| 7N7 |
I posted this by mistake in another of the Fora.
Two years ago I bought a Sharp VTR. "Six heads, Nicam stereo" etc., it boasted.
I hardly ever watch TV, and bought the machine to record Grands Prix; this it did perfectly satisfactorily.
recently I acquired some pre-recorded tapes; it refused to play any of them. After fiddling with the thing, taking advice and fiddling some more, I decided that it was obviously useless rubbish. I took it into my kitchen and smashed it to smithereens with a four-pound club hammer. Very easy to smash except for the drum thingy. This required several blows before the top came off revealing a lot of little coils of wire - very interesting, so I smashed those up as well. :devilr: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Here's the message I have sent to SHARP (Blunt??):
This is actually a rant. I bought the above VTR about two years ago.
Furious that it will not play a pre-recorded tape - ANY tape- except those recorded on it, I have just, 10 minutes ago, entirely demolished it with a four-pound hammer.
It is now in my dustbin, together with the instructions that promised years of trouble-free service.
Tomorrow I shall buy a new one. I am sure that you will understand when I say that the new one will not have "Sharp" on the front of it.
Yours &c:
7N7
__________________
Plug them in and light them up |
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| dhaen |
Though the're cheaply built, they're no worse than many others.
Presumably you has a format fault. This can sometimes ocur when a tape guide adjustment comes loose and allows the guide to unscrew to another position.
The coils of wire were either from the brushless drum motor, or the rotary transformer.
I suppose it's too late for talking you through the alignment procedure?:scratch: :rolleyes:
Cheers, |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by dhaen
Though the're cheaply built, they're no worse than many others.
Presumably you has a format fault. This can sometimes ocur when a tape guide adjustment comes loose and allows the guide to unscrew to another position.
The coils of wire were either from the brushless drum motor, or the rotary transformer.
I suppose it's too late for talking you through the alignment procedure?:scratch: :rolleyes:
Cheers, |
Yes, at the hi-fi circle meeting, it was explained to me what steps to take; unfortunately, they did not work.
The instruction book boasted amongst other things, that there ws an automatic tracking system (please don't explain!!). It was however an admission of defeat in my view that the makers added words to the effect that: "If, however there is still disturbance, etc." Unbelievably two small buttons were provided on the handset; these with supreme Japanese logic were marked "Channel"! Needless to say depressing these had no noticeable effect on the blurred and jumbled-up picture - except perhaps to provide a different class of jumbledness.
The useless pile of junk had never once properly played a pre-recorded tape; unfortunately I discovered this after it was out of guarantee. Everyone I know who has a VTR, simply plugs in a tape and settles down to watch and hopefully, enjoy the recording - and to this day I have never seen anybody adjust anything
One bloke said that he had had his machine for 19 years and that it still worked perferctly.
I think that it is outrageous that such rubbish should be sold - especially to me..
The problem is that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in learning about VTRs - I am very angry because I was so looking forward to enjoying the tapes that I had purchased.
I am now even angrier, because I think it likely that those that I recorded on the hopeless SHARP machine are probably unplayable on anything else.
As for alignment, there is no-one in the galaxy who could make that contraption work now - I have made absolutely certain of that! After all it didn't work before I smashed it up!
Best wishes
7N7 |
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| Tube_Dude |
Hi 7N7!!!
Maybe you can recycle some metal film resistors...and some capacitors...;) |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Tube_Dude
Hi 7N7!!!
Maybe you can recycle some metal film resistors...and some capacitors...;) |
'Fraid not; flattening the el cheapo electrolytics was one of the few pleasures I have had out of the beastly thing!
7N7 |
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| Tube_Dude |
| quote: | Originally posted by 7N7
'Fraid not; flattening the el cheapo electrolytics was one of the few pleasures I have had out of the beastly thing!
7N7 |
Specially the Philips VTRs are full of MR 30 metal film resistors(the green ones)...but is a pain to desolder and pick up them all...only the love to Diy,can overcome the dificulty...;)
Cheers |
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| mrfeedback |
| quote: | | It was however an admission of defeat in my view that the makers added words to the effect that: "If, however there is still disturbance, etc." |
The manual tracking control is to allow adjustment for damaged tapes.
