Vintage Tech: 1970s Reel to Reel VTR/VCR NV-3020

Not truly a VCR but a VTR, this video will take you on a trip back in time nearly 50 years ago to the beginnings of video tape recording in the home, schools and in industry.

[@SpeedWingNET1]

I have that VTR. Bought in while in the USAF back about '71. I need a playback head for mine, and most likely belts and whatever else spins, roles, or moves. Have not looked at it for 20 years.

[@waverly2468]

I worked as an audio-visual person in college for a short time in 1974. I remember operating a VTR. It was heavy and cumbersome and sometimes it wouldn't work and we didn't know why. I remember using a q-tip to clean the heads. We recorded TV shows like "Gunsmoke" for fun. The video cameras that were used with these VTR's were not small and they were black and white devices.

[@gleaming999]

You should capture all the video you can and release it. The commercials would be fun to watch.

[@dhpbear2]

I may have found your tracking problem! I noticed that, on the left side, the tape is not threaded around the tension regulator (the post right next to the supply reel). If you don't have proper tension the picture will break up!

[@kennethbouchard8643]

Yes and over time the felt ring which is the tensioner has likely worn or gets oil and dirt. Where the glass video heads have worn down then they do not pick up signal good anymore, although these seem above average for the age of the unit. Then lastly alignments as the heads need alignment tweaking. Not just the audio and tracking heads, but also the drum pins that correct the angle of the drum and need aligning to compensate for where the tape rides along the bottom edge a very small amount of wear is enough to throw that off. Now the proper way to align it is using a scope to monitor the preamp outputs of the drum and peak the signal levels to the max on a known good recording or in the day reference test tape of a test pattern. Sadly you lack such handy things. So the best you can hope for is to find a recording that has very dark and very light scenes to work with. As for the tracking head, that is a solid chopped pattern, that you can just monitor and adjust the head very slightly maybe not needed, to get maximum signal on the scope from that after the pre amp stage of that. Then for the audio head again very little adjusting, or if it sounds clear no adjusting. Strange to say that if you listen to the audio adjust it for the maximum hiss, that the original recording would have left from bias hiss. Finally add a little extra tension to the spring of the atension arm usually an adjustement underneath. It would also need to check that it releases the brakes (felt pads) on the pulleys of the reel tables. Or as you mentioned it could be just idlers need cleaning or rough them up a little with very fine sandpaper. Overall it appears to be good in a sync or else it would roll the picture a lot more. Then you also finally have to consider how old that recording is.

[@vincentanu1750]

Two years later I concur with your findings.

[@EnergyWell]

Thank you! This was driving me crazy too. *angry fist shake*

[@portlandfacts1484]

Clean the guides, stationary heads and drum surface and get all of the slot that the tape rides in from edge to edge all the way around. Do the drum in sections moving the rotating head well away from where you are working. We always used isoproply alcohol. We also used that on the pinch roller, but have since read that is a bad thing to do. The back side of the tapered guides would pick up oxide frequently. We never cleaned the heads unless one got clogged. Then we wet a cleaning pad with alcohol and lightly pressed it against the slot and rotated the heads by turning the capstan by hand. NEVER put up or down pressure on the heads they break easily. If you get to adjusting guides with an alignment tape, use a scope on the RF out and aim for the entire waveform to go up and down together as you sweep through the tracking control. the adjustment points are the guides just before the tapered posts at the entrance and exit to the drum. First get the tape running in the slot with NO warps or wrinkles. Adjust the other guides for no wrinkles readjust as required. Then using the scope (triggered from the drum rotation pulse coil or after its amplifier, or the 30 hz square wave that does the head switching) fine tune the guides for a flat waveform. AND so it stays flat as yo go through the tracking range. It should be capable of perfect mis-tracking - the entire waveform mis-tracking at the same time. We always considered that the final say in good alignment. For transfer to digital you can usually set the head switch point down into the blanking to get rid of the breakup at the bottom of the screen. but use with care because this can cause vertical jitter. A time base corrector should fix this. Adjust back tension to minimize horizontal bend at the top of the screen. (If the head switch point is left at the bottom of the picture, then adjust back tension to match vertical lines before & after the switch point. One can make a servo to do this automatically - just do a Horizontal rate PLL from the playback sync & sample the error signal just after the head switch to supply the drive to the back tension device (we used a simple solenoid). A major pain is that sometimes the tape will bounce up & down as it runs. Never did find a good cure for this. Thanks JK

[@lurkersmith810]

I just recently drug one of those home from a ham-fest swap meet. When I went to high school in the 1970s, these were in wide use. My school used mostly Sonys, with a few Shibadens also. If you get hold of a Sony AVC-3200, that would be a good period correct camera for that deck, which includes a TV Studio style electronic viewfinder on top and a zoom lens. A few people had enough money to use these as home VTRs in the 1960s.

