Sony EVS1000E Hi8 recorder from 1989. Can we fix it?

In its day, this was a very high end Hi8 video recorder which includes PCM digital audio capability. This one has broken down, let's see if we can find out what is wrong and get it going again. Bear in mind that new spare parts are unobtainable, and we only have fairly low resolution service manuals. It uses the Sony U-mechanism deck. There are probably very few working examples of this video recorder left.
Audio and video transfers: www.video99.co...
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12voltvids video on the same fault on a different machine using the same U-mechanism:
• SONY EVC3 8mm VCR mult...
Music “Let It Run” with permission, copyright Cristie/MacFarlane.
Sorry I do not offer an audio or video equipment repair service.
00:00 Introduction and test
02:15 See the problem
04:45 Dismantle
06:54 Work on deck
15:10 First reassembly
19:12 Test (1)
21:56 Test (2)
24:22 Power supply capacitors check
26:24 Stop worrying about power supply
29:09 Test (3)
33:56 Test (4) and assembly error
36:42 Pictures and sound
37:46 Conclusion

[@jims_junk]

You're always going to get people who think they know better and tell you how wrong you are. Truth is, those are the same people who never leave their couch and do things for themselves. Best to just ignore them, you'll never get through. Great video as always! Keep em coming!

[@andrew1479]

Well, I thought that was an amazingly informative video. Especially as I have some of these hanging around in the store room at work which "worked last time we used it (probably several years ago)". I like to call machines in this category - "Schrodinger's Cats"! So videos on these machines are incredibly useful and I for one am glad when you show your mistakes as it ensures I won't make the same ones when its my turn to take one apart. One machine I would love you to cover would be the Sony GV-D800 Video Walkman. I have loads of those. The most common fix for those is reseating all the flex cables as the contacts tend to oxidise.

[@Ronnie1001]

My problem with my EVS-1000 (that hadn’t been used for a while) was that the power supply capacitors in the middle of the PSU board had leaked loads of corrosive brown sticky fluid which had got through the PCB and ruined the PCB copper tracks.

[@video99couk]

I have lots of Schrodinger's video recorders. Every so often I look at one but invariably wish I hadn't.

[@tekvax01]

An excellent repair sir! Fixing those transport mechanics can be very difficult and always frustrating! I have three DVCcam HVR-M10Us that were working fine, and just decided to stop loading tape, after sitting around unused for a few years!

[@alyro-ls1dv]

Thanks for the video. Your videos on youtube are a gift to everybody who likes the earlier machines, often beautiful engineered. Thank you for donating to us the additional time it costs to record, comment and cut the process of repair which is obvious your hobby and supports your business, which is totally fine for me and i assume many other loyal viewers of your channel. I received devices repaired from "professionals" which invoiced substantial sums and didn't repair what they promised. By far better i like your repairs, which, as you said, are spmetimes restricted due to abailability of all which was abailable around the time these machines where in daily use in hughe numbers. Thanks again and best Albrecht

[@barrieshepherd7694]

Don't worry about the detractors /perfectionists. Real enthusiasts will probably ignore, like I do, their negativity. They expect every repair to be so perfect that it would cost twice that of the original machine when in fact many just need the machine to operate adequately to play a tape reliably. Not everyone has access to hundreds of pounds of calibrated test equipment and boxes of spare parts now unavailable from the market. These guys can sit in their laboritories surrounded by racks of components and carry on without injecting bile into our enjoyment of your practical work.

[@davewhite7182]

Great repair and good to see an unusual deck brought back to life.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

How on earth were these mechanisms designed? Where did the design team start and how on earth did they picture all the interactions of cogs, levers, pulleys etc in mechanisms more complex than watches and clocks. Then transferring that design into machine parts - built in a cost conscious environment - for mass production is a miracle. They are the true geniuses of VCRs - not the electronics and SW guys who, clever as they are, can just tinker when things go wrong. I suspect the mechanical skills necessary have to a degree now been lost.

[@TigerBoyRS]

Very well said. These machines were awesome at their time, and incredibly made. A million of things could go wrong, but usually just a thing or two... I've used EV-S1000E a lot in the early 90s, very capable machines, they only missed a TBC. That would come later, on another design, more dense and fragile... The guts of Sony stuff of this era, are just ridiculously complex and beautifully put together. That really shines on ES line and the pro gear, this one is "just" a semi-pro vcr. Any Betacam machine was even more hardworking and a testament to the great engeneering quality in Japan's high end industries of that time. At least until the Yen deflation crises of 91/92. Colin really pulls these old gems back to life. Precious! Cheers

[@BobbyS1981]

What’s even more impressive is that it was done before modern 3D CAD software existed. The CAD at that time was primitive and quite limited in its capabilities, relatively speaking. If these complex mechanisms were designed today you would have highly detailed 3D models that can be assembled and even set in motion to verify the functionality. One might even be able to optimize the design further. Regarding production costs, the injection mold and metal forming tooling is a big upfront expense. After that parts can be churned out in high volumes at low cost, which works well for consumer electronics. No matter what, I’m always impressed by the engineering that went into these old pieces of technology.

