Panasonic NV-2110 U-Matic Video Cassette Player

[@databits]

Thanks everyone for joining!!

[@stpworld]

I wonder if it’s possible to use Sony lanc controls and the Sony FireWire media box with lanc control and let the computer control analog decks I wonder what would happen ?

[@frankowalker4662]

I missed it. 😢 (watching it now)

[@waynesharp1690]

What a beautiful old machine. Looks solid and stood the test of time other than the usual belts.

[@probnotstech]

I love this thing. It flies against all the conventions we took for granted in later video equipment - the eject mechanism, the connector used for video, the fact it's dual purpose for the VHF modulated signal, the fact it modulates on channels 5 and 6! Also I love how mechanical that is inside. That arm that pulls the tape out of the cassette is so wild.

[@musicnerd72]

Love these old machines. I could literally just watch the load / unload and the spinning pulleys for hours! ( yeah I'm a nerd ) 😂

[@frankowalker4662]

When I worked at a small studio in the 80's we had 3 Sony U Matics and a Panasonic U Matic. They were all hooked up to a full editing/vision mixing desk. We had digital counters, Time Base correctors and 3 studio cameras hooked up with chroma key. Awesome set-up. The Panasonic machine however was ALWAYS breaking down. Perfect picture and sound, but mechanically it would just jam or throw/break a belt for no reason. Absolute pain.

[@jordantomblin2302]

Sounds like they made the mechanism either too complex or expected too much out of the motors and stuff required to run the mechanism. Depressing. Ironic how the Sony units weren’t falling apart.

[@frankowalker4662]

@@jordantomblin2302 Yeah, I think Panasonic made the tolerances too tight. It was always in bits. The Sony's were all solid as a rock.

[@musicnerd72]

​@@frankowalker4662 Yet Panasonic made some of the best VHS units in the 80's. Maybe they learned from this over engineered unit. 🤣

[@frankowalker4662]

@@musicnerd72 It's because of that U Matic I avoided Panasonic VHS machines. LOL.

[@musicnerd72]

@@frankowalker4662 Ah! Growing up we had a Toshiba VCR. Our neighbors had a Panasonic. Ours lasted five years maybe? Our neighbors still had their Panasonic even after their kids moved out of the house. 🤷

[@michaelfolino8414]

The timing of your video is wild! You posted this 21 hours ago and at 5:04 you show a tape by Columbia Records has a song by Public Enemy "Burn Hollywood Burn" and thought what are the odds of that considering it actually is on fire right now!

[@carlosmoraes7760]

I really never had seen a player U-matic of another brand different from Sony. Wonderful

[@Choralone422]

I am always amazed at how early video cassette players (basically anything from before the early 80s) are built like absolute tanks! I love it!

[@jacobyalfa]

Wow! Those thick belts... Looks like a car 😮

[@ACBMemphis]

Cool video! My high school TV station used Sony U-Matic equipment, and the reason for the name is clear watching the tape load. I remember in the early 90s helping the TV crew do some editing on them. Also it's interesting to see Panasonic called this one the "U-Vision" and later their VHS players were "Omnivision"

[@nicholaskalogris9985]

The U-Matic video system made Breaking Local News possible. It was a historic advance in local television news.

[@kevinh96]

As others have said the rainbow effect is pretty symptomatic of failing capacitors, not surprising given the machine's age. I'd start with the three big grey caps next to the flywheel on the bottom. The rubber roller can possibly be brought back to life with some light sanding, then clean it and finally some Rubber renew, and it might be an idea for very light sanding of the metal take up ring too to help the rubber roller grip better.

[@Tali412]

شكرا لك وجهودك المبذولة قناة رائعة

[@richardperritt]

The UHF connector is also called a PL-259 (plug) and the connection on the rear is also called an SO-239 (socket). They are commonly used by amateur radio operators for antenna connections. While replacing that rubber roller with a new one is always best, Rubber Renue will help for a while.

[@databits]

Thanks for the tips. I already use Rubber Renue, fantastic product.

[@trevorbrown6654]

I'm absolutely amazed the media companies were supporting this format this well into the 21st century . U-Matic was demonstrated in 1969, commercially released in 1971 and by the mid 1970s it was quite widespread within the industry and educational establishments. I thought that by the time we got to the mid to late 1980s it would have been phased out as Betacam had superceded it in the TV industry and U-matic had gone the way of the dinosaur. So I am amazed it had such a long service life, especially as U-matic's technical limitations were acknowledged quite early on in its life. Incidentally, how old is this particular machine? It's the first working U-matic I think I've seen that isn't a Sony branded one. I remember being asked to help move one when I was at film school 30 years ago (and it was so heavy it took two of us to carry it and one person to open all the doors etc.

[@jamesm90]

Betacam really superseded BVU not standard U- matic which was never a broadcast format for the main channels. U- matic was a viewing copy for production only. Whereas Betacam was a broadcast format.

[@trevorbrown6654]

@@jamesm90 thanks for clarifying. Even so I'm still surprised u-matic was still being supported by new product as recently as 2009, well Into the digital age.

[@jkmac625]

I worked somewhere that was still using U-Matic well into the early 2000's for certain non-broadcast tasks. It's main use by that point was for music composers to get a copy of an edited program where one of the 2 audio tracks was used to for timecode. I guess they had some sort of legacy set up that was still using U-Matic as the picture source.