[@molletts]

I have a colour NV-3120 (EDIT: I checked; it's a 3160 with editing facilities) stored at my parents' place. I picked it up for next to nothing from a local university's "unwanted tech stuff clearance store" (RIP Forum Stores!) about 15 years ago. You're right about its "portability" - I nearly bust a gut just getting it into the car! Unfortunately, they didn't have any reels of tape, nor did the department who used to own the machine. I couldn't get VHS tape to go through it, though - it kind of "clung" really tightly to the head drum and stretched then snapped between the drum and the pinch roller/capstan when I started the machine. So I still don't know whether it works at all... Maybe I'll try and source some EIAJ-1 tape (and a take-up reel) now that I know what to look for. I'd almost forgotten I had it until I saw this video.

[@DougMcDave]

Perhaps if you find an old analogue TV you might see a picture. A digital monitor blanks out, even if you scan and review a VHS tape.

[@mspenrice]

I'd say get a sync separator, and hook it up to an (S)VGA monitor ... separated syncs going to their respective lines, and the plain intensity signal bridged across all of R,G, and B (or possibly just G if you can activate the "VGA mono" switching line). If the tape's running at twice the rate of VHS, it'll produce almost exactly the same sync as a plain VGA video card (except for being interlaced at 120hz vertical rather than progressive at 60hz - might need to try a few monitors to find one that accepts that combination; possibly a pure VGA monitor might ignore every other Vsync and show a pair of vertically compressed images with a black bar in-between), i.e. 31.5khz horizontal. If it's running at 4x it might be more of a challenge to find a monitor that will fully sync because of the 240hz interlace (may instead interpret the image as a doubled-up 120hz, tripled 80hz or even quadrupled 60hz), but 63khz is well within the range of most 15 to 17" LCDs and CRTs of equivalent resolution/refresh rate combination so that part would at least work.

[@DanaTheInsane]

I remember in the early 80s a guy I knew bought a whole pallet of these things, and another pallet I think of tapes. Color and black-and-white. And he had me knocking off bootleg movies for the kids he was selling them to. It took two tapes to do a whole movie

[@perrymckinney6146]

These were very big and heavy !! I remember one of these in college when they asked about moving it, These would make boat anchors. Where would you even find the tapes for one of these . These were quality built back then and built to last, unlike today’s video equipment. We’ve all transitioned to dvd discs, these were interesting to check out though. I bet these weighed in around 60 to 80 pounds.

[@wdavem]

I used to own a sony deck like this (EIAJ black and white), got it about 1996 when I was a teenager. I had only one reel of tape and no money to spend on it so I didn't know what to do with it but it worked rather well. Fast forward 20 years and I am now working with a place that transfers tape of many kinds to digital as a sort of local in-house tech and have been really into this stuff for over 20 years. By co-incidence they just showed me a machine like this (panasonic, possibly the same model you have) and I think that's on the list of what they want me to look at and repair/restore very soon. From what I see in the video here your back tension (supply reel) arm seems to be not working correctly. I will verify this but if I remember right it needs to be pressed against the tape in playback mode. Therefore the back tension on this machine is likely way off and is not being regulated. Before I say too much more I need to see the inside. But I can guess that this is a resistance felt-band type of back tension regulator that is mechanically disengaged in rewind and fast forward by the mode lever mechanism. So it could be a sticky mechanism (bad grease), weak/damaged spring or maybe even something bent or worn out or just miss-adjusted. I'm guessing bad grease. If the tension isn't right I can't hazard a guess about guide alignment; however, noise at the top of the screen is often consistent with drum or head-wheel tape entrance guide alignment. Also (importantly!) on the Sony decks (and I haven't seen the inside of the panasonic yet) there is a strict warning not to place anything on top of the head scanner and not to ever press down firmly on the top of the head scanner assembly because it is only supported at the back and can get bent downward. This could destroy the video heads if they get pinched between the upper and lower stationary sections of the scanner. Anyway these things are fun and I can give you more info if you like; I will be working on at least two EIAJ decks as soon as I am assigned to do so. I could look into weather or not I can repair this for you. Although I am just beginning to build a professional reputation I have been doing these things for over 20 years and I would be happy to do it if I am a good option for you. Shipping is a big concern because I see these things get totally wasted if they aren't packed right.

[@russellhltn1396]

"From what I see in the video here your back tension (supply reel) arm seems to be not working correctly. " +1 I noticed the same thing.