With good condition tapes Auto-tracking works perfectly fine.| quote: | | recently I acquired some pre-recorded tapes; it refused to play any of them. After fiddling with the thing, taking advice and fiddling some more, I decided that it was obviously useless rubbish. I took it into my kitchen and smashed it to smithereens with a four-pound club hammer. |
I hope for their sakes that none of your children, spouse or pets ever happen to **** on the carpet....
With your level of technical knowledge it is very likely that you screwed up what could have been quite easily fixed.| quote: | | Here's the message I have sent to SHARP (Blunt??): |
They would have just laughed at you.
It seems that you need professional help just as much as you now need a new VCR.| quote: | | The useless pile of junk had never once properly played a pre-recorded tape; unfortunately I discovered this after it was out of guarantee. |
12 months is plenty of time to try playing a pre-recorded tape.
If you had contacted the regional service manager and said that it has done only 50 hours of tape operation, and asked very nicely, you might have still gotten a warranty service.| quote: | | I think that it is outrageous that such rubbish should be sold - especially to me.. |
The manufacturers do try to make them so that simpletons can operate them.
I guess they did not count on you in their market researching.| quote: | | I am now even angrier, because I think it likely that those that I recorded on the hopeless SHARP machine are probably unplayable on anything else. |
Ha, sucked in - you should have thought about that in the first case, shouldn't you ?.
The only thing that can make you angry is YOU - no body, no thing, nothing except YOU.
You might like to keep that in mind next time you get behind the wheel of a motor car.| quote: | | As for alignment, there is no-one in the galaxy who could make that contraption work now - I have made absolutely certain of that! After all it didn't work before I smashed it up! |
I fix these things for a living, and my profile says so.
I have helped other members with servicing issues and you could have asked.
It is very likely that three or four posts would have cured your problems - you now have only one problem - that is for yourself to cure.
Eric. |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by mrfeedback
The manual tracking control is to allow adjustment for damaged tapes.
With good condition tapes Auto-tracking works perfectly fine.
I hope for their sakes that none of your children, spouse or pets ever happen to **** on the carpet....
With your level of technical knowledge it is very likely that you screwed up what could have been quite easily fixed.
They would have just laughed at you.
It seems that you need professional help just as much as you now need a new VCR.
12 months is plenty of time to try playing a pre-recorded tape.
If you had contacted the regional service manager and said that it has done only 50 hours of tape operation, and asked very nicely, you might have still gotten a warranty service.
The manufacturers do try to make them so that simpletons can operate them.
I guess they did not count on you in their market researching.
Ha, sucked in - you should have thought about that in the first case, shouldn't you ?.
The only thing that can make you angry is YOU - no body, no thing, nothing except YOU.
You might like to keep that in mind next time you get behind the wheel of a motor car.
I fix these things for a living, and my profile says so.
I have helped other members with servicing issues and you could have asked.
It is very likely that three or four posts would have cured your problems - you now have only one problem - that is for yourself to cure.
Eric. |
Thank you for your lack of sympathy; there was supposed to to be an element of black humour present in my part; a little subtle for your puritanical mind perhaps.
And I made it quite clear that technical knowledge regarding VTRs is something to which I have no aspiration.
Thank God I have no "spouse, pets or children" if "**** on the carpet" is what they do.
The comment about simpletons is rude and unnecessary.
Automatic tracking did NOT WORK IN THIS CASE.
Additionally I have made it clear that I want simply to plug in a tape and watch the contents. Perhaps you prefer to spend an hour beforehand with £100,000 worth of alignment equipment - not for simpletons eh?
Your comment about driving is stupid and ignorant; you have no knowledge about anything concerning me and motoring so until you do, I suggest that you shut your trap.
7N7 |
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| Brett |
7N7,
As someone who was once sacked for destroying a work computer in much the same way, your post brought a smile.
I can sympathise wrt the cheap-**** build quality of lots of consumer electronics. I have a 2yo Sony hifi VCR which I only ever use for watching rented or purchesed pre-recorded tapes, and it's OK, but nothing special. For the (nowadays) rare time-shift recording I do, I use my old Sony SLHF100 Beta Hifi, which is built like a Mercedes, and hasn't given any trouble since I bought it in 85 or 86. I have tons of Sony Beta tapes NIB to use with it too.
Concumer electronics I veiw now as consumable items, and pay as little as I can for what seems the best made, and hope it lasts a while.
