THIS ADVERTISEMENT IS EXTREMELY DETAILED
SIT DOWN, GRAB A COFFEE AND READ ON ....
HISTORY:
Sustainability is the name of the game! Anything (that has been tested and still functioning properly) should be repurposed creating saving in wasted Ee and reducing the poisoning our environment when items are buried in the earth at the local tip needlessly.
Never heard of Ee? It is a concept that creates a measurement of ALL things (not just electronics) that humans have made and the energy used in obtaining the raw material, processing the materials right through to a finished product and even should include the shipping of the item to the distributors/retailers.
If you would like to know more about Ee values, please take a look HERE
It is important to be realistic here! A machine that has substantial mechanical functions AND that has been sitting in my storage units for at least 15 years unused is not going to be in A1 working condition!
Last week I reached way way back into the mists of time (boxes at the back of the storage!) and pulled out this classic VHS VCR system from JVC (Victor Company of Japan)
Oh yes, these were the days of "should go VHS or is Beta better?" In the end, VHS won out but not really due to the technical side of things - SONY pushed Betamax and one of their main "failings" was that they would not allow 3rd parties access to their technology whereas JVC actively promoted their technology through 3rd parties and in the end had a far larger market share - Betamax died away (in the consumer market) and VHS dominated. The exception to this was the broadcast industry, they used Beta technology for many years forward and never went to VHS.
Even today, look around a broadcast facility and you will see SONY and JVC professional equipment everywhere you look - both of these organisations were very well versed in the world of video technology.
If the history of the Betamax Vs VHS battle interests you, take at look at this paper from some knowledgeable folk in Japan.
I am not the sort of person to just say "hey, here is an old machine, best of luck" but instead give a LOT of information that should help a new owner determine if they want the machine and what restoration/service work may be required.
It's not all bad either! I actually had a couple of "test" tapes running fine and then it went a bit "not quite right" .... look below for the details
This is the COMPLETE system being offered, comprising a compact (but heavy) portable VCR (HR-2650EA) and another separate unit, the Tuner Adapter (TU-26EA) which also supplies power to the HR-2650EA when it is not running as a portable. I will describe each component separately in this advertisement (yes, this is one very long description!)
JVC - Portapak VHS Video Recorder
Made in Japan
Model: HR-2650EA
Intended market: Domestic Australian
Year of release 1982
Original purchased for around A$2800 (I don't have the receipt now! These were released with a sell price by the Japanese @ Yen 208,000 in 1982)
One owner - me!
Included items: as pictured
HR-2650EA VCR portable recorder
JVC Original NiCd battery type NP-B1 (12V 1.8Ah) - massive battery considering the voltage and quite low current capabilities but that was the battery technology of the 1980's!
Non-included items: anything you CANNOT see!
NO cabling - although I do have a lot of vintage video cables to advertise, you need a BNC to RCA lead for the composite video (75 Ohm) output and input and a 5 pin DIN audio lead for the audio output (and inputs)
The front panel camera connector, I DO have the connector but you will need to custom produce your own cable if you were thinking of connecting an old analog video camera to this recorder.
NO remote, I do have the fully working JVC remote HERE but have decided to advertise it separately as this provides the greatest flexibility to those who may want the recorder but have no need for the remote, or vice-versa.
NO carry strap (disintegrated!) but the chrome metal clamps are fine on each side of the machine to fit a new strap
JVC HR-2650EA special feature: Portable
Oh my word, a "portable" VHS recorder to lug around with your nice video camera! This is truly luggable, I had a carry bag for this but unlike the machine, it has since fallen apart and been discarded. When being used as a portable machine, it uses a VERY LARGE internal battery - see my testing information below for the current condition of the battery.
Once you have been running around (along with a lot of puffing) with this VCR machine, you take it back home and plug in the "umbilical cord (Mogami cable with a circular 14 pin male connector" from the Tuner adapter unit (TU-26EA) into the back of this unit. It is now running on domestic AC power, and the battery can be charged ready for "next time".
Soft touch front panel push buttons with the exception of the EJECT button which is purely mechanical.
Format of this machine is PAL-D, also used in New Zealand. This machine will NOT playback or record NTSC video format.
Basic transport system with the usual FF,PAUSE,RW,PLAY and FA (Frame Advance)
Locking switch on the front panel so that you do not accidentally record over your previous precious recordings.
Front panel features a nice electronic pale Blue/Green tape counter.
No fancy features such as multi-standard or fast searching but (at the time) a good solid machine for lugging around and it provides the basic functions of a VHS Video machine.
