1980 Magnavox VCR Re-assembled

[@glenz1975]

I have a National NV-8610 which is a smilair model to the Maganvox but is SP only. Mine needs belts/idler tyres etc and hasn't been running for about 15 years. These are bullet proof machines and so well built. Seeing this video makes me kind of want to fix my one up now but the unit is in a box buried deep in the garage. Nice demo all the same. Cheers

[@robatsea2009]

Outstanding - love the whirrr of the motor when the "play" key is pressed. Solid, solid picture - even on a SLP tape!

[@Trance88]

I would LOVE to have an old piano key type VHS VCR. These are so neat! I'm so glad to see that it's still working!

[@Fardemark]

I have the older 1978 model it works really well and I did not have to do any repair. It is also featured in two of my videos :)

[@lespaul5628]

I had this exact machine, or close to it anyway. What a tank! I had no idea it was that old. I bought it at a pawn shop (still in business) in '85 I think. There was a problem with the take-up reel I think and got it for about $15. All it needed was a belt. I'll never forget the first movie I rented, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. No one had VCRs back then, except my dad. He bought a Hitachi in '82. He paid like $750 on sale. I don't know what happened to my Magnavox. It probably quit working and I junked it.

[@jefferyclark2340]

I love how older TVs have better sound quality than most TVs today

[@billybassman21]

This looks almost the same as my 1979 Panasonic VCR. The picture on these is better than many newer ones.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

★★★★★ I remember the first VCR my Parents got in the early 80s. They were a big deal when they first came out.

[@MsCori76]

Love that tv. The cabinet is absolutely gorgeous!

[@NBH45304]

That's an interesting tv cabinet never seen one like that before. The VCR looks like ones we had in the library at school. That picture looks pretty good. Thanks for sharing - Nathan

[@northhankspin]

That TV is gorgeous, i just love it completely.

[@cttv90108]

Isn't it interesting how all the caps are still good in that VCR 33 years later but we can't get stuff to last even 5 years these days.

[@AndyJHiscock]

That picture is better then some high-end video recorders of the 90s.

[@Musicradio77Network]

Nice VCR. This 1980 Maggie VCR can also be playing all Disney VHS tapes (Neon Mickey, Black Diamond, Masterpiece, etc.) this is considered to be rare, and it doesn't damage tapes like other cheap VCR's do.

[@Psylliumhead]

My VCR from the good old days. Same one just a little bit older without 6 hour, only 2 and four.

[@XMguy]

Very nice! Love that VCR. I had one as a kid. But it was Beta Max. Looked just like it though.

[@mspysu79]

You have got that deck working very nicely. From what I recall of VHS the visual scan and pause with picture did not come out until 81 for the better VCR's, and the full speed shuttle with tape threaded did not happen till the lat 80's early 90's because the M Wrap put too much stress on the tape.

[@selah62]

I had a Beta machine from that era from Sears. It looked very much like the one you have here except for some minor differences. My machine loaded its tape around the vid drum when you inserted the cassette whether you hit play or not. Also mine had a wired remote instead of wireless. It worked well. A blank 4.5 hour video tape cost $13.00 back then in '82,'83.

[@tubasousaphone13]

I love the tape chad. Im a instrument lover my self especially when they have jazz bands who feature clarinets!

[@cttv90108]

those vcr's were about $800 (in 1980 dollars) back then. i remember going to a friends house and watching the saturday cartoons on wednesday (was about 9 then). I was totally impressed. it would be another 5 years before we would get one.

[@MsCori76]

Chris - I was 4 (1980) & my parents bought a VCR at that year & it cost them nearly $1000 & it was a Sharp.

[@alonememe1014]

now vcr's are 1thousand dollars

[@retrochad]

I have a '60 CM console stereo which is I believe all real wood and you can tell by how light it is...as time went on they seemed to use more and more particleboard and plastic.

[@Disneyfan95]

We have furniture that will go great with that tv

[@DanteFox]

That vcr is huge

[@mraiwa1000]

WOW! A tv with a white cabinet. Never seen that before..