[@OM19_MO79]

They refer to that as UHF connector because in England, it became the standard connection when they were switching from their 400-something lines TV system to PAL, which needed to be allocated exclusively in UHF because of the bandwidth and to not overlap the VHF channels of the older system.

[@Betamax19732]

Beautiful machine thanks for your video

[@JosiahGould]

I've got a suspicion those rainbow colors are caused by failing capacitors. With a piece of hardware that old that's the first place to check.

[@probnotstech]

Yeah I'm thinking the same thing. I think I saw some purple Panasonic caps inside (notorious for going bad). A capacitor in the chroma decoding causing the frequency to be off. It kinda looks like the old colour TVs shango066 works on when the oscillator is way off.

[@rocketman221projects]

The UHF connector was designed as an RF connector in the 1930's. Back then UHF was 30MHz. They are basically a shielded banana plug.

[@adamsimmons631]

I remember during my media studies college course that the college owned several of these (Sony) machines.

[@Capturing-Memories]

You can sand paper the metal ring so the tire would grip on it.

[@doogie812]

Find the pot labeled APC and give it a tweek. The color will lock in. This is not the proper way to adjust it but since you are not dubbing tapes it will be good enough.

[@morcego3451]

you have the screen magnetize, you have to use a demagnetize coil.. And passed front to the screen, you can do it one with the demanetize coil from a old and broken color tv, and after removed from a broken tv, twisted to form a circule. Conect the wires to cable and an interruptor to the wall . You to used only for 5 to 6 sec. at the time because it overeating if used mach loger. Good Loke. :)

[@bdwatkins2001]

as far as that tire that is slipping, you can get a piece of shrink tubing and put it over the tire and that will give you some more grip

[@databits]

Great suggestion! I have a nice stash of shrink tubing.

[@bdwatkins2001]

@databits I had a tape deck that the pinch roller was damaged and unobtainium and that trick got me out of that one

[@circuitpig]

those belts look like a Rube Goldberg design, lol!

[@briangoldberg4439]

I would probably check the electrolytics with an LCR meter to see that helps with the color issue. Something that old could very well have some that are bad enough to mess things up. You could probably help the roller by scuffing up the surface and saturating the rubber in a rubber renew product

[@jkmac625]

U-Matic must have been a Sony trademark as other manufacturers always seem to use a slightly different name for the format Panasonic U-Vision and JVC U-VCR. The Sony VO-2000 series doesn't have picture search either only a pause/freeze frame button but it can do a picture search when it's connected to the Sony edit controller unit which has a jog/shuttle control. According to the Sony VO-2630 manual that color rainbow pattern on the image is exactly how it shows the color lock control requiring adjustment. Maybe the chroma circuitry it's connected to has a fault so the control has no effect. That video connector does seem to be quite common on VCRs from the 1970's, as well as UHF it is also known as a PL259.

[@randymoyer5351]

Might need a full recap done now . as more caos probably going out.

[@databits]

Ugh! Not the caos! 😊

[@randymoyer5351]

@@databits The capacitors could be leaky or old and need replaced if dried out as once they lose their electrolytics or go open that could cause all kind of faults. it happens to alot of vintage stuff. especially older TV's VCR's and Tube radios as well as Tube Tv's as well.

[@briangoldberg4439]

@@databits definitely pull and check all the caos. use an LCR meter. that unit has very few caos and shouldn't take too long

[@TheEasterBunny9633]

Cool

[@voltare2amstereo]

umatic runs fairly quick - looks twice as quick compared to vhs/beta what's the line quality

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Umatic runs at 3.75ips, the same speed as an audio cassette tape.

[@jkmac625]

@@KylesDigitalLab Audio cassettes run slower at around 1.87ips (1⅞ inches per second). You're probably thinking of a reel to reel tape recorder, as 3.75ips was a very common speed for them.

[@jkmac625]

U-Matic 3.75ips, VHS 1.31ips (SP speed) and Beta II 0.79ips. Picture definition is similar to VHS/Beta (around 250 horizontal lines) but the higher linear speed and wider video tracks give a much better signal to noise ratio, so the picture looks less noisy.

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

Looks like a chroma phasing problem. Tweak the APC adjustment control like another commenter suggested.

[@jamesm90]

A piece of fuel pipe cut down would fix the roller

[@mikemoyercell]

rubber renew should fix that roller.

[@ChristianPinnock-r4s]

Looks like it was manufactured by Sony and rebaged by Panasonic

[@KylesDigitalLab]

No, it doesn't look like a Sony deck at all. Panasonic manufactured all their own 3/4" decks.

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

Sony (U-Matic), JVC (U-VCR) and Matsushita (National/Panasonic, U-Vision) all made their own 3/4" machines however there are some rebadged models by Concord, Thomson etc.

[@ChristianPinnock-r4s]

@crashbandicoot4everr oh I didn't know still a fantastic machine tho gonna see if i could find one myself

[@trashtrash2169]

I believe you bought the power cable I was looking at. You stealer. Anyway, I wasn't going to pay $30 for a cable for something I didn't end up buying anyway, in my case it was an oscilliscope.