Output choices are not fancy either, analog composite video (colour of course) and audio - this is even before the days of SVHS came to be available.
DIMENSIONS:
267mm Wide x 263mm Depth x 85mm Height
WEIGHT:
5Kg TOTAL (Machine including battery)
Battery (NP-B1) is 800g (260mm Length x 55mm Wide x 28mm Thick)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
After 40+ years since it left the factory in Japan, this machine is in pretty good condition cosmetically.
Front panel has some minor scratches and what appears to be a small crack near the display area but this is of no concern, truly! Top loading drawer also has some marks or scratches but again, not really a big issue.
NO missing knobs or buttons
The astute amongst you may notice the STOP button is recessed compared to the other push buttons. That is intentional and the switch assembly is NOT faulty or broken.
Drop down door at the rear and front both work fine but it should be noted that the front door (hiding the tracking control etc) has the little catch missing - this means that while the door does close and generally stays closed, it can pop open quite easily.
Overall, this machine is in pretty good condition but what truly matters (to most restorers of such equipment) is DOES IT WORK RUSS?
Read on for the next enthralling chapter ...
TESTING:
I used the Tuner Adapter unit (TU-26EA) as the power source, battery condition is unknown but most likely it is a dead one ....
I also had the top cover off as I wanted to see clearly what the tape was doing ... a bit dirty in there (fluff) so I gave it a "quick clean" to remove bits of fluff and even a piece of sticky tape!
NO signs at all of "water or moisture damage"!
The most obvious moving parts had very dried out lubricant so I quickly cleaned up the old and applied new lubricant (INOX synthetic grease)
Pushed the Blue ON-OFF touch button and it powered up fine, display shows 0 and the push button STOP is illuminated.
EJECT button works smoothly and presented the tape drawer ready for a tape.
Loaded the pre-recorded tape (push the drawer down and it locks into place smoothly and easily)
I next checked the Fast Forward and Rewind, both working fine - fast with no obvious reluctance.
Now the moment of truth ...
Connected the video output and audio output cables and pushed PLAY
Amazing is all I can say! After all this time, the tape properly wrapped around the drum and after a couple of relay clicks, begins to play the tape.
On screen I was greeted with a full colour picture, playing at "normal" speed and barely any lines running through the picture at all. Sure it is not your 4K video but I was pretty impressed at the quality of this old technology.
Audio was also fine, clean and without any "funnies"
I also rotated the TRACKING control (which was in the centre) and again I was amazed at the stability of the picture with hardly any noticeable degradation except at the extreme ends of travel of the control - I have seen far worse than this on other machines.
I then PAUSED the tape as I wanted to see how stable the picture would be - excellent, no "tearing" at all.
While all this was going on, the tape counter is working fine (incrementing or decreasing) the tape count depending upon what action I was taking.
Tape path is clean and no twisting or damage occurring to the tape as it passes through the machine!
I then touched STOP, the tape cleanly unwrapped itself from the drum and ready for ejection, which I did - again very smooth.
So what is the problem? (and yes, there is a problem)
I followed the tests above on a number of pre-recorded tapes and then noticed after about 30 minutes that the "take-up spool" was dragging it's feet a bit - meaning that the tape winding onto the take up spool (right side) was not rotating nice and evenly. Over time this became worse, symptoms being loss of colour (still a nice picture but no colour) and then it simply refuses to play the tape any longer.
I have NOT investigated further, I am not interested in servicing this machine, but I think it is a fair bet that the age old problem of rubber fatigue is at play here! This is supported by the fact the machine worked fine to start with and then as the rubber heats up from friction, it appears to be slipping which gives rise to the uneven take-up spool rotation.
To check this out further, I set the machine aside for a few hours in a cool(ish) area and then played a tape again - same thing .... played fine and then slowly degraded after a short period of time.
I have NOT tested the recording functions (video or audio) as I was primarily interested in the transport system and drum condition.
I am of the opinion that with another "proper" cleanup inside, re-lube and check ALL rubber belts and tyres that this machine will be in great shape once again.
With the recorder "out of the way", let's move onto the Tuner Adapter model TU-26EA
JVC - Tuner Adapter
Made in Japan
Model: TU-26EA
Intended market: Domestic Australian
Although for the Australian market, the AC input is switchable at the rear between 240V & 220V (Don't ever recall Australia/NZ using 220V!)
Year of release 1982
One owner - me!
Included items: as pictured
Model: TU-26EA Tuner Adapter
The "umbilical cord" cable to the HR-2650EA is permanently fixed to the rear of this unit. This cable is top quality Mogami and the circular male connector has 14 pins.
