Philips VR2020 demonstration

[@JacGoudsmit]

I love the sounds of the mechanisms of the first generation V2000 recorders. Eject: "Dinga-chuck!" Push the cassette in: "Ding!" Play: "Ding (chuck), warble warble warble, WARBLE... Chuck!" I had several of these, after they were discarded by others who had switched to VHS or whatever, which I couldn't afford as a student and hobbyist in the early 1990s. They were all more than 10 years old then, but worked like new. They weighed something like 17kg with the remote control module. Built like a tank, and all direct drive so no belts that turn to mush. Later on, Philips made their newer generations of V2000 recorders smaller, lighter and with more features like stereo, long play, slow motion, multiple cue/review speeds etc. but with a mechanism that was far inferior to this. I bet many first-generation recorders survived their later cousins and survive up to this day, working just fine without a single repair over the years. They definitely don't make anything that way anymore.

[@stephenbennett1989]

We rented one of these and a bang and olufsen beovision 8000 in 1982 that took me right back to my childhood I was 13 big thanks for the video

[@unlokia]

I used to have a few of these - I pulled them apart to see how they worked. The individual reel motors are sheathed in aluminium, and have perforated, machined black-painted die-cast reels with spring-loaded pins at the top to locate into the reels. Built like a tank. Wish I still had one :)

[@timdowns7937]

Wow, they were so elegant and the way the mechanics inside work the precision of ballet 🤗

[@FBAV]

Heck, how fast it switches and responds, gets exactly to the frame without any issue... I've used quite a lot of analogue (and digital) video systems, but not any that responds this quick, plays back again after stopping in a second with hardly needing any preroll. Superiour system.

[@telbee]

These were amazing machines - so much more technically advanced than VHS & Betamax. I repaired tons of these during the latter half of the 80s.. Didn't think then that I'd see one still working in 2011!!! Cheers

[@sandydogy]

I had 2 of these as a kid in the early 90s they were so heavy compared to the later vcrs and a wide machine Thanks for posting, wish I had hung on to them but Hinesight is a wonderful thing

[@m2mm4m]

WOW! One BIG think I loved about VR2020 was to 'GOTO' function!!! If only the VHS VCRs (our JVC) had that at the time. :-(

[@alexstevensen4292]

You should see the grundig version (2x4)

[@stevenesq]

WOW I have never seen one of these players before herd of them never actually seen one until now, just fantastic thanks.

[@malcolmgruschow9347]

Still have one boxed up in the garage. Bought it brand new 1983 and it cost a fortune. Loved that machine. It was exciting new technology at the time.

[@RudolfXC]

This was also our first video recorder as part of the 2601 Videocenter The connector on the back was for the rare camera and the Videocenter.

[@glpilpi6209]

I did my video training on one of these 36 years ago . They were better than VHS or Beta and had a good picture with electronic tracking in search mode so there was no noise on the picture forward or reverse , something that VHS and failed miserably at.

[@88GTi]

Superb!!! I have the same V2000 machine but mine is branded as 'PYE' It also sings as sweetly as yours :) The Philips machines were never that popular but I love them! I also have working N1500 & N1700 machines...The N1700 is still on the original belts and heads and works amazingly well! Do you still have your N1502?

[@arcadian7litre]

Hi, I own a Philips VR2840 in excellent condition. Trying to record from my DVD player through AV input. How does one set the deck to AV input mode instead of tuner. Should panel be set to "00" or should it indicate "0"?

[@volkerking5757]

Hello i have a Question about the VR2020 - a friend of mine bring me a VR2020 Video2000. First i programm the analog Tv Stations the Recorder found 5Stations in my Cablenetwork. Now i make a record rewind teh Tape and the old Video is also viewable on the recordet Tape the Audiolevel is very low. I think that is the first Erase Head in the Recorder left side Back. I must measure this next week and found out why the Recorder don't erase. 8hours later i found out after soldering all Contacts the Erase-RF erased the Tape and i can recorde the Tuner Channel. Now only the Audio is not recorded to the Tape i'm seraching the Modul U160 (this is the left Can from the 2 smaller Metallcans in the backside). There is a Mute-Signal maybe this is the Problem? Is it possible to build in a AV fbas Videoin/output because this VR2020 have only a RF-IN & RF-OUT. Best Regards Volker King

[@steenbreker60]

Hi there. Did you happen to know a name of the multi connector on the rear?

