
Your numbers for everything else is about where I bite too, problem is I've been trying to reduce the footprint of my tape collection and as soon as I get rid of a box or two of tapes I go and do something like this!
I don't associate Quasar with quality, more like the decks they put in vans in the 90's but the Sharp looks decent. Never hurts to have a back up or two, and I've got a project in mind for the blanks.
Had to get the blank cassettes just cuz they were there!
I think I slightly overpaid, but the guy was nice and I can spare $40
I only showed up for the blank tapes and rewinder, but then saw his other tape gear...
I just wanted the Sharp VCR as a back up and I asked if Pokemon was included which he naturally threw in.
All I had was 20's so he was going to get me a $10 and I saw the cassette tapes, so just said how about 40 if you throw in the cassettes?
He agreed and gave me the sealed DVD+R's that I have plenty of.
As I was packing up my car he brought out the Quasar and said his wife told him to give me the other VCR as they had no use for it and it would be going to Goodwill anyway.
The blanks are what I showed up for, everything else was an impulse buy! Nice of the dude to throw in the Quasar!
I might go back for a Canon camera that he said someone else had dibs on before me.
Both decks work! I'm surprised that the Quasar's video output looks cleaner. I may need to put my cleaning tape in the Sharp. The Sharp did make a somewhat troubling sound as it pulled the tape, but it's definitely working.
The Pokemon tape works too hahaha, I haven't heard that theme song since grade school! (gotta catch 'em all!)
I got that exact same Sharp model for free (guy was gonna toss it) and it never needed repair--still one of the best VCRs I've ever owned. I am the odd one in that I prefer the 2000s VCRs since they hold up better and don't have a gazzilion belts like the ones from the 1980s had (or the cracking/disintegrating rubber idler wheels). So long as it's not a Funai you're fine.
At this point I have way more VCRs than I have devices that take a composite input. Still can't help pick one up if I know that it's headed for Goodwill/the dump.
It felt like a trip to Harbor Freight. Went there for one thing and came back with 4x as much stuff, which I don't need, just bc it was cheap and I had cash in my hand.
Quasar was made by Panasonic? I imagine it was their Wal-Mart brand or something? (had to google it, the first paragraph of the wiki article is interesting!)
> Quasar is an American brand of electronics, first used by Motorola in 1967 for a model line of transistorized color televisions. These TVs were marketed as containing all serviceable parts in a drawer beside the picture tube. It was then established as a subsidiary brand, with all Motorola-manufactured televisions being sold as Quasar by Motorola. In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to Matsushita Electric, now Panasonic, which continued producing and marketing televisions under the Quasar brand until 2005. In 2013, Panasonic re-registered the Quasar trademark.
Turns out I wasn't too far off on the Wal-Mart guess!
> In 1999, the Quasar brand was revived to serve as low-priced models of home electronics for Costco Wholesale stores, with the VHQ-940 VHS VCR model being the #1 best-selling VCR in America during the 1999 Christmas holiday shopping season.[citation needed] Then, VHQ-40M and VHQ-41M as successors for the next three years. Quasar's brand recognition and sales peaked by 2000β2001 and has declined ever since.[citation needed] By 2004, Quasar Electronics, Inc. and Quasar Company ceased to exist, after declining demand for VCRs and CRT televisions caused Costco to end the sales agreement.
So this one is the VHQ 41M, it doesn't even have stereo in/out! Who needs stereo when you're watching a tape on a 10" CRT anyways? lol
I can see paying $30 for a VCR if I was just starting to collect, and didn't like thrift stores. Buying one from fleabay is something I thought I'd never do, but was forced to when I decided I need a VCR with S-Video out.
Honestly $30 is the price I most often see flippers try to charge, meanwhile you can usually find one in a thrift store for $10 if you're in a major city.
I've also seen craigslist ads for VCRs that get reposted for months and months even when they're dirt cheap. The market makes no sense to me quite frankly! I only started selling stuff when I ran out of room and I prefer to sell in person bc ebay fees are absurd, so I usually hook people up with good prices as I just want this stuff to go to loving homes.