Cheers |
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| mrfeedback |
Why are you smashing up saucers, Rick? Your prints on 'em? I know just how you feel, man, y'dig? Sometimes saucers used to make me pretty angry too. Yeah, there's a lotta heads buried at the bottom of the garden because of a saucer in the works.
Mike, In The Young Ones.
Eric. |
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| 316a |
there's far better quotes than that in the Young Ones ! I can sympathise with 7N7 , most modern TV/video equipment is complete **** . I once had a British made Ferguson VCR purchased new in 1986 , it worked perfectly until 2001 when the head became worn out , I doubt anything these days would make it past a few years . The good thing about the **** these days is the price . I can buy a Nicam VCR for forty pounds in Woolworths , who needs TV repairmen anymore ?
316a |
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| mrfeedback |
| quote: | | The comment about simpletons is rude and unnecessary. |
This too I suppose.... |
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| Nicwix |
mrfeedback
To be pedantic and contribute to this silly thread, I would just like to point out that it's "its idiot", rather than "it's idiot".
All the best :clown:
Nic |
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| mrfeedback |
LOL. Thanks.
Eric. |
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| Nicwix |
I really had to think about those itses ...
Cheers :nod: |
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| Nicwix |
Actually the bit I liked best was ...| quote: | | Originally posted by dhaen I suppose it's too late for talking you through the alignment procedure? |
Seriously, I have a Sony VCR with a similar problem - this one does play prerecorded tapes, but the sound is hopeless. 7N7, perhaps you should avoid all equipment starting with "S" ...
Anyway, hasn't everyone gone DVD now? I just bought a second cheapo DVD player (A$100) for the kids and it's (!!!) every bit as good as my expensive Harman Kardon DVD1.
Have a good day ... |
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| 7N7 |
To those of your who offered understanding and sympathy, many thanks.
To the rest of you: Nuts (and by that I do NOT mean "nut's)
7N7 |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nicwix
Actually the bit I liked best was ...
Seriously, I have a Sony VCR with a similar problem - this one does play prerecorded tapes, but the sound is hopeless. 7N7, perhaps you should avoid all equipment starting with "S" ...
Anyway, hasn't everyone gone DVD now? I just bought a second cheapo DVD player (A$100) for the kids and it's (!!!) every bit as good as my expensive Harman Kardon DVD1.
Have a good day ... |
Thanks; DVDs can be had very cheaply now; perhaps I'll try one - it can't be worse than the new el cheapo VCR I have stupidly purchased!
7N7 |
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| JOE DIRT® |
LOL...the grocery store I go to sells DVD players for 89 CAN....I laugh when I see them because about a year and a half ago I decided to splurge and buy one....nice unit...paid 300 for it....then I proceeded to go to my local vidieo rental places......I saw nothing I wanted to rent or Buy for that matter as I have Satellite and get everything already......so I packed it up and brought it back to the store and got my money back....I decided in the end since I had this money burning a hole in my pocket.....so I bought another Dish and now have 4 tv`s and 2 comps receiving satellite...thats my rant..LOL
Cheers!!The DIRT® |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by JOE DIRT®
LOL...the grocery store I go to sells DVD players for 89 CAN....I laugh when I see them because about a year and a half ago I decided to splurge and buy one....nice unit...paid 300 for it....then I proceeded to go to my local vidieo rental places......I saw nothing I wanted to rent or Buy for that matter as I have Satellite and get everything already......so I packed it up and brought it back to the store and got my money back....I decided in the end since I had this money burning a hole in my pocket.....so I bought another Dish and now have 4 tv`s and 2 comps receiving satellite...thats my rant..LOL
Cheers!!The DIRT® |
Honestly I admire your good sense. the whole bloody thing started because I bought some tapes of 1950s motor racing and was totally ****ed off when they wouldn't work.
the suppliers of the tapes have now received a rocket too.
7N7 |
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| Duo |
Hmm, interesting thread!!!
i have had many past experiences with garbade equipment in the past and present; And atomized my share of junk.
7N7: I can really reflect upon your problems with that VCR. Companies are beginning to sell awful stuff these days.
I prefer to build most of my own equipment because I can't afford to buy anything that's really as solid and reliable as I need. I also can't seem to find anything good for sale in the local stores anyway. |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Duo
Hmm, interesting thread!!!
i have had many past experiences with garbade equipment in the past and present; And atomized my share of junk.
