Deter's AG-1980 Repair Service

[Deter]

johnmeyer,

When I first started this my eyes were good and trained myself to find errors in the picture so I could pick up on the mistakes really fast. This was learned and not trained. Overtime because I was getting so detailed I had to stop and say this is as good as it gets and I am not going any further.

At the same time it is like you have a knee injury that plagues you everyday and over time you tend not to notice it but your still in pain. That is how the errors slip in. It is a really hard balance. However when the error is the VCR itself and all the work you did is now trash because you finally got a fully working AG-1980 and look back at you original work, now you have to re-do everything.

Over the last 6 months I ran through maybe 12 I-Phone's. Is the problem me? I find all the faults. The I-phone 15 in many areas outperforms the I-Phone 15 Pro.

Watched hours of reviews on YouTube what they are looking at and what I am getting is two different things.

When the lighting is bad at dusk the I-Phones have a hard time focusing and it goes out of focus and the picture jumps. A few years ago I ran in to a software glitch which caused the phone to glitch all over the place.

It may be a few weeks before I look at my videos that I record so I don't know about camera faults and the ones I recorded at noon are perfect and I see the ones at dusk. I am like OMG this is trash. Not only is it trash because I never checked them I ended up recording a month of trashed junked videos that are just going to be deleted.

Last year I had a dirty lens and didn't know this for a month.

On the AG-1970's there is a small surface mount board which is made out of glass, trying to heat or replace capacitors on this, is very hard. No matter how good you are. There is a very good chance this board gets wrecked and the only way you are getting a replacement is another unit.

As I said my eyes are getting bad and I am not a jeweler with one of those magnifying eyeglasses.

We are over 10 years in to this and it is now kind of a method, pull the boards fix them, rebuild the Y/C card, look for cracks in the boards than calibrate the colors to a standard broadcast signal. Finally try to fix all the little things and issues in the loading bay.

[johnmeyer]

I know what you mean about finding defects that you had previously overlooked and then having to rip out all the knitting and start over. I'm just now heading back into the shop to do a touchup to a Braun alarm clock I finally got working after 10+ years sitting on the side of my bench. I found out that I had forgotten to calibrate the alarm indicator hand, so while the alarm now works, you can't set it correctly.

I also know what it is like to have the eyes degrade. I was blessed with amazing vision but now, at age 72, it is shot. I use one of those big lighted magnifiers mounted on a flexible stand, and while it helps, it also gets in the way when I have to get a tool in at a specific angle. I have four sets of glasses that I keep changing, depending on distance to the work.

I do own a jeweler's loupe and it is exceptional for working on watches, but it has too much magnification and you have to work really close to the part, so it is not an option for most work.

[Markzhen]

Hello Deter, I would just like to introduce myself since I’m new to this forum. From your previous posting, I think you’re doing God‘s work in keeping the spirit of the AG-1980 alive despite all the challenges in doing so. Once I’m approved to DM you would like to be in the queue for one of the last slots in your repair services for the AG-1980. I can’t believe your commitment to this since I traced back all the posts from many years ago and you’re still around. Hope to contact you soon.

[DaveCave]

Hey, I guess you can fix AG-1970s as well. I have been using mine for 30 years and the only thing wrong is that the power supply gets warm and will stop working. I haven't heard problems with these compared with 1980s. What are your thoughts?

[Deter]

My thoughts are after 30 years I am willing to bet your AG-1970 does not run properly. You can just do a simple test and press play and press stop over and over and just watch how the color levels dramatically changes and same with turning the TBC on and off. The tighter the color levels the better the work that was done to the machine and since nothing has been done to your machine the levels will be off.

Other than this glass board in the AG-1970 and the Y/C card it is a similar to the AG-1980. The power supply for the most part in the AG units are pretty good but again it is this glass board that if one starts messing with well it is easy to crack and you have a 50/50 success rate on the job itself.

PS I am closing up shop for the rest of 2025 more than likely and no longer accepting any more repair jobs.


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[DaveCave]

Hey, thanks for that reply. I will test it and see what you are talking about. I havent noticed it before.. but, still, I would love for somebody to give it a look over and have it reset. You say you are not doing anymore repairs? Could you reconsider? I am in Connecticut. How far are you? It is so hard to find people to do this stuff...

[DavidEAnderson]

Deter, I’m new here. I have a Panasonic AG-1980P (and a NIB AG-A96 controller set) that I very much want to put back into hobbyist service. I understand you are the best. I can’t send DM’s yet, but I am trying to reach you to discuss and hopefully schedule the 1980 for your magic. I could ship tomorrow without hesitation. What do i do next?

[DavidEAnderson]

Deter, I’ll gladly pay a premium to you lol. I’ve been in my line of work for 30+ years myself, so I may understand. But … please?

[DANACREW]

just fired up my two 1908s and getting a lot of bad color and lines on both. Displays in both are also very dim Found this thread and am wondering in DETER still working on these?

[Deter]

Yeah they need some major repairs however my shop is closed until November.

[M7757]

Hello, I’m fairly new to this whole VCR restoration scene. I came across your thread post and I am interested in getting a Panasonic AG 1980 P fully restored it already works. I have noticed though even after cleaning the head and doing basic cleaning on the heads, there is still some artifacts that ripple, and there is a consistent strip at the bottom that is fuzzy. I tried reaching out sending you a message but because my account is so new it’s not letting me. I hope that I can get a hold of you. I am really trying to get this thing fully restored. Please reach out to me. I am very interested in sending this over and getting it worked on👍🏻