Revive a Sony SLV-R1000?

[Zeigh]

Hello,

I have a 15 year old Sony SLV-R1000 VHS/SVHS unit that is failing to output a picture of any quality. From the initial looks of it, I would say that the video heads are trashed, as there are mostly black/white vertical lines with a barely distinguishable view of the picture when in pause only. This has been tried on multiple outputs of the unit, monitors, cables, and tapes. Otherwise, the all tracking adjustments just shows a blue screen.

This was a great workhorse in it's day. I really just need to bring her back from the pasture for one more big project. Is it worth it to repair? If so, any suggestions on what to look for in the troubleshooting? If not, what is a good replacement? It seems like ANY of the VHS/SVHS unit links for sale are dead or way overpriced.


“Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” (Albert Einstein, 1941),
Dr. Z.

[JohnMichael]

Hello,

I have a 15 year old Sony SLV-R1000 VHS/SVHS unit that is failing to output a picture of any quality. From the initial looks of it, I would say that the video heads are trashed, as there are mostly black/white vertical lines with a barely distinguishable view of the picture when in pause only. This has been tried on multiple outputs of the unit, monitors, cables, and tapes. Otherwise, the all tracking adjustments just shows a blue screen.

This was a great workhorse in it's day. I really just need to bring her back from the pasture for one more big project. Is it worth it to repair? If so, any suggestions on what to look for in the troubleshooting? If not, what is a good replacement? It seems like ANY of the VHS/SVHS unit links for sale are dead or way overpriced.


“Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” (Albert Einstein, 1941),
Dr. Z.



In the old days they used to demagnatize the heads. I wonder if the heads have become too saturated to record and playback properly. Juat a thought.

[poppachubby]

No. No.

[Ed_in_Tx]

Hello,

I have a 15 year old Sony SLV-R1000 VHS/SVHS unit that is failing to output a picture of any quality. From the initial looks of it, I would say that the video heads are trashed, as there are mostly black/white vertical lines with a barely distinguishable view of the picture when in pause only. This has been tried on multiple outputs of the unit, monitors, cables, and tapes. Otherwise, the all tracking adjustments just shows a blue screen.

This was a great workhorse in it's day. I really just need to bring her back from the pasture for one more big project. Is it worth it to repair? If so, any suggestions on what to look for in the troubleshooting? If not, what is a good replacement? It seems like ANY of the VHS/SVHS unit links for sale are dead or way overpriced.


“Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” (Albert Einstein, 1941),
Dr. Z.

I have worked on many of those in my past 27 years as a technician at an authorized service center for Sony as well as about 20 other brands.

Most likely the loading arm that pulls the tape out of the cassette up to the audio-control head is seized on its pivot bearing. Has to be taken apart, clean the old grease off that has hardened, re-lub and reassemble, and realign the tape path because the little nut that has to be removed to take it apart also sets the height of the arm which is also an exit tape guide.

Second most likely problem is, the takeup side loading gear on the bottom of the deck has split in two and has to be replaced. When that happens, the takeup guide base roller assy do not wrap the tape up around the head cylinder. This is a fairly major repair I would not recommend a novice attempting.

Beautiful machines otherwise! Very rarely ever have any electronic problems.