[@joanevans9508]

My high school had two of these machines. You could book time to watch an educational video in the school library. The librarian controlled the machine; while you took a 12" TV to a cubical. I think the security system that was installed to protect the machines and tapes cost almost as much as the machines. All B&W in those days.

[@kennethdegruchy5503]

What a great flash back for this old tv video engineer. I actually had this same model machine back in the day and had lots of fun recording off of tv mostly because I could not afford a camera yet.

[@databits]

Thanks, Kenneth.

[@RUCKERMAN]

I went to Fox Valley Technical School in 1973-75 (Wisconsin) and I remember the library had video machines that students could use to play instructional tapes on. I think they were U-matic format though and not quite like your machine. They still only had a black and white picture with mono sound though. Quite a lot has changed since those days though.

[@kelli217]

Did audio analysis. Your VHS tape is from _The Abyss._ :)

[@databits]

You are correct!

[@marktubeie07]

Hi, just a note to say that head clogs were notorious for these machines and the tapes over time shed oxide severely, all of which makes payback difficult at the best of times. Good luck with it, looks in superb condition.

[@databits]

Thank you!

[@kyleswager]

Another great video. I was always aware of the VTR format but never have seen the machine that plays it. Oh the 70s Sears commercial was a nice bonus too :)

[@databits]

Thanks for watching, Kyle.

[@RMoribayashi]

I recognised William Campbell at the start clip where the woman chews the scenery for over a minute. It's a 1975 episode of Marcus Welby M.D. titled Dark Fury, Part 1. LLoyd Bridges was in a couple of clips but since he has over 200 credits on IMDB and I don't remember the name of the actress he was talking to I can't track that show down.

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

This is so cool. In this stuff it helps to check the values of resistors, since they sometimes drift. If you have any transistors with dome-shaped epoxy tops, I am told those fail a lot.

[@pebey]

Hi! I bought this exact same model for not too much money, sold as parts only. I wanted it simply to audition a bunch of Cartrivision-format tapes, mostly unlabeled, just to hear the sound and decide which were worth sending off to a guy who is refurbishing an old machine (mine originally), who if successful wil be able to digitize my old tapes. Not as simple as it seemed. I had to get it running mechanically (the rubber idlers were pretty worn, but roughing them up with a rasp got them gripping quite handily, and then oiling all the parts that need it - the usual care these old machines require). Once done, I made an adapter so the Cartrivision reels, removed from the cartridges, would fit on a VTR spindle. But once running, I discovered the position of the sound track and the control track on a C-vision tape are reversed from the EIAJ-1 standard - playing one of my tapes on the VTR, you'd only hear a hum. So I had to fast-forward each tape to the end, flip the takeup and put it on the feed spindle, like an audio recorder, and play it that way - of course the sound was backwards, and at the wrong speed, but it was there. So I recorded the sound to an audio recorder, then later used Audacity to reverse and slow it down. (Turns out Cartrivision speed is 3¾ ips, half the VTR speed, so easily done.) Success! But some of the tapes seem to stall during playback. Have you had this problem? Might be the dreaded sticky shed that happens to some types of audio tape. The tape seems to get stuck on the drum part of the path, you can free it up but it just gets stuck again and the capstan can't move it. Ugh. So far, have not found a solution that works, but I'll keep at it. No, not gonna bake them, but might be able to at least find a way to thread it avoiding the drum, since video recovery is not my goal. Anyway, amazed and grateful to find you demonstrating the same deck. If you know of anyone who wants a not-quite-restored NV-3000 when I'm done, I could part with it cheap. Thanks! PM

[@gerryroberts662]

I love all your Cool things.. And Theyre really Intreaging

[@databits]

Thank you very much for watching!

[@filter4now]

David is right... I had a hunch that it was something mechanical that was keeping it from tracking. I had a VHS I was working on that had a screw stripped on the control / audio head. I'm not a veteran VTR engineer so I don't know fully how tracking works just the basics (quad or helical scan for video am, either 1 or 2 analog audio and 1 control. AGC for next frame anticipating level). Those must have been better quality (faster tape) than VHS. Another format I've heard of is "quad" - in 1968 for video stations. Required a complete alignment by the crew every time it was started, and the size of the "WOPR" (from "WarGames")

[@MikeNHOC]

That is pretty cool.. I had no idea such an item existed.. Thank you for sharing! I'm a new subscriber!

[@databits]

Thanks Mike and welcome!!

