NV-FS200 Belt gone

[Fisher56]

Can anyone advise me please.
I have a Panasonic NV-FS200 which was working up to a couple of years ago. I've always looked after it but now I suspect the belt has gone.
I'm not a technician and would like to know if it can be fixed and if it's worthwhile.
I do have othe VHS players which I can use and wonder if it's worth the expense of getting it fixed?
Thanks

[johnmeyer]

Belt and tire replacements require less skill and knowledge than de-soldering and soldering, and there is usually no troubleshooting because the belt is usually either really loose, cracked, or hard. If you do it yourself you need to be comfortable with disassembling and then reassembling certain sub-assemblies.

It's getting harder to find belts, but Projector Belts, Turntable & Needles, and L&M Electronics may still have what you need. If you can't find a cross-reference, you'll need to measure the belt itself, noting whether it is square, round, or flat. Order something a little smaller because the old one will have stretched.

[Fisher56]

Thanks for your reply. I've now had the bottom of the unit and can see that the belt is still working. Something else is jammed and making a funny noise.
If you have the time do look at the videos I've posted on the links below.
Thanks.
Don't if it is worthgetting fixed. Do they sell at all?

Video link
https://youtube.com/shorts/iA8WjMMKIsU

Filename
DLZW3651.MP4

[ozymango]

Hi, Fisher56. The Panasonic NV-FS200 looks like a sweet deck -- when it's working -- but frankly I'd personally be wary about putting any money into fixing it, unless you *really* like this deck and it was working great before, but now *maybe* a belt or something had dried out and it'll be a reasonably affordable fix. But even in the good old days when people worked on videocassette recorders, they were trained professionals and they had a lot of current tools and parts to work with, and the machines weren't that old, and still VRC repair wasn't cheap. Factor in that today that deck is ancient, nobody makes parts for it, and all the technicians are either really old fogies (like me!) who don't want to hassle with it, or they're younger people who might do this out of love for old machines -- but will still have to charge your $$$ for their time and effort.

And then you fix as much as you can on the machine -- and something else breaks next month @$#@!!!

Again I'm not terribly familiar with Panasonic VCRs, except the very vintage VHS editing machines, I've got a few JVC SVHS decks I use for transferring and treat them with kid gloves between uses, and if one of them goes out, I'll probably just offer it for sale on ebay to somebody who has the time/interest/$$$ to fix it. Or make it into a nice doorstop.

Are you in the USA? If not, then I have absolutely no clue whom to ask about repair service for a deck like this. If you're in the USA, though, you can contact AVR Repair in Florida and see if they're able to work on this deck or not. Good luck! https://avrepair.com/contact/index.htm

[Fisher56]

Thanks for the time and effort in replying to my post.
I tend to agree with you.
It's only that I've had such good use over the years with the VCR and it was VERY expensive when I bought it in 1994.
I've now found out it's not the belt and probably something which I can't fix anyway. As you say, technicians are thin on the ground especially here on the Isle of Wight.
I'll put it up on eBay for parts then failing that, it the tip sadly.

[ozymango]

I know the feeling, I was a big Beta fan in the old days, and I spent I think around $800 US for a really nice Beta deck way back in 1995, when $800 was a lot of money. I had it for many years, and one day it just died, and I was scouring the internet for help (back when the internet was pretty limited) and I did find there was a group of people who were also crazy about Beta decks, and the model I had was very popular among Beta repair people. That is, these guys were really familiar with the decks so they could fix certain issues pretty easily, and otherwise use the deck for parts. Anyway, I put it on ebay as a "no reserve" auction, I took lots of pix and showed the VCR from every angle, described as best I could the issues I had, and the bidding on my broken deck was wild! It finally sold for around $300, which I thought was freaking amazing. The guy who got it wrote me back a few weeks later to say that he'd gotten the deck working again, and he thought he got a great deal, and thanked me for selling it, and I told him, "Hey, just glad to see it's still working out there."

So who knows, there may be a happy(ish) ending to your Panasonic's story!

[Fisher56]

Thanks for the anecdote. I'll certainly give a try. I'd be happy if someone else can get something out of it rather than just tipping it. Seems a waste.