My VCR's Left Channel Died

[moviebuff2]

Hello everyone:

My Mitsubishi VHS VCR's left channel does not work. I want to try to fix it before rushing out to buy a new one. Stand-alone (not combo) VCRs are hard to find nowadays, anyway.

Here's what I have done to test the VCR.

1) I played a stereo hi-fi tape, only the right channel could be heard, even though I set the audio to hi-fi and to L+R.

2) I switched the input selector to "tuner", the VCR received the left channel for a very brief moment (less than 5 seconds) then no more sound to the channel. But the right channel received full sound and stayed that way.

3) I switched the input selector to "line-in", and cranked the left channel volume to maximum. The VCR received sound signals on the left channel for a somewhat longer time (5 secs<X<10 secs). Then there was no more sound on the left channel. The right channel was fine.

Would someone tell me what may be the cause and how I could fix it?

Thanks

[TBoneit]

are you sure it is the VCR? Have you tested by swapping the left and right audio lines?

[jman98]

I suggest you consider not living in the 90s and give up your VCR and don't worry about this. Even my 71 year old father was persuaded to give up his VCR for a DVD recorder and he doesn't miss the VCR at all. Your VCR needs repair and it's one of those things where if you have to ask, you probably won't be able to do it yourself. The repair will probably cost more than it would cost you to buy another VCR. If you just MUST continue to live with this ancient technology, consider buying a replacement on Ebay where you might be able to find a used copy of the same model you have now at a good price. This kind of problem almost certainly will require a repair and it's not just a "twiddle a few knobs and it's fixed" kind of thing like you hope. TBoneit's suggestion is worth trying out, but most likely your VCR is just wearing it. It happens.

[Marvingj]

Sounds like tape path misalignment or worn heads. Either way shouldn't cost you no more than $25.00 to fix it or do it yourself. There are many professionals on VideoHelp.com who are a wizard in fixing Vcr problems. They probably can guide you through it.

[Bjs]

Vcr's ... how many you want ... the shops are still chokers with them here ... lol

Anyway : http://zeus.eed.usv.ro/misc/mirrors/cc/vcr.htm (most linked pics gone)

Run a quality head cleaner through it several times ... remove cover and clean pickup rollers .

Other than that , it sounds as though there's a short ... a capacitor is faulty and shop repair recommended , unless you posses the skills , knowledge , and tools to test and carry out the necessary repair .

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Vcr's may be out of date ... but they are still a very handy device to have laying about .

[moviebuff2]

Thanks for all the answers.

I did try to swap the channel connections. Nothing worked. Still dead left channel - I can tell because the VCR's left channel LED was completely dark, while the right LED was acting like a X-Mas light.

Cleaning head won't help since the left channel was dead even when no tape was being played.

I am still using my VCR (a Mitsubishi HS-421UR) because I have many tapes (vacations, graduations, and some tennis matches) that I want to transfer to DVDs. The machine costed me $700, 20 years ago. Well, 20 years x 365 days/year...so I spent approximately $.10 per day. No complaint.

I went to the local Fry's & Best Buy, Fry's had only one stand-alone VCR but it was an open-box item. Best Buy had nada. I asked a salesman at Best Buy, he gave me a look that somewhat agreed with jman98's comment. :P

I think I will just open the machine and see what I can do. I suspect the circuit board (or whatever board) is mal-functioning. That's why I would get a little bit of sound on the left channel for about 5 seconds before it died each time.

[redwudz]

Or if you don't mind mono, just pick up a Y adapter and use the working channel.

[kato51]

If it's not a simple fault like bad solder connection or short at the connector, it would be cheaper to replace the unit. I would look for a used one from place like craigslist. They usually go for $10 up.

[Bjs]

moviebuff2

so I spent approximately $.10 per day. No complaint

I agree with that one , when considering how many dvds have been played before users start getting weird problems with dvd players .

And if you shove a poor tape into a vcr , it dosent complain about it ... it just chews the crap out of it so you cant do that again ... lol

Still , considering many titles have never been released on dvd , they do provide value , esspecially those of us that do it for others for a reasonable fee , mines $15 per hour of film ... hell if I'll do that for free .

Last time it was 6 hours from a dog show ... by the end , my brain was offline .

----

Sounds like a component is overheating and has not completely died

Depending on where the fault is will also depend if other components along the chain have been affected or compromised .