[@mspenrice]

I'd take a wild guess that your tracking issues are just down to the tape wearing out and the signal degrading. The same kind of corruption that we can see happening to the picture itself will surely also affect the sync pulses, and once they suffer more than a certain amount of corruption your TV won't be able to sync properly and will run at its default open-circuit speed which is usually a bit slower than the standard (so that any actual sync within a reasonable tolerance of standard will still constrain the scan)... hence it starts rolling. Mainly vertically because you only get one Vsync every 1/60th sec (and it's more likely to be right at the edge of the tape where it will be more susceptible to damage), vs an Hsync every 1/15734th sec, but there's still quite a bit of horizontal desync visible in the form of wobbliness and instability in the horizontal tracking. If you hooked a TBC up to the output you'd likely find the picture cleared right up, at least in terms of tracking. The image itself would still be rather broken in places, but at least it would be framed up correctly. The blueness will just be a camera effect - white balance drift. The lighting in your room looks very yellow, but the TV will be calibrated with a much purer white backlight (or single B/W or combined RGB phosphor colour for CRT), and of course only alter the intensity of that when showing a monochrome picture. When zoomed right in with little or none of the bulb-lit wall visible around the edges, the TV picture looks very neutral in colour (and the wall looks very yellow, verging on orange), as the camera is calibrating its white balance almost entirely on the basis of the TV screen. When you pull zoom back out, with the TV image taking up far less of the total camera view, it tweaks the white balance rather more back towards the incandescent end - the wall looks to be a paler yellow, and the TV image acquires a blue tint. Add up the two and they'd balance out to a neutral tone. Replace some of your bulbs with cool white fluorescents or LEDs and the effect will be much reduced.

[@gerryroberts662]

I Use to use this Religously... as a kid in the 90s.... All the time...

[@databits]

Thank you very much for watching!

[@AerFixus]

Awesome! Even better, it's a video format I didn't know existed. Of course it makes sense and is completely logical that before video tape cassettes, there were video tapes without cassettes, I've just never seen mention of it! If you hooked up an older CRT, you might be able to see something on the screen even if it's all garbled. And it would be funny to slow down the audio and try to hear what's on the tape you put in! Oh, and good luck on getting the tracking working. I have no clue what would help unfortunately... It looks like it's capable of quite good quality, though.

[@jaworskij]

We had a SONY unit that resembled the Pany. like this at the elementary school I attended between 1975-80. I never saw it working. I did ask the teacher / principal at the time. When I attended high school, they had bought one or two Betamax VCRs, and those worked.

Hooray! New video!

[@THEMINDSHAFT]

I still have a Sony BVH-3100 1" C-Type open reel video deck. Those were the top of the line editing and broadcast machines.

[@mcramp20]

Very cool!

[@jayc2469]

Great video of a piece of history! When you mentioned not being particularly techy, there are a couple of things that you _could_ try that could reduce the amount of tracking noise - have you tried a degaussing wand on the heads to get rid of residual magnetism that will have collected on any metal components? You could also be suffering with some wear to the video head(s) - usually found on the leading edges of video heads, caused by the tape over time. I'm a retired tv\vcr servicer :)

[@wildbilltexas]

My grade school in Goleta California had one of these VTR's in the early 1970's. I think it was a Sony model. They had it on a cart with a B&W TV on top that our teachers would roll in and show programs on, or they'd bring in a TV camera so they could tape us doing things like reading out loud, book reports, show & tell, or just having fun. First time I saw myself on TV was with one of these VTR's.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I assume the taped programming was from a public TV station. That usually was one excuse for any school to get a VTR that early in the game.

[@wildbilltexas]

The only thing I can barely remember was watching a science program (maybe taped off the public TV station from Los Angeles) or something like the Apollo moon landings on one.

[@rricci824]

This video is bringing back some awesome memories from middle school. I took the T.V. Communications class in 7th grade. I was always interested in tech from the day I 1st laid my eyes on it, so this was a natural for me. So, like I said I took the class in 7th grade. In 8th grade, I was often called out of class to go to the library or another classroom to fix minor problem. The girls at that time were impressed and going to those 8th grade dances were a big highlight in my school life. I attribute this to knowing how to operate machines such as this, so these old machine will always have a place in my heart. Sadly, high school was a like a vacuum cleaner. It sucked! I would NOT mind reliving my 8th grade days. :)

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Rob Ricci I guess your high school lacked an A/V club. I wish mine did. That T.V. Communications class sounds sweet for 7th grade, best I had was an "Industrial Tech." class that tooled around with a Beta VCR and a video camera to make a couple stupid vids.