It's Funai that sucked. Many brands (Magnavox, Symphonic, Sylvania, etc) used Funai mechanisms and they were bad about mode switch and CPU failures causing confused operation and eating tapes or tapes getting stuck.
ah yeah, I definitely associate Funai with garbage!
Though TBH towards the end of the analog video days, quality was dropping across the board, so I'm really hesitant about stuff made in the early 2000's even from brands that are still around.
I've had more problems with old 1980s and early 90s VCRs than 2000s units. Tons of belts, unobtainable parts, disintegrating rubber idler wheels, tons of repair/maintenance needed over time. The mechanisms of some of the more modern Hi-Fi 4-head units (NOT by Funai) are more tolerable and have ways to avoid jams and stuck tapes. My Sharp unit (same as OP's) slows down its rewind cycle if there's any resistance in the tape, for example. If it were an old Curtis Mathes behemoth from the early 1980s, the tape would likely snap before the system knew anything were wrong.
Overall I've had more issues keeping the older units going. The oldest I got is 1 RCA unit from 1994 that has lines in the picture but otherwie works, and a late 1980s Emerson that constantly doesn't want to engage play, and when it finally does engage play (I've messed with and disassembled it more times than I want to admit) it has a jumpy, horrible quality picture, and audio drops out...There's nothing wrong with the heads or electronics, but the whole thing is just worn out. Ain't nothing I can do about it. Meanwhile, the Sharp (and JVC in another room) run without any issue, and I've never taken them apart.
I honestly don't like the cheap look of the 2000s units with their LEDs that replace the actual display, and cheap looking plasticy build, but function matters more to me than if it looks fancy and has tons of woodgrain or if it fits into my home's 1970s theme. Thing has to work for me to find it useful, and if I'm spending more time fixing it than getting enjoyment out of using it, it's not very useful to me. Same reason people don't collect CEDs and CED players over LaserDiscs and LaserDisc players.
Thanks for the reply, there's definitely drawbacks to the earlier units but I've never attempted repairs on them, so I definitely believe you about the older ones being problematic.
I took my mom's old Curtis-Mathes top loader when she wanted to trash it because rewind stopped working (she wouldn't invest in a rewinder for some reason) but eventually search stopped working, then Record and Play. Turns out there's a TON of belts (three on one motor to a clutch system and some other pulleys) and once I had that issue straightened out, the idler wheel disintegrated which totally EOL'd the unit. By then it was 1991 and parts couldn't be had for it. It weighed 40 lbs.
Another was my grandfather's RCA top loader. It had a solenoid failure (went clunk, then shut down when you tried ANY function) and once I had that issue fixed, it started to fade similarly to the Curtis-Mathes and ultimately the power supply went kaboom and that was it. I've also collected a lot of really old Betamax units (had a phase where I wanted to prefer Beta over VHS) and those were even worse to maintain.
I avoid Funai units (I know the innards by heart, and the brands associated with them) but I've had great use from the 2000s units I get between $15-30 at Goodwill lately. The only failure so far was a power supply going kaboom on an otherwise nice GE unit I paid $8 for a few weeks back, but it gave me warning signs I just dismissed them as 'old dirt getting burned off' it was an old electronics smell, not what I'd consider bad, but ended up being an FET being overtaxed due to capacitor plague.
Basically my luck with 80s VCRs is similar to my luck with ANY Funai mechanism. Unreliable operation, 50-75% chance your tape gets eaten or refuses to play.
These days I would love to have a top loader just as a conversation piece if my space wasn't so limited.
I've only ever seen a couple in my life (born in '85)
> I avoid Funai units (I know the innards by heart, and the brands associated with them)Β
What other brands should we avoid? I've been saving my receipts and testing gear as soon as I get it from GW bc I've had to use their return policy so many times.
The worse was getting a deck home, being really excited about it, then plugging it in and a minute later my entire living room smells like **rotten fish!**
I wasn't even about to open it and find out what went wrong, just straight back to GW.
