[panman40]

, Can I still buy a reasonable quality VCR from somewhere??, I dont really want a DVD/VCR Combo.

If somebody can point me in the right direction I would be grateful!!!,
Martin.

[vansboy]

They do appear on e-bay, quite often hi-spec models, too.

& freecycle!!

VB

[bones1958]

Whilst shopping in Morrisons, The Gyle, Edinburgh the other day I noticed they had an LG VCR for £49-99. It caught my eye because it is unusual to see stand alone VCR's on sale these days.

Not sure where you're based but if you have a Morrisons "large" store near you might be worth a look if they have an electrical section.

[Reirol]

Depends on the VCR you want, a lot of Professional Series VCRs (Progressive scan, Joggers, 4 head hi-fi....*mumbles off) are floating around in the low end TV-Production market, but other than those I'd look at my local pawn shop or e-bay.

Word to the wise- if you go to a pawn shop, tell them to hook up the VCR and have it play for 15 minutes before buying it. Just to make sure it works correctly.

Not really sure if you have pawn shops in Europe.

[crockett]

Last time I looked Argos still had one (LG?) in their catalogue...

Argos do list three VCR's in their catalogue. There is a mono 2 speed Funai vcr, Nicam 6 head Funai vcr and a LG nicam video. Prices were £35, £45 and £60.
Asda did do two machines, a basic mono and a nicam stereo but I haven't seen them recently.

Hitchens store (Fleetwood) did have mono machines for £17 a while back.

Other than this it's Ebay, pawn shops or large charity shops as round here we have a charity called furniture finders and a hospice store that sell donated Tv's, VCR's as well as furniture.

[panman40]

Many thasnks for all the help,
Cheers.

[Sideband]

Richer Sounds shops nationwide stock the Philips VR550 Hi-Fi Nicam model (which also plays NTSC tapes) for £49.95

Originally Posted by Sideband

the Philips VR550 Hi-Fi Nicam model

Ah, the reason I wandered into this discussion... I bought said VR550 a couple of years ago on ebay for about £35. Perfectly fine VCR but a bit short on manual controls. There is no way of twiddling the tracking (it's automatically done for you apparently) but mine is now struggling to play our old tapes . It will record and play new footage OK but I don't really need it for that (have DVD-RAM & HDD). We want it to play our old stuff (esp. the old wedding vid).

I rang a company that had serviced our old VCR and they said they didn't do VCRs any more as it wasn't economic to repair them (bet they'll change their tune when you can't buy a VCR any more and people still want to watch their tapes).

Anyway - I was wondering about opening it up and having a poke. In the words of Jezza Clarkson, "How hard can it be?"

Anyone know what is likely to cause the tape to look like the tracking's gone to buggery and which bit I need to hit?



ta
Nick

[JayCee]

Originally Posted by phoenicks_uk

There is no way of twiddling the tracking (it's automatically done for you apparently)

Rubbish...didn't you read your user manual in play or slow motion mode press the P+ and P- buttons to manually adjust the tracking.

Originally Posted by phoenicks_uk

I rang a company that had serviced our old VCR and they said they didn't do VCRs any more as it wasn't economic to repair them (bet they'll change their tune when you can't buy a VCR any more and people still want to watch their tapes).

They're correct...spare parts are either unobtainable or cost the earth...add a labour charge and you're better off buying a new VCR (a Funai probably) or a VCR-DVD.

Originally Posted by phoenicks_uk

Anyone know what is likely to cause the tape to look like the tracking's gone to buggery and which bit I need to hit

Yes, it's probably a worn pinch roller...available from here @ £25 + p&p

Originally Posted by JayCee

Rubbish...didn't you read your user manual in play or slow motion mode press the P+ and P- buttons to manually adjust the tracking.

Ah, well, yes I did but: a) I forgot to mention that because: b) it doesn't make any damn difference to the picture.

Originally Posted by JayCee

it's probably a worn pinch roller...available from here @ £25 + p&p

Blimey, it's barely seen any action! I think I'll just open it up and see if there's anything that needs cleaning or tightening. If that doesn't sort it then I'm probably going to have to save up for a DVD-RAM freeview VHS combi system.

Cheers!

Nick

[nvingo]

Originally Posted by phoenicks_uk

I think I'll just open it up and see if there's anything that needs cleaning or tightening.

It might be sufficient to just clean the heads - there are two fixed heads which stand vertical, like very wide versions of what you see in an audio cassette recorder/player. One of these is the erase head, and the other has mono audio at one end, and LP/SP/control at the other. And of course there are the many heads on the rotating drum, which are very delicate.

[billyplasma]

Originally Posted by panman40

, Can I still buy a reasonable quality VCR from somewhere??, I dont really want a DVD/VCR Combo.

If somebody can point me in the right direction I would be grateful!!!,
Martin.

I have one thats works great,not been used much,your for a small fee

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by billyplasma

I have one thats works great,not been used much,your for a small fee

Please note that any negotiations and arrangements for sale items must be conducted through the forum classified section, which has it's own set of rules, and which you can find here.

[farmergiles65]

I realise this thread is old, but I'd like to know what it's like now. I need a VCR to accompany my Blu Ray system so I can still play my Doctor Who videos that I've had for years (big collection). I don't need any fancy features, just something reliable that works and will still work with modern tv setups.

I know Ebay sell a lot but I know nothing about what's recent or a good price. DO people know what the most recent VCR's are from decent brands like Panasonic or LG?

[grahamlthompson]

I think your best bet is a dvd/vcr combo which you can still find new.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by farmergiles65

DO people know what the most recent VCR's are from decent brands like Panasonic or LG?

As Graham alludes above, the only two still currently available are a DVDR/ VCR combo the EZ48 Details here or the expensive DVDR/ VCR/ HDD combo : EX98V Details here.

I can't recommend anything from LG

[nvingo]

There are Toshiba DVD/VCR and DVD/HDD/VCR too.
Also there's the VCR 2 PC which as well as connecting to PC via USB can behave as a VHS player. Expensive though for that purpose.

[ROYOLD]

If you just need a cheap VCR for playing/recording VHS tapes try the British Heart Foundation Furniture & Electrical stores.

The Rochdale store had around 20 second-hand VCRs including at least one Panasonic model. Prices around £20/£30 or even less.

British Heart Foundation - Furniture and Electrical