[@joshuacoppersmith]

Very similar memories, but I don't recall getting the girls, as it were. We did use a VTR and matching camera to do special effects, tho, usually by turning the camera at the monitor and creating short swipe bursts that we cut into other tapes. I once got to tear into the drum and clean out the tiny coils of wires that made up the separate heads, but by then the unit had physical damage on a spindle and never settled down completely.

[@szaborobert4749]

Nice presentation!

[@databits]

Thank you Szabo

[@DougMcDave]

I think Elvis might have had one of these. He did not live long enough to enjoy VHS.

[@davidjames666]

Douglas Macgregor he had a tape machine on his jet to watch porn. Or was that Hugh Hefner?

[@glennmillerfan]

Douglas Macgregor Elvis did own a Sony Betamax VCR (which was introduced in the US in November of 1975), but did miss the VHS formats introduction in the US by exactly one week (Elvis died on August 16, 1977 whereas RCA introduced the VHS format in the US on August 23, 1977).

[@KentuckyRanger]

I remember loading these for the teacher when I was in school! @ 3:05 man-O-man! Look at those connectors! Literally, antenna connectors, LOL! Things got weird with the VHS tape, LOL!

[@steelers6titles]

To record off TV back then on this, you would have needed to install a separate RF modulator. And you would have been limited to recording the channel to which the TV set was tuned, as there was no separate tuner on the VTR. All in glorious low-res black and white, with stunning monophonic low-fi sound!

[@coondogtheman]

You should digitize all the footage and put it in a separate video.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Would be nice!

[@coondogtheman]

+Christopher Sobieniak I'd love to see it when the issues in this machine are fixed.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

coondogtheman1234 Or else he sends the tapes to someone else who might have a working machine to capture from.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

You got a Bob Newhart kinda sounding voice. It's quite nice.

[@marcse7en]

And I could have shown YOU a reel to reel videotape recorder 44 years ago in 1979, when I first used SONY CV and EIAJ open reel video formats! 👍🤣 EDIT: A few years back, I used VHS tape to successfully record video on an EIAJ VTR! Lacing up a VTR is not a "pain." It takes no time at all with practice.

[@frankowalker4662]

I've used one similar to this, a later version with colour and touch controls. We put some of the tape into a VHS case, no sound or picture.

[@MrJbezzz]

You fail to mention that Reel to Reel video recorders were in use far into the 90's for professional broadcast!

[@jonsymmonds1120]

I remember those units well. Finicky and a pain to use. I used them while in high school and a cable station that happened to air local programming.

[@jamesburke2759]

good buying on the cables but you can also cut a composite cable in half and strip it, make a bulge with the internal cable and shove it in, then tape the outer wire to the outside.

[@MartGC]

@15:54 - I believe that's Pat Crowley. Still among us with 86 years. :)

[@aidenmcdonald1597]

That jumpy image looks kinda cool in my opinion!

[@databits]

Well thank you!

[@steelers6titles]

If you want to date the recording approximately, "Joe Forrester" ran for a single season on NBC in 1975-76, so the recording must have been made off the air at that time. The actress who looks like Mary Tyler Moore is actually Patricia Crowley, who played his girlfriend.

[@vanhetgoor]

I've got one that looks like this, different brand (Akai) and different wheel sizes (I guess 1/4 Inch) but it is also black and white. I bought it somewhere in the '80's. Can't remember where I left the tape.

[@rty1955]

I repair broadcast video tape machines for a group I am with. First off the loss if video signal at the top of rhe screen is due to the tape not remaining in contact with the heads. The "snow" you see is loss if RF fron the video head. First I would check the tape path to see if you threaded it correctly. 2nd tape tension on these type of machines are critical. The tracking issues you see are mkre than likely due to belt tension issues in the scanner (head assembly) make sure the belt on the scanner is right enough and that the motor driving it is not slipping on the belt. I would advise getting new belts for the macine. Of course I am assuming you cleaned the tape path well enough as well. In addition as I have played back hundreds of reels of video tape, the tape should be baked in an oven prior to playing back as the binder on the tape has most likely is weak, baming the tapes helps a lot. All professional 2" video tapes normally require baking.

[@JBearInIndiana]

We always had to use q-tips with alcohol on the contacts of the rotary drum to remove oxide that flaked off the tape,

[@Designsbyg]

ok....now i feel old....having used these in school....

[@steelers6titles]

One can easily see why the home market for these was so limited. No built-in RF modulator or TV tuner, which would have hindered taping off television, and no timer for unattended recording. And no color! Plus I bet they were outrageously expensive.

[@ThePolaroid669]

They weren't called reel to reel until after cassettes were introduced. Until then they were just known as tape recorders, or video tape recorders.