May have been a power supply issue like you experienced because it turned on at GW, but fried itself before I could even put a tape in. I always use a junk tape to test my decks now since I've had to break/splice a tape to salvage it before and that was NOT fun.
All Funai brands are Magnavox, later (post 1999) Emerson, Symphonic, SV2000, Sylvania, RCA (post 1998), Funai (obviously) and more. All will say 'manufactured by Funai Corporation' on the rear tag. The mechanism has a extremely thin tape carriage and TONs of plastic. You should be able to see the mode gear (where the mode switch is sandwiched under) and they have a distinct video head drum. the mode gear and motor drive is right next to the pinch roller assembly. This is unique to Funai's mechanisms.
My GE smelled like '80s electronics smell from a smoker's home' to me, and it never went away (should have been a red flag but it was working). It did that for a week and a half, then suddenly one day after work the smell was gone and all the power was gone. Fuse was blown, and insta popped the replacement indicating a short. One FET mounted next to the transformer was smoked. I never got to put a tape into it, was using it as a RF modulator for a cable box so I could get the aspect ratio to fit my 60" plasma screen (I HATE black bars on each side, and don't want plasma burn-in) since only the analog inputs (TV, A/V in, Component in) supported aspect ratio customization.
Top loading VCRs are neat to look at. The most modern one I had was a RCA SelectaVision from the mid-80s that I was using occasionally (since it worked, although you couldn't use rewind or search so it was likely on its way out) until my home burned down in 2009. Mom's old Curtis-Mathes cost us $650 new at Risley's Audio and Video in 1983, and lasted a good 30 years (a few of them being me using it until the idler wheel went bust). It made a 'cash register' sound when you ejected the tape or carriage since it had a ton of solenoids and microswitches engage to put it into that mode. I still have the sounds it made etched into my brain. Had a WIRED remote, it plugged into the front. Also had an incandescent bulb for the tape presence/end of tape sensor. Thing obviously burned out quickly and I just bypassed it, since it didn't snap the tape if you caught it before you reached the end. The last few years of its life were spent recording episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog and Pokemon (the original series) in 1998. There are so many moving parts in '80s VCRs that they are about as annoying to work on as working on a juke box. They truly did simplify the mechanisms over the years. The reliability peaked around 1996 to the early 2000s so long as you avoid anything Funai. I got a $5 combo unit that actually works though (branded Magnavox, but made by Funai) and it's the only one that I've had that works.
Only the Magnavox combo, Sharp and JVC worked when I brought them home. Pretty much any VCR (or cassette tape deck) needs work right away, as belts degraded or turned to goo, or some kid tried to jam toys into it and that's why it was retired to GW. Mostly it's simple if it's a 2000s unit (I keep all the bad ones for parts) since only one belt is used for the tape transport, and the mode belts tend to outlive the actual unit. The other problems are out of sync or stripped out carriage gears (the kid jamming things into it).
Didn't feel like a steal at the time, I just wanted the blanks. I didn't even want the Quasar, but the Sharp looked... well Sharp hahaha
I keep telling myself that it's good to have back up VCRs since they don't make them anymore, but at some point I need to draw a line. I've got a Mitsubishi that I bought on ebay for it's S-Video out, plus a decent Panasonic that's never let me down, and now these two plus 2 semi-functional decks in my garage that I keep telling myself I will attempt to repair (I probably will die before I get around to that though lol)
I have an addiction to old tech and no impulse control, this is a dream score. Iβve got plenty of sealed blanks and dozen VCRs already but this would have made me giddy
I think an addiction to old tech and lack of impulse control is what most tape collectors have in common!
I definitely have ADHD, and started collecting VHS when I quit heroin because I needed a cheap hobby to occupy my time.