[@WolfmanDude]

To me these machines are the most amazing technical product ever made. Sure, your modern smatphone is technically more complex, but its just a bunch of digital logic. There is no creativity in that, its just a simple logic gates replicated over and over, mostly arranged by computers. These tape machines are electromechanical marvels that no modern product will ever come close to. Its amazing that they work at all, let alone after they were in a damp attic for 30 years.

[@Landscape_Tog]

Many thanks for this video Colin and the informative manner in which you present and demonstrate. I have a JVC BR-S622E, Sony EV-C2000E and Pan AJ-D440 for digital transfers and so appreciate the challenges of maintenance and repair of legacy decks, parts and manuals ! Tape still has a magic !!

[@AmiPurple]

Thank you for a great video put out on KZbin for all of us. Appreciate the extra work it takes to video your repairs but filming it and putting it on KZbin. You have great perseverance in trying to fix things that probably have no videos or much information on the internet, so you do really well getting as far as you do.

[@circuitpig]

What a beautiful machine...I'm happy you were able to get it working!

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

As always - so impressive, so patient, so effective.

[@olahansen]

Impressed with your knowledge and skill!

[@Petertronic]

Great video, pleased to see it operational again. I own one of these machines - bought it on ebay about 15 years ago. It works but annoyingly it cuts out after a couple of seconds in rewind/fast forward but is ok in play. I did some fault finding without success and it's been stored ever since. Oh yes the U mechanism - stripped down and rebuilt many of those at work. I had a lot of my own written notes on it which hopefully I still have. You can get a separate standalone service manual just for the U mechanism!

[@video99couk]

I did use the U-mechanism manual, it's more detailed than the EVS1000 manual.

[@more.power.]

Hi Colin opinion's are like aholes everyone has one. I enjoy your work and the way you approach the faults with the follow on repairs. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Cheers

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Bel video,ti ha fatto tribolare ma non ti arrendi,sei un'ottimo tecnico!

[@bjarneanthony1363]

Good work Colin you good make things work again Remember the betamax you work on hole day make it run again true great.Anthony

[@voceyc]

I always wanted one of these machines.

[@MVVblog]

I have an identical one, and it loses temporal alignment between those two gears. Fortunately, I don't think there are any other issues, but I can't eliminate the loss of alignment. The gears bend under stress.

[@video99couk]

People keep saying "just 3D print that" about some complex part. However this just might be one place where 3D printing a replacement may work. But if would have to be a high end 3D printer for this level of precision.

[@Ragnar8504]

@@video99couk Nylon sintered print maybe but I don't have much experience with those prints. Definitely not a bog-standard filament printer, that won't work.

[@Matt_Quinn-Personal_Account]

In the real world, we're presented with a set of circumstances which constrain us. - I've said something along these lines before; but we no longer live in a world where the manuals and spares for these things are easily available; let alone parts to swap-out or jigs to align things with. - Your repair techniques and strategies are entirely sound, given the context. - This isn't the 1990s where commercial repair shops operated on limited ranges of equipment with all the manufacturer's gubbins to hand.

[@TigerBoyRS]

Another EV-S1000 Hi8 vcr keeps going stong, that is remarkable nowadays. I still have two machines like that, one working and the other just for parts. Cheers 📼

[@leaveempty5320]

Bring back bad memories of having to re-assemble a Panasonic mechanism. Hours staring at cogs. lol.

[@video99couk]

I've done a video about re-timing the K-mechanism. Never done a G-mech though, they are much harder.

[@Ragnar8504]

@@video99couk I've got a G-mech that's playing up and just the thought of messing with it is giving me nightmares! I've got zero hands-on experience with video mechs, so I'm way out of my depth here.

[@wilfrido16]

On the EV-S9000 to remove the annoying stereo message just press the edit button once. I have the american equivalent, the EV-S7000 and it was driving me nuts until i read a forum post telling me how to get rid of it.

[@video99couk]

Yes, I did become aware of that, about 20 years too late.

[@maxfreedom]

I have made some progress on my repair of this same model. powers on and off ok. inject and eject working fine. now when it takes the tape and loads it. one u press play or skip rewind nothing happens.