[@jamesslick4790]

Yep! Retronyns abound in any technology. Before smokeless gunpowder was invented, So called "black powder" was simply "gun powder", before the advent of LPs and 45s So called "78s" were just called "records". And the term "silent movie" didn't exist untill after "talkies" were invented.

[@daytonaflorida2247]

The show you were playing was a TV Movie called "Cop on the Beat" which was shown May 6th, 1975. The woman was an actress named Patricia Crowley. How did I figure this out? I remembered her from a Rockford Files so I looked that up then found a show both she and Lloyd Bridges were in. The other show was "Marcus Welby" titled Dark Fury Part 1 and was shown January 7th 1975. That wasn't hard either, I knew it was Marcus Welby and recognized William Campbell who played the Squire of Gothos in an old Star Trek. Simple matter of knowing the actors and looking for what show matched.

[@databits]

Thanks for watching!

[@ndiamone9136]

So I'll put this here since it's the closest representation of what I'm about to talk about. Since you're considerably younger than me even though you sound exactly like my middle school engineering professor in the mid `70s - as well as looking like him when he was a ``kid'' - you may not have ever run across this particular use for a half inch open reel VTR. This however took place in college in the mid `80s. Once our school got the ``new'' ones - this one particular animation VTR got left behind to the radio and recording department - along with a brand new NTSC PCM adapter that would have normally used a VHS or Betamax to record two channels of 12, 14 or 16 bit audio at 44.056 KHz (three samples per line). Greateful Dead fans would adopt this years later for their board feed tapes that they'd trade. The animation VTR had about six speeds cuz it was also marketed to security firms for time lapse. So in addition to the normal 1 hour speed it had several divisions of 9 i.e. 9-hour 18-hour 36-hour 72-hour and 108-hour. All but the last one were continuous-motion speeds while the last one was a burst and pause affair. We were planning Prom in September already since a lot of scarce resources had to be booked early. Since we used up our ``music budget'' on getting a better venue - that left the radio and recording kids to have to put together the music ourselves from our own records and those of the library in the school district media center in the basement of the admin bldg. That was next to the TV studios and ITFS transmitters that would send microwave TV stations to every school in the district. So we took this PCM recorder and this animation VTR and started off at 72 hour speed with the intention of making one single tape for the whole weekend-lock-in - decided upon after six people in the previous graduating class (jr and sr high school together) were out w their older brothers and sisters and got killed driving off a cliff. Surprisingly we got probably SCA radio quality of sound out of 72 hour speed - but there was so many drop-outs even on a fresh reel of tape it was ridiculous. We had to go all the way up to 18-hour speed to get rid of all the dropouts - and one we had to use at nine-hour speed. We didn't want to mess up the final tape so we did our mixing onto 2-channel open reel hour-long analog tapes - 10-1/2 inch and 7-1/2 IPS. Once we had our 72 hours of music, that's when we had to lay the master 18 hours in real time with no stopping - going back and forth mixing from one reel deck to the next just as if it was a set of turntables - with the Odd records on one tape and the Even records on the next. Which means on the last song of the Even-reel we had three minutes to put on a new Odd-reel and cue it up - and then once that started we had three minutes after that to load a new Even reel and cue THAT up. So we did that in four separate weekends all weekend long throughout the Fall - had them all ready in time for Homecoming and just kept picking between tracks. We laid down two more as backup for Prom over Spring Break and for the first time in the school's history the DJs could enjoy Prom just as much as everybody else.

[@databits]

Thanks for sharing! You should write a book! :)

[@ndiamone9136]

People been telling me that for 30 years - and I must have thousands of pages on varying versions of old technology and the life and times of the guys operating it. But to get a book deal you have to have a book deal. Know any publishers or agents looking for offbeat non-commercially-viable material?

[@CowboyFrankHarrell]

I remember using a Sony equivalent to this machine to record a live high school theater production around 1975. Wish I knew where that tape got to.... Guess I'm showing my age :-)

[@russellhltn1396]

Ditto. Most likely the tape got re-used. They weren't cheap. The schools had to reuse them. They couldn't afford to start a library.

[@agilityreanimatedgroup]

If you slow down the VHS on VTR part in Audacity or VLC or etc., you'd notice databits is playing an excerpt The Abyss

[@agilityreanimatedgroup]

and upon comparing to my Widescreen Series VHS of the Special Edition, databits' tape here is of the theatrical cut

[@lutello3012]

I have a 1/4" b/w open reel vtr. Works better then that one out of the box...well after I cleaned out the rubber sludge and move the takeup reel myself to record and play. Really disappointing that I can't use my many reels of audio tape on it. I can and it works, but I heard it tears the heads up REAL fast.