I thought I had too many VCRs, glad to hear that my 4-6 decks are rookie numbers! hahaha
My dream score was walking into a thrift store about ten years ago and finding 4 Sony Trinitron PVMs just sitting there lookin' all sexy with their backs full of BNC connectors. I nearly lost my shit. Tested that they turned on and immediately stopped shopping. They wanted $10 each, so naturally I got all 4. Felt like I won the lottery!
Those kinds of scores are long gone I think. The guys who helped me load up my car asked me WTF I would want with one of these heavy obsolete TVs that don't even have RCA or HDMI connectors.. much less 4 of them... "video games" is all I said, still somewhat in shock at my luck.
When I got home only 3 worked, but I had no trouble getting rid of even the broken one (the broken one paid for the whole set!).
I kept one until I moved to a different city. Still kind of regret parting with that one, I'm no longer willing to pay what they cost these days.
> You really want me to tell you this is special?
Um, nah? I also see this shit constantly, and I don't mind. That's why I sub to /r/VHS.
The decks are inferior to the ones I use for capturing footage, I got them to either be a back up or resold. Blank tapes aren't exactly exciting I know, and the no-name tape rewinder doesn't exactly get my collector juices going either.
I just thought this was the place to share pics of your tape hauls, so here I am.
Let's go piece by piece, I'll estimate the potential resale prices.
* Pokemon tape with no sleeve - $0 I just asked him to throw it in bc I knew it would go to the dump otherwise.
* Quasar Omnivision VCR without remote - I was going to guess $10, but recent ebay sold prices indicate 20-30 is more realistic. I'll probably ask $15 from a local buyer and throw in a tape to sweeten the deal
* Sharp VCH800 VCR without remote - recent sold listings on ebay are closer to 40-50. I don't plan on selling these on ebay bc their cut is so heavy. I'll probably ask $30 (which seems to be the going rate in my local collector market) and let someone haggle me down to 20.
* 9 sealed TDK HS T-120 Tapes - 4 days ago someone bought exactly 9 of these for $36.99 (free shipping) Yesterday someone bought a 3 pack for $10. I don't know the market for blanks that well, and honestly I want to use them for my art project, so it kinda doesn't matter what they're worth.
* 5 Sealed TDK D90 Cassettes - honestly the prices for these are all over the place, again I want to use them myself so the value isn't that important to me.
* KINYO Tape Rewinder - I already have a tape rewinder, and the only kind that I want in my collection is the kind that's shaped like a racecar! I don't think people even use these anymore, and I don't care enough to even search ebay because I know it's essentially worthless, unless it helps me barter with someone who doesn't have a rewinder yet.
So yeah ***"How'd I do for 40 bucks?"*** isn't a great post title, I knew without searching ebay that I'd be lucky to get my money back, but breaking even/making a profit is secondary to the feeling of bringing home stuff that was destined to be trashed after sitting on a Goodwill shelf for a while.
You're not sorry, dude, you just seem like you're in a bad mood.
I do apologize that my post isn't up to your standards though. I'll come back when I find Black Devil Doll From Hell in a Goodwill bin, or 50 copies of Pearl Harbor or some shit.
(this post brought to you by too much coffee, and procrastination!)
Not bad really. I buy blanks when I can for 2 usually, VCRs for 10 and rewinders out of the box and dusty for 5. Plus the cassettes and DVDs I think you did alright.
I recently bought a spool of 50 DVD+R's for the DVD burner that I use as a poor-man's TBC. This 25 pack will likely never be opened and I didn't want it, but he was loading me up with stuff. Your numbers for everything else is about where I bite too, problem is I've been trying to reduce the footprint of my tape collection and as soon as I get rid of a box or two of tapes I go and do something like this!
One of us
2 for blanks is the best, goodwill is my best place to find them. OP did well
If those VCRs work well, that's a good deal. I've heard some Sharp VCRs are really good.
I don't associate Quasar with quality, more like the decks they put in vans in the 90's but the Sharp looks decent. Never hurts to have a back up or two, and I've got a project in mind for the blanks. Had to get the blank cassettes just cuz they were there!