7N7: I can really reflect upon your problems with that VCR. Companies are beginning to sell awful stuff these days.
I prefer to build most of my own equipment because I can't afford to buy anything that's really as solid and reliable as I need. I also can't seem to find anything good for sale in the local stores anyway. |
Again, many thanks for your sympathy; I am interested to learn that I am not the only one who has decided "enough is enough"!
7N7 |
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| Duo |
Oh, believe me, there are very many people who've gone through the same disgusting problem as you.
I have little respect for the modern electronics market. |
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| kelticwizard |
| quote: | Originally posted by 7N7
Honestly I admire your good sense. the whole bloody thing started because I bought some tapes of 1950s motor racing and was totally ****ed off when they wouldn't work.
the suppliers of the tapes have now received a rocket too. |
I would think that those tapes you bought therefore all came from one company.
Err, you did find that those racing tapes played OK on your new VTR, right?
It would be a hell of thing to find that after going through all this grief, it turned out to be a series of bad video tapes after all! :bawling: |
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| Duo |
| Yeah, that's definitely true. |
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| Sawzall |
(the makers of mid market equipment). Imagine the marketforces they must face. Take the DVD players..
I have seen players in the discount stores for $49. Thats almost a cheap as the movies !. If the old rule of thumb about cost of goods being 1/5 of retail price, then they have $10 on the budget. Hell, even if its 50/50, that still is only $25. Somehow, they make a profit from it..which even with slave labor it must be hard.
Your high end guy is selling name, last 2% of performance,etc. Not basic features.
The middle market guy selling a $250 player still only has $50 with which to build it. Sure its doubling, but it is not much money. The consumer expects a bunch more when the reality is that the consumer pretty much refuses to pay for it.
I just bought one of the XM PCR's. A satellite reciever for your computer. Includes a LNB antenna. $69 dollars. XM is funding those by about $100. So its total real cost is $170. Stunning. (and yes, as a second generation device, it works better than more expensive first generation equipment. Third generation is due out for Xmas. One can only imagine what it will do. ) Thats a lot of performance for not much money (from a satellite engineering point of view, its amazing.)
We now treat cell phones the same way, at least here in the States. I bought a new Motorola a couple of weeks ago. I have the cheapest account, without a contract, so I paid mostly the true cost of it. $80. And if it breaks, you throw it away and get another. Even if you wanted to fix it you couldn't. If you find a dead one, open it up. *******g amazing. |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by kelticwizard
I would think that those tapes you bought therefore all came from one company.
Err, you did find that those racing tapes played OK on your new VTR, right?
It would be a hell of thing to find that after going through all this grief, it turned out to be a series of bad video tapes after all! :bawling: |
Ha-ha! Guess what? they did NOT play on the new machine either, but then it's even cheaper and crappier than the one I smashed up. In fact the old machine is begging to look relatively good. However, at least on the new one there are buttons marked "tracking" - quite intelligebt abd original I thought - Sharp called them "channel".
I thought I had three pre-recorded tapes (two from one source) all of which refused to play. I then found that I had a fourth (from the same source as the third tape) This played OK - I wouldn't say perfectly.
I have therefore sent a rocket to the tape suppliers.
The truth is that I watch very little TV; this is why I never really knew that the old VCR was good or not.
As I have said elsewhere it was sheer frustration. Countless times, I have visited friends who have said "Let's get a take-away and watch a video." So they plug in a tape and hey presto! it plays. No fiddling, no adjustments.
Perhaps it's just my paranoia!
I am sympathetic to the point made in another post where the pressures on manufacturers are pointed out. However as far as VCRs are concerned, I want to be able to play a tape; that's it.
I think that the VCR is a useless idea really - only any good if the consumer is prepared to pay for Nagra precision and if the cassette makers are prepared to improve dramatically. A video-cassette is one of the cheapest and nastiest products I have ever seen.
My mobile phone has piles of stupid features that are completely irrelevant to the business of making a telephone call - which is ALL I want to do. I suppose that by adding rubbish such as games etc., the makers hope to sell us the idea that we are getting value. I would rather have a battery that lasted longer!
7N7 |
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| MadMax |
HERE Here to that I would prefer a better battery as well, my pet hate re vcrs is my philips its been lucky I dont own a 4 pound hammer.