[@pizza921sg]

hey im in saint Louis what mom and pop store did u go to, love the video

[@databits]

The player was found at the Eureka antique mall. I forgot if I referenced another store.

[@warrenmacdonald1372]

Here's a tidbit, databits: assuming the VHS tape was recorded at SP ( 33 mm/sec ), and the VTR plays back at 380 mm/sec. like it's Sony counterpart VTR's, that's more than a 10:1 speed ratio. And THAT'S why helical scan high fidelity audio was introduced to Beta and VHS.

[@robertpearson9048]

When you look at the machine you'll notice a little u-shape in front of the video head if you put your thumb there you can clean the video heads that's how we used to do it with that machine in Middle School back in the day

[@rty1955]

You can ise your thumbnail, never your finger

[@egoequus6263]

You can't use VCR tape with these old EIAJ formats due to the magnetic properties of the media. I have the later portable version of this and tried re-spooling modern vcr tape and then recording. It did not work. Still looking for an equivilent 1/2in tape stock that will work. I am guessing audio master tape may work.

[@danielthomas3057]

The connectors you refer to as 'UHF' look to me to be SOT.

[@t0nito]

Usually those tracking problems mean that it's not running at a constant speed, most likely a belt on the capstan motor. It's not the drum belt otherwise you would have horizontal sync issues. Too bad you didn't use a old CRT monitor without the blue screen masking for that VHS experiment I'm almost sure you'd see horizontal stripes like when trying to play ntsc tapes on pal vcrs or vice versa.

[@PaulsOldVids]

Have you thought about looking at the had switching? Seems like it's taking an awful long time to switch from one field to the next. I don't know if this kind of machine creates the vertical sync pulse between head passes, if it does that might be another place to look

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

It looks like you have a tape path alignment problem. Try tweaking the tape guide posts next to the head drum. Also, do a full recap on the servo and power supply circuitry.

[@saeidjavadi]

Your VCR needs video head switching adjustment when it switches from head a to head b. This is not a bad part problem just needs adjustment. An oscilloscope will be definite help.

[@kennethbouchard8643]

Yes you forgot to wrap it around the tension lever, which will not give the tape proper or any tension, and let it not playback very well. Also the reason it may not rewind well. This unit the drum does not turn, instead the 2 heads are spun at an angle, rotating at high speed, in a slot, and the top part of the head is actually part of the bearing sleeve. Then you have in these small contacts, on a slip ring used to transfer the heads magnetic coils into the unit. The wires go down thru the center of the bearings. VHS machines and later designs, the top part of the whole drum, was turned, and thus you got instead more of an angle to fit more of the signal across the tape to allow for a more dense signal. The heads were also much finer, and being fixed to the drum were actually replaceable much easier than the spinning heads. Later designs of EIAJ they did eliminate the slip rings and contacts to rotary pickup coils like VHS drums use, to transfer the signals. That removed the noise factor, as well as the wear of the contacts, over time. It also eliminated the need for as much shielding and rf noise to get into the signal.

[@jr-pl9kj]

the problem is tape alignment and possibly a tension issue. i noticed you dont have the tension pole threaded right. and also the reason vhs isnt compatible is because vhs has a smaller video head, this machine more closely resembles a U-Matic and beta

[@5roundsrapid263]

0:40 "Ve have a dangurous reel of tape here. Ve must deal vith it."

[@steelers6titles]

Interesting. Looks like an episode of "Joe Forrester" (Lloyd Bridges starred), and an episode of "Marcus Welby, M.D.", with guest star William Campbell.

[@dave631bnetzero]

I might be wrong, but is the tape bunching up a bit on the bottom of the video head? Looks like that may be the issue with the distortion at the top of the picture. It just looks like the tape is off the normal track. Running lower than normal. Also nice video.

[@jamesburke2759]

My VTR also has same picture quality, i think it might be the tape rather than the unit, also my head sucked in some tape so i might take it apart at some stage

[@OwenChristman]

Could you try recording onto vhs tape using this machine? I think that might work better than playback. That is, if you can get the record function to work.

[@alec4672]

Damn I was really getting into that soap Janice was going off

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

Did this predate the U-Matic or was it before or after that?

[@wdavem]

This was before U-Matic.

[@DelilahThePig]

IAmNotAFunguy Umatic was introduced in 1971 but 1/2" reel-to-reel was still used for portapaks until the mid-'70s. Betacam came out in 1982 and Betacam SP came out in 1986.