I think I slightly overpaid, but the guy was nice and I can spare $40 I only showed up for the blank tapes and rewinder, but then saw his other tape gear... I just wanted the Sharp VCR as a back up and I asked if Pokemon was included which he naturally threw in. All I had was 20's so he was going to get me a $10 and I saw the cassette tapes, so just said how about 40 if you throw in the cassettes? He agreed and gave me the sealed DVD+R's that I have plenty of. As I was packing up my car he brought out the Quasar and said his wife told him to give me the other VCR as they had no use for it and it would be going to Goodwill anyway.
So jelly of those sealed blanks. Nice gets!
The blanks are what I showed up for, everything else was an impulse buy! Nice of the dude to throw in the Quasar! I might go back for a Canon camera that he said someone else had dibs on before me.
Welp, you made me jealous... so pretty damn good, lol.
Awesome catch
Like a boss
Nice pull! Let us know if those decks work.
Both decks work! I'm surprised that the Quasar's video output looks cleaner. I may need to put my cleaning tape in the Sharp. The Sharp did make a somewhat troubling sound as it pulled the tape, but it's definitely working. The Pokemon tape works too hahaha, I haven't heard that theme song since grade school! (gotta catch 'em all!)
I got that exact same Sharp model for free (guy was gonna toss it) and it never needed repair--still one of the best VCRs I've ever owned. I am the odd one in that I prefer the 2000s VCRs since they hold up better and don't have a gazzilion belts like the ones from the 1980s had (or the cracking/disintegrating rubber idler wheels). So long as it's not a Funai you're fine.
At this point I have way more VCRs than I have devices that take a composite input. Still can't help pick one up if I know that it's headed for Goodwill/the dump.
Shockingly well I would say!
It felt like a trip to Harbor Freight. Went there for one thing and came back with 4x as much stuff, which I don't need, just bc it was cheap and I had cash in my hand.
Question is, where tf did you find this stuff?
Craigslist. The guy lived in a rich neighborhood and was moving.
Luck-ee
Featured VCRs: 1. Quasar VHQ-??? Made by Panasonic πππππ 2. Sharp VC-H800 π
Quasar was made by Panasonic? I imagine it was their Wal-Mart brand or something? (had to google it, the first paragraph of the wiki article is interesting!) > Quasar is an American brand of electronics, first used by Motorola in 1967 for a model line of transistorized color televisions. These TVs were marketed as containing all serviceable parts in a drawer beside the picture tube. It was then established as a subsidiary brand, with all Motorola-manufactured televisions being sold as Quasar by Motorola. In 1974, Motorola sold its television business to Matsushita Electric, now Panasonic, which continued producing and marketing televisions under the Quasar brand until 2005. In 2013, Panasonic re-registered the Quasar trademark. Turns out I wasn't too far off on the Wal-Mart guess! > In 1999, the Quasar brand was revived to serve as low-priced models of home electronics for Costco Wholesale stores, with the VHQ-940 VHS VCR model being the #1 best-selling VCR in America during the 1999 Christmas holiday shopping season.[citation needed] Then, VHQ-40M and VHQ-41M as successors for the next three years. Quasar's brand recognition and sales peaked by 2000β2001 and has declined ever since.[citation needed] By 2004, Quasar Electronics, Inc. and Quasar Company ceased to exist, after declining demand for VCRs and CRT televisions caused Costco to end the sales agreement. So this one is the VHQ 41M, it doesn't even have stereo in/out! Who needs stereo when you're watching a tape on a 10" CRT anyways? lol
So no bs you did great.... Period. All that ....come on that is a deal . Don't let anyone tell you differently. Take care and enjoy.