The AC power input lead is also permanently connected to this unit.
SPECIAL NOTE:
The AC power lead is fitted with a moulded, standard Australian plug but NOT earthed (2 pins only)
Non-included items: anything you CANNOT see!
NO cabling - as this is an old analog television tuner, it uses 75 Ohm coaxial leads for the video output signals. These are readily available elsewhere - I generally do not keep those cables and tend to just give them away (old technology which is not in common use these days by neither domestic or professional users!)
NO remote, I do have the fully working JVC remote HERE but have decided to advertise it separately as this provides the greatest flexibility to those who may want the recorder but have no need for the remote, or vice-versa.
FUNCTIONS:
Analog television tuner
Timer
Power supply/charger for the HR-2650EA VCR
To be brutally honest, I really don't think ANYONE is going to be very interested in the tuner section. No commercial television broadcasts in Australia use analog now. Quite a while ago (years ago in fact) there was at least one amateur group (Gladesville Sydney) broadcasting analog television on around 449Mhz (I think) but I am not sure whether they are still operating analog or have also switched to digital transmissions.
For this reason I have undertaken NO TESTING of the tuner section at all.
Timer is a similar story, I did set up the local time a couple of times successfully but upon powering down, "lost the time" which means you get a front display flashing a row of ones. This tends to indicate an internal battery used to save settings has died, if the timer was to be used then this battery will need to be located and changed.
My BIG interest was the power supply, it provides the "juice" to the HR-2650EA VCR sitting on top AND charges the NiCd battery.
Obviously from the test results above relating to the HR-2650EA, the power supply is working fine.
I also touched the CHARGE button on the front panel, LED comes on and the battery is being charged (test results below)
DIMENSIONS:
270mm Wide x 292mm Depth x 100mm Height
WEIGHT:
5Kg
COSMETIC CONDITION:
CLEAN
Yes, I removed the top cover and looked around inside. Pretty clean with just a bit of "fluff" here and there, nothing dramatic.
Minor marks and light scratching to the case but overall in better condition than the HR-2650EA VCR, which is understandable as the VCR was lugged around quite a bit!
Nice touch by JVC on the case top ... they have created four round pillars which are normally recessed into the top, you partially unscrew these (arrow marked on the pillar) and hey presto! the pillar "pops up" and you have four nice stable pillars to sit your VCR on top of ... clever and it nicely solves that ventilation issue of the equipment below.
NO broken drop down panels
NO missing knobs or buttons
ALL labelling is clear and easy to read
Blue/Green display is clean, unscratched, bright and also easy to read
TESTING:
For no purpose other than to check that the logic control was working correctly, I changed the television channels and pushed the Power ON OFF and CHARGE button. Pushing the CHARGE button results in a light "click" (relay operating) and the RED led comes on to show the battery in the HR-2650EA is being charged.
I also changed the clock time and set up some timers but as soon as AC power was removed, so were my settings - internal memory battery must have died.
I also used the remote control to make sure I could remotely change the channels (not much else on this unit that the remote can control) and that worked fine.
Really, the only other testing I wanted to undertake was the battery condition...
I used a repeated process of charging and discharging this monster of a battery. While charging it warms up but does not get hot.
Once charging is completed (indicated by the RED led going off), I removed the battery and made some voltage tests
Freshly charged, open circuit 13.3V (stable, it did not drop off over time)
Using a "quick and dirty" load (75 Ohm 10W resistor) I discharged the battery slowly, that's just below 200mA current flowing. This was a tedious process due to the contact arrangement on the battery so I just waited and waited while watching what was happening to the voltage.
Ever so slowly the battery discharged, taking over 3 hours for the voltage to drop substantially (below 11V)
Next, I kept the once again fully charged battery in the VCR and used it as a portable, although it was not running tape due to the take-up spool issue. I still had a fully functioning VCR (I did load tape, play it for a short time and then eject it) for at least two hours, at which point I became impatient waiting for the battery to go "low"
So after two hours running the HR-2650EA on battery alone, I again measured the battery voltage - 12.2V
Stunning quite frankly, this is an OLD battery and yet it seems to have readily sprung back to life.
While it is extremely unlikely that anyone will be lugging the VCR around, it's nice to know that if need be, the battery will still run it quite fine.
I am finally "done" and I hope that all the information above allows someone to make a judgement about whether this 1980's JVC classic analog video equipment might suit their own collection.
Please don't forget that because of my policy of FREE shipping within Australia for orders over A$75 means there is no "extra charges" to take into account
