VCR needs Zenith head motor

Find out who the local distributor is for Zenith / Kenwood parts in your area, and see if you can purchase one. I would think it would be cheaper and more practical to change the complete VCR. The only obstacle from the supplier, is that the part may no longer be available.

As for changing the motor, you will have to be equipped and knowledgeable, have the proper test and calibration setup, and the service manuals, to re-do the complete tracking alignment of the VCR.

Your service man probably over-extended himself in his estimate, knowing that you would not be prepared to pay the cost for the part and the time. In the interim of the job, there is a chance there can be other faults along the way.

--

JANA _____

I took my VCR in about 8 months ago, and the repairman said it needed a new head motor, but he didn't have time to do it right then, and I should call him in 2 weeks. I've called every 2, 4 or 8 weeks for the last 8 months and he never is ready. I think he is thinking of retiring.

If I knew what part to buy, I would replace this part myself I think.

There is a picture, but it's "raggedy". I don't know how to describe it, but I believe the repairman as to the cause.

I have been looking for years, and can't find such a good quality vcr available new or used.

Thanks

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On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:25:52 -0500, mm Has Frothed:

Not something an unskilled, unexperienced, unequipped person should undertake.

Try cleaning the heads?

I think the OP's original servicer was suggesting the bearings were bad, which could indeed give a ragged picture.

Mark Z.

I'll try to do that. Thanks.

I can't find a vcr as nice as mine is. I'm thinking about features, not about performance.

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Yes, that's what I figured he was referring to. Or maybe he even said it.

As to not having the proper equipment, I thought I would use the picture on the tv screen as the ultimate authority for whether it is adjusted right.

I don't like this technique either, but it is very hard here to find someone to fix vcr's who doesn't have an edge to his voice. This guy was fine, but his mother died and left him a bunch of money, he was telling me -- and I think he wants to hand back the units he has fixed and relax. He says his shop is too full to move, with 32 inch sets etc. that the owners don't pick up. If he didn't want to do this or the price was too low, he wouldn't hesitate to tell me.

But I've talked to other electronic technicians, maybe just experienced amateurs, who do things like this. I don't like it when the furnace repairman doesn't use a CO2 meter, or a stack temp thermometer, or one other tool they are supposed to use. But several different guys from reputable companies just look at the flame and if it is good, they're done.

In the past 4 years or more, I've looked in high-end stores, low-end stores, hamfests, thrift shops, classified ads and everywhere I can think of and I can't find nearly as good a vcr.

When I said I can't find such a good quality vcr, I wasn't referring to the quality of the picture but to all the features::

It has the ability to write and erase index marks whenever I choose. It has 4 or more forward speeds not counting the infinitely variable slow speed. It has 2 reverse speeds. It calculates how much tape is left in the cassette. It displays almost everything on the VCR so I don't have to turn on the tv to use on-screen programming. Displaying on the vcr is important when I want to watch something in another room or on another floor. It has buttons ON the vcr for all 10 numbers, so I don't have to find the remote, which might be in another room on another floor, since I use Leap Frog remote that sticks on the front of my remote and works from any room in the house.

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snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com ha escrito:

unless you're talking about the A/C head, that is nonsense as the video heads in vcrs cannot be 'mis-aligned'. The roller guides and tape path needs checking.

-B.

mm ha escrito:

These characteristics, and more, are present in any DVD recorder. DVD recorders like the Panasonic DMR-ES10 have very good editing capabilities. For instance, if you record a 2 hour long show, you can remove all the commercials *after the recording has been finished*, and recover 30 minutes of *usable* recording space. This something a single deck VCR can=B4t do. Also, the overall image quality and sound of a DVD recorder is better. Do you want to create index marks? Well, index marks are replaced in the DVD format by chapters and subchapters which can be created whenever you want. And I=B4m speaking here of a basic DVD recording machine. There are higher end ones which have more functions, including an internal harddisk. You make all the editing of the show in the harddisk, and when you are finished, you just tranfer it to a blank DVD-R or DVD-RW. Also, blank DVD-RW=B4s are cheaper than VHS blank tapes, and blank DVD-R=B4s are the cheapest of all.

This is the only part that can=B4t be done with a DVD recorder, because all of them must be programmed with the TV turned on, but I don=B4t see why it should be a problem.

Thanks to you and all for your help on this. I was going to look inside the VCR and see if I could find a number on the motor (and at least try to do it myself even if I failed) but I can't find the vcr. My house is not that big, and the other good (and misaligned) vcr is missing too. I know they are here somewhere, but I can't find them!

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I won't be doing any editing. But being able to mark things is good. I appreciate your trying to make me feel better about the perhaps inevitable change I have to endure.

I use the tapes dozens or hundreds of times. I generally don't have any desire to see the tape a second time. Some tapes last for years. I think in the last 22 years I've thrown away less than a dozen tapes because they were worn out, and I used to tape maybe 2-4 hours every day, while I was at work or out for the evening and sometimes taping a show while watching another. Now television is so bad that I'm lucky if there is one show on that I want to watch. If I got cable, I'd watch too much tv. I actually have more time to get things done now that tv isn't the draw it was, but that makes recording the good shows all that more important.

It's a big problem for me. But if some people can live with war and famine, I guess I can learn to live with this.

Thanks a lot!

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