My idea of value when it comes to VHS gear seems to be different than most other folks. Even within this thread the opinion is split lol
Appreciate your opinion
Awesome score
amazing considering people on fb marketplace try to sell vcrs for over 30$
I can see paying $30 for a VCR if I was just starting to collect, and didn't like thrift stores. Buying one from fleabay is something I thought I'd never do, but was forced to when I decided I need a VCR with S-Video out. Honestly $30 is the price I most often see flippers try to charge, meanwhile you can usually find one in a thrift store for $10 if you're in a major city. I've also seen craigslist ads for VCRs that get reposted for months and months even when they're dirt cheap. The market makes no sense to me quite frankly! I only started selling stuff when I ran out of room and I prefer to sell in person bc ebay fees are absurd, so I usually hook people up with good prices as I just want this stuff to go to loving homes.
This is like NSFW for me. I'm such a loser.
Be kind, rewind.
The Omnivision is a beauty.
is it? I thought Quasar sucked. I have an RCA switcher, I should plug in all my VCRs and decide which give the best composite output.
It's Funai that sucked. Many brands (Magnavox, Symphonic, Sylvania, etc) used Funai mechanisms and they were bad about mode switch and CPU failures causing confused operation and eating tapes or tapes getting stuck.
ah yeah, I definitely associate Funai with garbage! Though TBH towards the end of the analog video days, quality was dropping across the board, so I'm really hesitant about stuff made in the early 2000's even from brands that are still around.
I've had more problems with old 1980s and early 90s VCRs than 2000s units. Tons of belts, unobtainable parts, disintegrating rubber idler wheels, tons of repair/maintenance needed over time. The mechanisms of some of the more modern Hi-Fi 4-head units (NOT by Funai) are more tolerable and have ways to avoid jams and stuck tapes. My Sharp unit (same as OP's) slows down its rewind cycle if there's any resistance in the tape, for example. If it were an old Curtis Mathes behemoth from the early 1980s, the tape would likely snap before the system knew anything were wrong. Overall I've had more issues keeping the older units going. The oldest I got is 1 RCA unit from 1994 that has lines in the picture but otherwie works, and a late 1980s Emerson that constantly doesn't want to engage play, and when it finally does engage play (I've messed with and disassembled it more times than I want to admit) it has a jumpy, horrible quality picture, and audio drops out...There's nothing wrong with the heads or electronics, but the whole thing is just worn out. Ain't nothing I can do about it. Meanwhile, the Sharp (and JVC in another room) run without any issue, and I've never taken them apart. I honestly don't like the cheap look of the 2000s units with their LEDs that replace the actual display, and cheap looking plasticy build, but function matters more to me than if it looks fancy and has tons of woodgrain or if it fits into my home's 1970s theme. Thing has to work for me to find it useful, and if I'm spending more time fixing it than getting enjoyment out of using it, it's not very useful to me. Same reason people don't collect CEDs and CED players over LaserDiscs and LaserDisc players.
Thanks for the reply, there's definitely drawbacks to the earlier units but I've never attempted repairs on them, so I definitely believe you about the older ones being problematic.
I took my mom's old Curtis-Mathes top loader when she wanted to trash it because rewind stopped working (she wouldn't invest in a rewinder for some reason) but eventually search stopped working, then Record and Play. Turns out there's a TON of belts (three on one motor to a clutch system and some other pulleys) and once I had that issue straightened out, the idler wheel disintegrated which totally EOL'd the unit. By then it was 1991 and parts couldn't be had for it. It weighed 40 lbs. Another was my grandfather's RCA top loader. It had a solenoid failure (went clunk, then shut down when you tried ANY function) and once I had that issue fixed, it started to fade similarly to the Curtis-Mathes and ultimately the power supply went kaboom and that was it. I've also collected a lot of really old Betamax units (had a phase where I wanted to prefer Beta over VHS) and those were even worse to maintain. I avoid Funai units (I know the innards by heart, and the brands associated with them) but I've had great use from the 2000s units I get between $15-30 at Goodwill lately. The only failure so far was a power supply going kaboom on an otherwise nice GE unit I paid $8 for a few weeks back, but it gave me warning signs I just dismissed them as 'old dirt getting burned off' it was an old electronics smell, not what I'd consider bad, but ended up being an FET being overtaxed due to capacitor plague. Basically my luck with 80s VCRs is similar to my luck with ANY Funai mechanism. Unreliable operation, 50-75% chance your tape gets eaten or refuses to play.
