Three VCRs died at once (including an expensive one)

In Child Lock, read this:

Take up reel not turning for whatever reason (bad idler tire etc..) or take up reel sensor bad.

Dead component in the power supply possible electrolytic caps. Have you experience with switch mode power supply repair or repair of consumer electronics on circuit level?

Don't know.

Thanks for the answer Meat Plow: I have got the Proscan working again and will try to turn the tyre on the Sony if appropriate, - hoping it isnt much more than that As to the circuit repair, no I have no training to do this: It sounds as if the repair will likely cost more than a second hand SV5000? meanwhile I do still have an SV4000 which I have brought into service and can take my time looking for an SV5000 if I can find one cheap enough on ebay. (Pity there isnt even much point in keeping the SV5000 for parts!). I wonder what caused it to destroy itself in such a lenghy period of non-use.

check load belt and clean mode switch. if the machine is less than

Nice machine, not your run-of the mill unit, well worth keeping, i would get a repair shop to take a look at the power supply.These are worth investing in.

good luck. B

You have somehow set the parental lock on the vcr to prevent a kid from ejecting a tape . Some vcr's require that you hold the power button in for ten second or so to unlock the vcr.

Sure sounds like belt slippage or mode switch problems.

The N88 was a throw away exchange model . Sony even lists it as such under its parts ordering system. The only parts one might find are egenric belts for this unit.

Yes, that was why I asked the question

I suspected as much: I have two of these Sony chinese units which say loudly on them "Call sony for an exchange if this machine goes wrong" I think most of them are even sealed shut, arent they?

Yes, but are the electronics any different from the SV4000 which I also have?? Will it give any better picture or conversion of PAL recordings onto my Archos AV500?