[@radiotvphononut]

Most CM sets that I had dealings with were consoles made between the mid '70's-mid '80's that all used an NEC chassis and cheap cabinet. The ones I was getting in the mid '90's often had weak/dead CRT's. Sure, I'd take a 1980 CM over some of this modern junk; but, the CM TV's of that era were no better than any other imported set. I have a '60-'61 CM B&W console that looks like it's well built & the tube CM color TV's were usually based on an RCA-cloned chassis.

[@Oldbmwr100rs]

It was Beta and Umatic 3/4" that loaded the tape onto the head as soon as You loaded it. FF and Rewind could run the tape through the head path on those. The early VHS decks also had the head running constantly when powered on whether a tape was loaded or not if I remember right.

[@OlegKostoglatov]

There is a guy on the Antique Radio Forum that used to work for them, he thinks they are just wonderful. Most of the CM colour sets seemed to use a late model RCA colour chassis or an imported NEC chassis stuck in a gaudy junk cabinet. He blames Japanese imports for CM's demise, maybe somewhat true but charging a premium price for a K-mart grade junk TV likely didn't help after they started breaking down prematurely.

[@dynatrak]

Awesome! We had a couple of similar late 1970's Panasonic vcrs in the school district that came in for repairs in my high school electronics class. All they ever needed was cleaning, and then send them on their way. Is that a late T995 Magnavox tv, and did you ever get the audio working on that Curtis Mathes set? Looking forward to seeing it in the new cabinet.

[@arkansastrash320]

Also the one i have i bought probably in 1990 and paid $100.00 back then and it only played tapes would not record but then i knew that when i bought and it worked a really long time.I think well i feel i know the old ones have so much more quality in them than the ones built now.I don't think dvd recorders will ever be as big as vcrs were meaning popular not size wise! and still are.I like dvds but when it comes to recording i don't have dvd recorder just my vcr dvd combo.Thanks

[@retrochad]

This CM chassis is very similar to an RCA CTC-17 but it has some improvements. The CRT is a GE.

[@TheTarrMan]

Really nice.

[@arkansastrash320]

I have that same vcr if not its not very different maybe a year different i think its a rca mine is.If you can repair vcrs Sir your truly very intelligent because even when they were so popular in the 80s and 90s most repair men hated to work on them cause of all the mechanical stuff inside.I have about 4 or 5 vcrs that need fixing,I think they just need greasing the slides and stuff inside they eat tapes when ejected.I don't like dvds very much still vcr programs.Thanks paul

[@buckfiden6227]

3:34 It's Sony Betamax your thinking of. Beta threads the tape upon loading. VHS (& most Sanyo beta VCR's) don't thread the tape until you press Play or Record.

[@aaron71]

Whoa... that's a PV-1200 clone...? Cool, I had no idea other makes used the design! What is the model number? Time to do some research :)

[@CoreysChannel]

Nice job! I wonder how much it cost new?

[@Pugslee3]

Will these early VCRs play both PAL and NTSC format VHS tapes?

[@my2commonsense476]

I had the same vcr, except it didn't have slp.

[@litefoot900]

A pink band, what you need are some Vietnam hiking boots, cost you half as much an last twice as long. .....

[@artemb.3867]

у меня был такой в 91 году

[@radiotvphononut]

For Curtis Mathes sets to cost as much as they did, they sure used some cheaply made cabinets. It would have been better had they used real wooden cabinets instead of cheap particleboard and plastic. A few years ago, someone gave me a '74 CM solid state TV/stereo combo. The cabinet was cheap, the CRT was dead, and the chassis had many problems.

[@Salmagundiii]

No, why would they? They required a ton of discrete components just to decode one or the other. Nowadays with everything done in software, the fact that, for example, US-made Bluray players won't decode non-region coded PAL discs is mostly political. It just requires a few more lines of code. OTOH, many Bluray players & HDTVs in Europe will accept NTSC material because the market there expects it.

[@michaelpierce4036]

How much do you think the Magnavox VCR's are worth for resale? $200? $300 perhaps?

[@Dominicroccomoviebuff]

+Michael Pierce like 10.00 at local salvation army

[@videotape2959]

+Dominic rocco I think you just shattered his dreams...

[@northhankspin]

Its like white chocolate. I just want to eat it.