Cheers Max |
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| kelticwizard |
I realize this whole thread is not meant to be taken completely serously, but I just came up with a horrifying thought. Anti-copying protection and TV compatibility.
I realize that America and Europe, (including Britain, I understand there is some debate about that over there, LOL), use different TV systems, so maybe this is not particulary relevant. But when VCR's first started becoming popular in the early 1980's, a lot of consumers over here found that they could not play prerecorded tapes on TV's made during the seventies! The anti-copying protection put on the prerecorded tapes caused severe interference. This was in the era before the elaborate home entertainment center, and many a home just had the big 25 inch console, made only a few years before in the seventies, as the focal point of the living room.
To my knowledge, nothing was really done about it. The problem resolved itself as the playing life of many a perfectly good console TV was shortened considerably as the owners simply bought new TV's that fit in better with VCR's. It should be noted that the incompatible TV's in question rarely had the yellow-red-white three cable system, and instead relied on the 300 ohm lead to hook up to the VCR.
Of course, since the same companiies that made VCR's also made TV's, there was little incentive for the TV manufactuers to fix a problem that resulted in the purchase of many new television sets.
For what it is worth, if the racing tapes play badly on the new VCR, and you really like those tapes, you can get a sync generator over the web that gets around the problem by generating the very part of the signal that the anti copyright system attacks. They work very well. A friend used one to make copies of several tapes on occupational diseases from a special library that only lent the tapes for a certain period of time. I think it cost him about fifty bucks, it might be lower now. I don't know if they have those TV system other than American-I would think they would.
It may or may not be worth a search on the computer. It all depends on how much you want to have those motor racing tapes play well. |
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| 7N7 |
Well now I feel guilty and ashamed. I received the following reply from Sharp:
Thank you for your e-mail.
Please accept our apologies for the problems that you encountered with your Sharp VCR.
When a product develops a fault, we usually refer a customer to their nearest Sharp approved service centre. Sharp approved centres can liase with our technical team if necessary and will usually have a unit repaired in a few days.
Given that your unit was only 2 years old, we may have been able to provide you with some assistance, e.g. we could have provided any necessary parts at a discounted rate.
Once again, please accept our apologies for the difficulties you experienced.
******************************************
My reply to this read:
Many thanks for your polite and indeed, courteous message.
*******************************************
No doubt the "repairs" would probably have cost more than a new machine anyway.
As for the tapes I have had a message form the tape people that says that they will send replacements.
Call me naive, but does everyone else have all this grief?
I cannot get away from the the idea that a domestic appliance should be simple to operate (much simpler that all the valve amplifiers that I have built, but which nonetheless work properly).
7N7 |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by MadMax
HERE Here to that I would prefer a better battery as well, my pet hate re vcrs is my philips its been lucky I dont own a 4 pound hammer.
Cheers Max |
:)
7N7 |
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| JOE DIRT® |
| in reference to what Keltic said....there is a AGC trimmer pot on the vcr board and most of the time it can be adjusted to view alot of earlier recorded tapes |
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| ShiFtY |
Mate, we've all smashed up stuff in a fit of rage, said stupid things etc.
Its part of being human, you are allowed to be irrational and angry from time to time! :D
I bet there was a great deal of satisfaction in beating the snot out of that VCR. Don't feel guilty. |
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| Brett D. |
We have all been there and done that. I had my last PC for some
7 odd years and it got to the point where I got so fed up with it
that one day I just hauled off and slugged the Tower. It was
laughable because when I did the picture went crazy on the
monitor and the Tower began howling (knocked the CPU Fan off
onto a card below...
I then opened the window (20' to the ground) and threw the
Tower and the Monitor out.. and went *Whew*. I was finaly rid
of that piece of trash. I went out and bought a new one..
Sure I probably could have donated it to GoodWill... But it was
much more amusing to knock its innards loose!
I guess I shouldn't ever get married or have children either... I
may be dangerous because I belted an inanimate object!
Someone call the police! :eek: |
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| 7N7 |
| quote: | Originally posted by ShiFtY
Its part of being human, you are allowed to be irrational and angry from time to time! :D
I bet there was a great deal of satisfaction in beating the snot out of that VCR. Don't feel guilty. |
Thanks for that.
As for the satisfaction, yes there was - but it could have lasted a little longer :devilr: (always a problem!!!)
7N7 |
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