[@vintagecameras9623]

amazing vr2020 recorder

Hi, does anyone out there know how to repair these machines. I have a lovely condition VR2020 which gives a fantastic quality picture, but no sound :( I've tried everything but to no avail.

[@PieAndChips]

I am having a VR2022 refurbished at the moment, I could ask the service engineer for you?

[@sixtiesfan11]

I also have a v2020. Is it possible to connect it up to a modern tv. I haven't used it since the old tv failed.

[@MrTransalpin]

This is a PAL version.

[@MauroGuerreiro]

Nice. Do you sell it?

[@R33Racer]

Interesting stuff, I remember someone telling me there was this "Video 2000" format that was meant to be even nicer quality than Betamax back in the day. Is that actually true?

[@Mike-77-YT]

Well, that's debatable, since V2000 is a double sided format, which means it uses half the tape width for video. Of course, this helped immensely with recording times, but idk about being better than beta max.

[@dagaiu]

do you sell my that?

[@GNeuman]

Our first video recorder, it used to chew tapes and had tracking problems. We rented it and it cost a FORTUNE even to rent......

[@vintagecameras9623]

Nice work

[@ArthurM0rgan63]

Martha and the Vandellas and V2000! I looove it !

[@drlogan13]

Souvenirs souvenirs !!!

[@oliverberger9766]

Cool, Dusty!!!

[@vintagecameras9623]

+

[@ArthurM0rgan63]

@unusualstuff oldies but goldies

[@intel386DX]

what format is this?

[@davidlawrence9091]

V2000 System!

[@alexstevensen4292]

yeah the philips version 'kling kling' all a little bit vague those machines were problematic to say the least there were all these little pcb's in the mechanism with cables and connectors in between them not a very 'clean' design I much prefer the grundig version which was much cleaner and had a much better what you might call 'user interface' but this is all history. If you notice this thing has the usual tape counter whilst the grundig measured absolute time you put in a tape it winds back and forth a little bit and from the difference in spool speed it calculates the absolute tape position in minutes. I always found the philips version.. 'flaky' it goes kling kling and the interface is not that good either. the grundig 2x4 was way way better and more advanced, philips only kind of caught up with that smaller next generation thing and still it had that kind of overcomplicated thing going on.

[@neilforbes416]

The one big handicap V2000 had was the fact that Philips designed it. Had Grundig or Siemens designed the system it would've been a thousand times better and more reliable. The Philips brand is a curse.

[@vasopel]

did grundig ever designed anything?

[@neilforbes416]

+vaso opel: While I can't answer your question of whether Grundig designed any product, Grundig would most certainly have made a top-quality product of any product it chose to, under whichever patent licences the company chose to take up.

[@andrepost7571]

No, Grundig made there own version of V2000 and the tape mechanism was a nightmare. The tape loop was more like betamax and very unreliable.

[@neilforbes416]

Okay, so we rule out Grundig, that leaves Siemens as a possible alternative as Blaupunkt had adopted the VHS system.

[@alexstevensen4292]

@@andrepost7571 I never experienced any problem with the grundig o-loop it may take a bit longer to reel in the tape but that's about it. Overall I find the grundig machines much better designed esp. the interface. The mechanism is much cleaner there are no pcb's in there it's very seperated. With the philips there's this little pcb in there and there's a cable to another little pcb in there and this is all in the mechanism the thing came across to me as a little bit of a 'hack job'. A bit like microsoft windows in it's early days the grundig design is much cleaner

[@moow950]

Video2000 was superior to VHS and Betamax at the time.

[@telbee]

These were amazing machines - so much more technically advanced than VHS & Betamax. I repaired tons of these during the latter half of the 80s.. Didn't think then that I'd see one still working in 2011!!! Cheers

[@jilldollrestoration]

Since you repaired a lot of them would you have any clue on the fault my vr2023 has ? When you press play it loads the tape but it's like a sensor wich tells when the tape is fully loaded does not work and it keeps trying to load and won't lock the tape into playing mode. It keeps pulling on the metal belt, is there a sensor on this part ?