[@maxfreedom]

Do you know if you can get component output via the start output? or would it just be composite signal?

[@drmindbender8616]

Top video as always just curios when are you going to start taking service requests ?? You and 12 volt kid are one of the few people left who can service dat / vcr and tale based media hint hint DAT please 👍👍

[@video99couk]

I won't be taking on repairs, I have enough of my own equipment to work on. And to be honest, my skills are limited compared to 12Voltvids, he's Sony trained has and been in the repair business for decades.

[@Capturing-Memories]

You never know what you will be up against when you start working on these old behemoths.

[@hankl8168]

Hello, I have an identical machine to yours, only mine has another problem. When I insert it, it perfectly inserts itself, but when I press play, it either ejects itself or it tries going in reverse, while the tape gets eaten in the process. What do you think the problem may be?

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

Great repair to a rare machine. What do people use such a machine for these days?

[@video99couk]

Recovering tapes. In particular this one is useful for tapes which have a PCM digital audio track, since more modern Digital8 players cannot recover that.

[@maxfreedom]

my EVS1000E is not turning on at all . where would I start?

[@video99couk]

Capacitors in the power supply is where I would start. Probably best to replace all low voltage electrolytic capacitors with low ESR types. No guarantee at all that it will then work, but it's a good place to start.

[@maxfreedom]

@@video99couk thank you for that info. i have done so now it turns on .. yay

[@maxfreedom]

now the mechanism doesn't seem to pull the tape down and when you press play or eject even power button nothing happens?

[@maxfreedom]

Success.. unit powers on all fine and ejects. Issue now is NO output via Composite/rca.. what could be causing this ?

[@video99couk]

If no output in E-E mode (input to output with no tape) then it should be a relatively straightforward case of chasing the signal through with an oscilloscope and service manual.

[@maxfreedom]

@@video99couk thanks for that 👍would you know where i could get the service manual online ?

[@TheUKDude_]

Nice video, but that pin I think you glued in on that arm is not supposed to be glued in, you put in the pin and it clips in under that copper clip and that holds it in. YOU can see thats how it went by looking at how the other arm was fitted, you can see in the video it was under the copper clip. The reason it came out before was due to it possibly got stuck and pulled the arm out.

[@thebreretons]

The pin is supposed to be a friction fit but it does loosen after a while, the copper coloured "clip" doesn't do anything to secure the pin. gluing was Sony's recommendation according to an internal memo I saw when I worked for Sony. **EDIT** I see what you mean now! The arm should go under the copper clip 15:27 and the glue should be applied to the top of the guide coaster to stop the pin popping out again (as seen from above the mechanism).

[@video99couk]

I did also glue the top.

[@livaklepere2760]

Hey! I`ve recently have gotten into all this crazy and interesting world of digital 8 cameras. Can you suggest a place where i could buy some fresh tape cassetes?

[@video99couk]

I have new tapes in stock, just email me on [e-mail]

[@TTVEaGMXde]

SONY EV-S1000E West Europe PAL B/G+SECAM Gray housing with PAL/SECAM print on front cover, UK PAL G+SECAM Black housing without PAL/SECAM print on front cover SONY EV-S1000B France PAL B/G+SECAM L Gray housing with PAL/SECAM print on front cover The gears of the winding plates do not have a steel core that causes the “bomb” to explode. Wide head wrap is only important for me because I want to see all 576 lines. But I haven't tested it yet.

[@TechnicFreakJulian]

Hey i have the Same deck with same fault do u repair those? Can I send u mine?

[@video99couk]

Sorry, I don't take on repairs, I have a backlog of my own equipment to work on.

[@The_Traveling_Clown]

I don't even try to fix thing cause me making problems worst than they should be. Instead, I just get a spare unit and switch working parts to make a working unit. Done it with two sony beta players.

[@tomteiter7192]

Oh how I absolutely DON'T miss the age of videotapes. Or analog tapes altogether. I can somehow get that DAT is still having a bit of an appeal, but everything else is pure hipster wankery.

[@bobsbits5357]

hi there's not aloy of parts around any more and making do is a thing i have a tascam 38 that is working note there are repairs and make do's i call it all over the deck if the capstan motor was to go i would have tp part all good parts trolls are like bee's a right pain they can be i lost a very good reel to reel decks a recap would not have fixed it the seller know 100% the deck was going bad so i have to use the tascam 38 to play back 3 3/6 ips 8 channel tapes otari gear can be a pain

[@snap_oversteer]

Nice precise work, this machine deserved it.