[@201950201950]

I was wondering if it would look someone better on a CRT television

[@jayc2469]

You _could_ also have the video head ultrasonically cleaned if no spares could be sourced. Sometimes microscopic oxide particles can remain after regular cleaning - and with the age of this bohemeth it's more likely :)

[@russellhltn1396]

Something's wrong with the swing arm by the supply reel. IIRC, it's role was to measure the tape tension and adjust the supply brake to maintain the correct tape tension. But as pictured in the video, it's completely out of the way. That might be why the video results are so poor. You might try threading the tape on the other side of that post. I must say, this brought back memories. What's next? Sony Portapak? :D

[@robneshi450]

the tape goes inbetween the rubber roller and the metal post on the right your way of track!! why has noone noticed this

[@MultiMrChang]

Is this VTR difficult to clean the head and can set the tracking same with VHS. or not? Thanks a lot..

[@databits]

Very simple to clean head. Wipe the perimeter with alcohol on a soft cloth.

[@VintageElectronicsGeek]

First TV show on the tape was "Adam12", then "Marcus Welby MD", the gal you thought was MTM, is not, cant remember her name, the guy she is with is Lloyd Bridges. For a stellar repair tech who can fix this, checkout "12voltvids" on KZbin.

[@VintageElectronicsGeek]

Oops, I goofed! You are right, I was multitasking at the time! :)

[@clurkroberts2650]

Had Panasonics but preferred the Sony 3650s.

[@wa27]

What camera do you use for recording your vids? I like how it looks.

[@mr.smash698]

I thought he already mentioned that in a previous video. But I think he's using his iphone.

[@wa27]

Interesting, thanks. Must be recording audio separately? It sounds kind of detached from the camera.

[@mr.smash698]

wa27 He's using a headset. Well I think he is.

[@jaymeheiser4290]

Any input on what type of power cable this uses or where to find one?

[@databits]

Sorry Jayme, I no longer have the unit. Does yours have 3 prongs?

[@riverhuntingdon6659]

That's going back. What's the tape speed ? Looks to be at about 7 1/2 IPS ! The intermittent bad pic might be because of tape tension problems, or possibly bad belts. My old Philips N1700 had two reels one above the other, and the head was straight. The tape passed diagonally, so to speak. At the end of your film I'd guess the new monitor/TV couldn't recognise the greatly speeded up signal it was getting !

[@databits]

Yes, 7 1/2 ips. Thanks for your comments! Glad you're onboard!

[@BCZF]

With re: to tracking, tape is probably stretched and degraded/oxidized, that will cause these kind of problems.

[@databits]

Very likely, thanks for the comment!

[@seatboi]

The tape SHOULD be going around the tension pin on the left side before the video head! You have mis-threaded the machine, which may be some of your tracking issues. Give that a try

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

it appears you are viewing his calibration footage..? maybe that's why you can't dial it in, possibly he didn't have his system stable when recording to begin with.

[@lsswappedcessna]

Like a vintage video (no audio!) projector

[@emorris272]

I live in Rolla MO. I'd like to meet you someday!

[@databits]

Why? I'm not that cool lol

[@danrmanalt]

You may not be that cool by yourself but you own cool stuff which makes you cool by association

[@kbuss10]

did you find any silence of the lambs kind of basement footage on the old tapes, lol :D ...?

[@databits]

HAHA, no, nothing scary or of nightmares

[@Nokorola]

I have a box of EIAJ tapes. I hope to find a player eventually.

[@SNIAF20]

i have the nv-3020sd model from panasonic i want to sell any idea how much is it worth?

[@1marcelfilms]

try this vhs experiment with a normal tv

[@dronetube]

normal meaning pre-digitlal CRT! yes!

[@steelers6titles]

Or, am I incorrect? Would the coax "TV camera" input have allowed an off-air TV signal to be recorded without a separate RF modulator? I don't think so.

[@rty1955]

Haha no. They used those connectors because the video signal is in the RF range. You would need a demodulator with a running control that would receive a tv broadcast and would convert it to baseband audio & video. Then this machine would record that

[@lumabi25]

A school I attended in the mid 1980s had one or two units similar to this. I think they were Sony.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

My high school had one in the late 60's.

[@nostalgica8595]

Are you sure the head drum is a suitable place to put a tv set on? xD

[@gmurphy100]

I Have a TAPE fro a High School Play.. Does anyone know where it can be converted? @gmurphy100

[@MortalMercenarae]

My girlfriend and I think thatcyou may be right about the heads, by the wiring to the inputs and outputs may have to be replaced. If you're going to do that you might as well connect modern video connectors. Just an idea. If it works let me know!

[@Amy-ft5mt]

that vhs thing would work on a CRT