Basic tools for fault tracking and repair :

A quality volt meter ... good units come with capacitor , diode , and other testing features
1x 25watt soldering iron with fine tip ... some come with solder ... handy
1x desoldering tool ... bulb type is handy
Gloves ... thick cotton or leather to prevent body making contact with live circuits
Internet connection - to check on schematics of chips found in unit ... helps when considering bypassing faults

Some of the older generation also included a basic diagram of the circuit and voltages .

Visually look over electrolytic capacitors (little metal cans) , for bulging / cracked tops , tar on top / side / bottom (can be difficult to see) , compare capacitor with one of same size and value for discolorization .

I have seen them with bottoms blown out , yet still work ... then quit until they cool down ... on my mates 6 year old motherboard ... parts easy to get ... and its been solid ever since .

Unit powered up ... be carefull going anywhere near transfomer connections .

Start tracking audio circuit from output connection using the volt meter , refer to manual setup that came with unit to set correct voltage setting ... if it is a capacitor ... make sure if it is a electrolytic type , to install it exactly as the old one had been removed ... they only work in one direction ... so dont put it in reverse .

Remove and replace after power removed from device .

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Dont worry about sales people , most wouldnt have a clue these days ... customer comes first , and if they cant supply it , take your money and go to their competitor ... who may treat you with more respect ... after all ... at the end of the day ... a sale is a sale in their books ... and thats the bussiness their in .

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As a note :

Just because a tool states it is designed for such work dose not guarantee it is ... been there .

Power to device was OFF at wall , safety light indicated power was off , had all safety gear on including gloves , started probing for fault with certified tool , got electrocuted (15 seconds , 240v x 25amps) , dropped tool when I realized something was not correct (tingling sensation up arm) ... safety circuit built into building failed to clamp ... took 8 liters of cokeacola plus 3 liters of ice cream to quench thirst .

Only thing that prevented a worse fate was the fact I was not grounded

Now we know why crap kept blowing up and why I got electrocuted (tool not designed for 3 phase power)... thats rite ... house was connected to phase 3 power line , not phase 1 ... local electrical authority aholes came 4 months later to fix fault after people further down the line complained about the lack of power .

Power bill dropped like a rock , but getting them to repay for everything that was damaged over this time took 18 months of legal crap ... we finally won ... got full refund plus legal costs .

There are other ways to get a warm fuzzy feeling ... lmgo

[lordsmurf]

Does the unit have the ability to select mono, HiFi, and individual channels? Maybe it was switched by accident.

[moviebuff2]

Hi Bjs:

Thanks for a detailed instruction. I will print it out for reference while I attempt to fix the problem. I suspect something wrong with the circuit board. The signals (left and right) get mixed up. I am not sure...but I think it's worth to open the machine to find out. The worst thing that can happen is that I accidentally kill the machine. But as I said, this machine has been with me for 20 years and I never had to have it repaired/serviced. I changed the belts, and cleaned & demagnatized the heads myself. The money was well spent.


lordsmurf:

The machine has 2 audio switches: one for normal audio with choices of L+R or SAP; the other for Hi-Fi stereo, Hi-Fi left, Hi-Fi right, and normal.

I set the normal audio switch to L+R. I also set the other switch to Hi-Fi stereo.

[skaterboii]

May I suggest just purchasing a DVD player or DVD Recorder, there's no room for VHS tapes anymore, its old & outdated technology with so many flaws & disadvantages, they are bulky & definitely not as versatile as DVD discs are. Even DVD is old now, take notice that HD DVD & Blu Ray are moving in on DVD.

[budz]

May I suggest just purchasing a DVD player or DVD Recorder, there's no room for VHS tapes anymore, its old & outdated technology with so many flaws & disadvantages, they are bulky & definitely not as versatile as DVD discs are. Even DVD is old now, take notice that HD DVD & Blu Ray are moving in on DVD.

Tell that to my mom who's a die hard fan of VHS tapes. I had to bid on a vcr on Ebay since she's so into dubbing tape to tape.

[lordsmurf]

May I suggest just purchasing a DVD player or DVD Recorder, there's no room for VHS tapes anymore, its old & outdated technology with so many flaws & disadvantages, they are bulky & definitely not as versatile as DVD discs are. Even DVD is old now, take notice that HD DVD & Blu Ray are moving in on DVD.

This is terrible advice.