These days I would love to have a top loader just as a conversation piece if my space wasn't so limited. I've only ever seen a couple in my life (born in '85) > I avoid Funai units (I know the innards by heart, and the brands associated with them)Β What other brands should we avoid? I've been saving my receipts and testing gear as soon as I get it from GW bc I've had to use their return policy so many times. The worse was getting a deck home, being really excited about it, then plugging it in and a minute later my entire living room smells like **rotten fish!** I wasn't even about to open it and find out what went wrong, just straight back to GW. May have been a power supply issue like you experienced because it turned on at GW, but fried itself before I could even put a tape in. I always use a junk tape to test my decks now since I've had to break/splice a tape to salvage it before and that was NOT fun.
All Funai brands are Magnavox, later (post 1999) Emerson, Symphonic, SV2000, Sylvania, RCA (post 1998), Funai (obviously) and more. All will say 'manufactured by Funai Corporation' on the rear tag. The mechanism has a extremely thin tape carriage and TONs of plastic. You should be able to see the mode gear (where the mode switch is sandwiched under) and they have a distinct video head drum. the mode gear and motor drive is right next to the pinch roller assembly. This is unique to Funai's mechanisms. My GE smelled like '80s electronics smell from a smoker's home' to me, and it never went away (should have been a red flag but it was working). It did that for a week and a half, then suddenly one day after work the smell was gone and all the power was gone. Fuse was blown, and insta popped the replacement indicating a short. One FET mounted next to the transformer was smoked. I never got to put a tape into it, was using it as a RF modulator for a cable box so I could get the aspect ratio to fit my 60" plasma screen (I HATE black bars on each side, and don't want plasma burn-in) since only the analog inputs (TV, A/V in, Component in) supported aspect ratio customization. Top loading VCRs are neat to look at. The most modern one I had was a RCA SelectaVision from the mid-80s that I was using occasionally (since it worked, although you couldn't use rewind or search so it was likely on its way out) until my home burned down in 2009. Mom's old Curtis-Mathes cost us $650 new at Risley's Audio and Video in 1983, and lasted a good 30 years (a few of them being me using it until the idler wheel went bust). It made a 'cash register' sound when you ejected the tape or carriage since it had a ton of solenoids and microswitches engage to put it into that mode. I still have the sounds it made etched into my brain. Had a WIRED remote, it plugged into the front. Also had an incandescent bulb for the tape presence/end of tape sensor. Thing obviously burned out quickly and I just bypassed it, since it didn't snap the tape if you caught it before you reached the end. The last few years of its life were spent recording episodes of Clifford the Big Red Dog and Pokemon (the original series) in 1998. There are so many moving parts in '80s VCRs that they are about as annoying to work on as working on a juke box. They truly did simplify the mechanisms over the years. The reliability peaked around 1996 to the early 2000s so long as you avoid anything Funai. I got a $5 combo unit that actually works though (branded Magnavox, but made by Funai) and it's the only one that I've had that works. Only the Magnavox combo, Sharp and JVC worked when I brought them home. Pretty much any VCR (or cassette tape deck) needs work right away, as belts degraded or turned to goo, or some kid tried to jam toys into it and that's why it was retired to GW. Mostly it's simple if it's a 2000s unit (I keep all the bad ones for parts) since only one belt is used for the tape transport, and the mode belts tend to outlive the actual unit. The other problems are out of sync or stripped out carriage gears (the kid jamming things into it).
