Disappointing Mitsubishi VCR purchase.
mal...@aol.com
been very pleased with it. Recently started to chew tapes though, so
decided not to try repair being pretty old, but to get a replacement. I
think it is the case the Mitsubishi have pulled out of the European VCR
& TV market, but I managed to find a HS-871V in a local store, the last
they had.
Unfortunately I'm rather disappointed with my purchase. Recording and
playback thereof seems OK if not wonderful with a slightly noisier
picture in LP mode than the M55 gave. Playback of purchased tapes seems
OK, but again is not quite as good as the M55. However the big problem
is that there is a major sound problem when playing back anything that
had been recorded on the old M55.
It's like a buzzing sound, which I eventually realised is the machine
rapidly switching between the stereo and mono soundtracks - the L & R
on the display flicker as well. It is the same on recent recordings and
on those over 2 years old. On some recordings it is possible, by
manually adjusting the tracking, to get it to stick in stereo mode, but
at a cost of an unwatchable picture.
So my questions to you good people are is it likely to be the old M55
or the new 871V that is faulty / out of spec? If the 871V, is there
anything that can be done about it - some slight mechanical or
electrical adjustment perhaps?
Any advice appreciated. TIA.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Mzacharias
Best if a technician does it, using one or two of your old tapes as a
reference.
Mark Z.
>Subject: Disappointing Mitsubishi VCR purchase.
>From: mal...@aol.com
>Date: Wed, 01 September 1999 04:54 AM EDT
>Message-id: <7qipkl$6d8$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>
Sam Goldwasser
a known properly aligned VCR. Even a commercial tape is no guarantee but would
be a start.
A proper alignment of either your old or new VCR would then be needed.
However, if it is the old VCR at fault, your old tapes won't play on either
machine after that.
As a test, take some of the tapes that cause problems into a store and try
them on some other VCRs.
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In article <7qipkl$6d8$1...@nnrp1.deja.com> mal...@aol.com writes:
I've had a Mitsubishi HS-M55 NICAM/PAL VCR for about 5 years and have
been very pleased with it. Recently started to chew tapes though, so
decided not to try repair being pretty old, but to get a replacement. I
think it is the case the Mitsubishi have pulled out of the European VCR
& TV market, but I managed to find a HS-871V in a local store, the last
they had.
Unfortunately I'm rather disappointed with my purchase. Recording and
playback thereof seems OK if not wonderful with a slightly noisier
picture in LP mode than the M55 gave. Playback of purchased tapes seems
OK, but again is not quite as good as the M55. However the big problem
is that there is a major sound problem when playing back anything that
had been recorded on the old M55.
It's like a buzzing sound, which I eventually realised is the machine
rapidly switching between the stereo and mono soundtracks - the L & R
on the display flicker as well. It is the same on recent recordings and
on those over 2 years old. On some recordings it is possible, by
manually adjusting the tracking, to get it to stick in stereo mode, but
at a cost of an unwatchable picture.
So my questions to you good people are is it likely to be the old M55
or the new 871V that is faulty / out of spec? If the 871V, is there
anything that can be done about it - some slight mechanical or
electrical adjustment perhaps?
Any advice appreciated. TIA.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Jerry G.
First of all, I would have taken the old machine to the Mitsubishi
authorised service center for atleast an estimate, if I didn't know a
good competant tech.
There is a possiblility that the older machine is out of alignment a
bit due to wear, and should have been aligned. These machines do
need regular maintnance from time to time if the specs are to be
maintained. The mechanical parts tend to wear a bit with use, and
tape path alignment is very critical. If the alignment is off a
slight amount, the machine would still be able to play back its own
tapes because it is not forced to follow any standard.
A cheap and easy way to check the new machine's alignment is to get a
tape recorded by a friend on his machine, and see if your new one will
play it back okay. This is not as precise as checking it with a
scope and factory alignment tape, but it will let you know that from
your point of view it is working okay.
=====
Usualy when a machine gets older and has had a lot of hours on it,
the belts, pinchroller, and a few small parts should be changed if
there are no major parts failures. Then a good cleaning of the tape
path must be done. One critical area is buildup of an oxide coating
on the video head drum, and the the capston shaft. With this type of
maintnance your old machine would probably work okay. When I get an
old machine like that, I also go through the tape path alignment for
the customer. This puts the machine back on track, and will show me
if there are any major problems with it.
I encourge my customers to bring me their machines at least once a
year if they are not using for a lot of hours each year. If they are
a heavy user of the machine, I tell them to bring it in at least twice
a year. This way problems can be spotted very quickly and usualy
looked after before there is any failure. This also keeps the
service bills at a minimum. I keep records of the customers and
repairs, and if they like we call them to remind them that it is time
for their service.
I would not go more than a few months without having my car checked...
--
Jerry Greenberg
======================================
jerr...@hotmail.com
http://www.zoom-one.com
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http://www.total.net/~jerryg
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