Just because VHS tapes and VCRs are not the newest whiz-bang technology, it does not mean they are useless. If nothing more, a VCR is required to transfer existing VHS content to DVD. Sadly, a VHS tape still has the edge on convenience and reliability. At longer recording times (6+ hours on one piece of media), it even has an advantage on quality. S-VHS even moreso.

[TBoneit]

May I suggest just purchasing a DVD player or DVD Recorder, there's no room for VHS tapes anymore, its old & outdated technology with so many flaws & disadvantages, they are bulky & definitely not as versatile as DVD discs are. Even DVD is old now, take notice that HD DVD & Blu Ray are moving in on DVD.

Maybe if I had your money I could afford to throw out all the Videotapes I own and rebuy them all on DVD or HD-DVD/Blueray....

Oh wait, many of them have never been released on DVD let alone a HD media.

Since they won't look like HD from VHS and Beta even though I enjoy the content I should just chuck them? Sorry Content rules not whiz bang image quality and super fancy special effects.

So much these days seem to rely on special effects rather than having a good plot. As soon as I see a Advertisement touting the great special effects I know the movie is a dog.

Not to mention that DVDs and CDs are moistture resistant. Tha packageing isn't though.

OTOH VHS is more resistant to damage. break the tape and you can slplice it. Wrinkle it you can live with it or splice out the damage. Break the housing and you usually put the tape itself in another housing and so on. For durability and possibly longevity VHS. Ever have a DVD delaminate. oops it is dead. Flex a VHS it will probably still play or just need a new housing. Picture is good enough for many. That will change as more HDTV sets arrive in the home.

Teach My own mother to use a DVD recorder and edit, forget it. As is she's happy hitting stop at commercials and record when the show starts. VHS no problem. DVD recorder hmmm. I can hear it now why isn;t it one recording, What do you mean did I finalize and so on. I'd be spending my life editing and finalizing.

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone:

I just found out one of the main reasons why the local electronic stores like Fry's & Best Buy no longer carry stand-alone VCRs.

The stores told me that because by Feb 2009, all television channels in the USA would stop their analog broadcast to switch to digital one. Therefore, all of current stand-alone VCRs would become obsolete because they were only equipped with analog tuner.

Hm...imagine how many VCRs would be dumped...imagine how many analog television sets would be trashed...AND ALL OF THOSE TRASHES WOULD GO RIGHT INTO MOTHER EARTH'S ALREADY POLLUTED BODY.

Yeah, there are digital-to-analog converters. But poor consumers are still forced TO BUY either new VCRs, new TVs or the converters.

And all of those movie stars, politicians, and even PBS ARE CALLING PEOPLE TO SAVE THE EARTH???!!!

LOL

If these people really want to save the earth, they should broadcast their signals by both analog and digital means and let consumers choose to keep old things or to buy new things, instead of HAVING TO BUY (guess whose pockets will be filled!!!).

Just my 2 cents.

p.s.:

ouffffff.......somebody just told me those obsolete VCRs and TV sets were bio-degradable. :P

[budz]

TBoneit wrote:

Teach My own mother to use a DVD recorder and edit, forget it. As is she's happy hitting stop at commercials and record when the show starts. VHS no problem. DVD recorder hmmm. I can hear it now why isn;t it one recording, What do you mean did I finalize and so on. I'd be spending my life editing and finalizing.

I can totally relate to that. Which is why I bought 2 combo units a SONY & SAMSUNG DVD/VCR COMBO for my mother. Odd that SONY left out a S-VIDEO OUTPUT on their unit. I got the SAMSUNG unit since it's hackable for the dvd player. I also won a PANASONIC VCR for a few bucks! Of course my mother said maybe it's time for me to get a dvd recorder! My answer was uh huh then I went out and bought those 2 combo units!

[TBoneit]

You get one digital converter box and put it between the antenna and the VCR and then feed the VCR to the TV, Done.

OTOH I suspect that Cable and Satellite TV will be supplying Analog channel 3 or 4 from their boxes or cable basic well beyond the digital cutoff.

Can you imagine the advantage to whichever one still supported analog TVs if the other didn't?

BTW Dishnetwork or DircTV Satellite has always been All digital. It is the output from the box that is analog or HD

BTW did you ask these super knowledegable super salepeople what are you supposed to do with your VHS collection? There will be a demand for VHS players for quite a while. That is why if I ran across a New one at a reasonable price I'd buy it, test it and then put it in storage til needed.