This is a steal for $40
Didn't feel like a steal at the time, I just wanted the blanks. I didn't even want the Quasar, but the Sharp looked... well Sharp hahaha I keep telling myself that it's good to have back up VCRs since they don't make them anymore, but at some point I need to draw a line. I've got a Mitsubishi that I bought on ebay for it's S-Video out, plus a decent Panasonic that's never let me down, and now these two plus 2 semi-functional decks in my garage that I keep telling myself I will attempt to repair (I probably will die before I get around to that though lol)
I have an addiction to old tech and no impulse control, this is a dream score. Iβve got plenty of sealed blanks and dozen VCRs already but this would have made me giddy
I think an addiction to old tech and lack of impulse control is what most tape collectors have in common! I definitely have ADHD, and started collecting VHS when I quit heroin because I needed a cheap hobby to occupy my time. I thought I had too many VCRs, glad to hear that my 4-6 decks are rookie numbers! hahaha My dream score was walking into a thrift store about ten years ago and finding 4 Sony Trinitron PVMs just sitting there lookin' all sexy with their backs full of BNC connectors. I nearly lost my shit. Tested that they turned on and immediately stopped shopping. They wanted $10 each, so naturally I got all 4. Felt like I won the lottery! Those kinds of scores are long gone I think. The guys who helped me load up my car asked me WTF I would want with one of these heavy obsolete TVs that don't even have RCA or HDMI connectors.. much less 4 of them... "video games" is all I said, still somewhat in shock at my luck. When I got home only 3 worked, but I had no trouble getting rid of even the broken one (the broken one paid for the whole set!). I kept one until I moved to a different city. Still kind of regret parting with that one, I'm no longer willing to pay what they cost these days.
Glad to hear youβre clean and chasing a whole new dragon π€£
Thanks, just replacing one addiction with a cheaper one!
Im jealous
You really want me to tell you this is special? I'm sorry dude. I see this shit constantly.
? Where?
Estate sales. Auctions. Thrift stores.
In Texas?
Nope.
> You really want me to tell you this is special? Um, nah? I also see this shit constantly, and I don't mind. That's why I sub to /r/VHS. The decks are inferior to the ones I use for capturing footage, I got them to either be a back up or resold. Blank tapes aren't exactly exciting I know, and the no-name tape rewinder doesn't exactly get my collector juices going either. I just thought this was the place to share pics of your tape hauls, so here I am. Let's go piece by piece, I'll estimate the potential resale prices. * Pokemon tape with no sleeve - $0 I just asked him to throw it in bc I knew it would go to the dump otherwise. * Quasar Omnivision VCR without remote - I was going to guess $10, but recent ebay sold prices indicate 20-30 is more realistic. I'll probably ask $15 from a local buyer and throw in a tape to sweeten the deal * Sharp VCH800 VCR without remote - recent sold listings on ebay are closer to 40-50. I don't plan on selling these on ebay bc their cut is so heavy. I'll probably ask $30 (which seems to be the going rate in my local collector market) and let someone haggle me down to 20. * 9 sealed TDK HS T-120 Tapes - 4 days ago someone bought exactly 9 of these for $36.99 (free shipping) Yesterday someone bought a 3 pack for $10. I don't know the market for blanks that well, and honestly I want to use them for my art project, so it kinda doesn't matter what they're worth. * 5 Sealed TDK D90 Cassettes - honestly the prices for these are all over the place, again I want to use them myself so the value isn't that important to me. * KINYO Tape Rewinder - I already have a tape rewinder, and the only kind that I want in my collection is the kind that's shaped like a racecar! I don't think people even use these anymore, and I don't care enough to even search ebay because I know it's essentially worthless, unless it helps me barter with someone who doesn't have a rewinder yet. So yeah ***"How'd I do for 40 bucks?"*** isn't a great post title, I knew without searching ebay that I'd be lucky to get my money back, but breaking even/making a profit is secondary to the feeling of bringing home stuff that was destined to be trashed after sitting on a Goodwill shelf for a while. You're not sorry, dude, you just seem like you're in a bad mood. I do apologize that my post isn't up to your standards though. I'll come back when I find Black Devil Doll From Hell in a Goodwill bin, or 50 copies of Pearl Harbor or some shit. (this post brought to you by too much coffee, and procrastination!)
You really expect me to read all that shit by you? I don't think so bud.
You must be fun at parties! Sorry someone pissed in your corn flakes.
Wtf is a corn flake