VCR worked for a while, now won't play?

[SkC1998]

So I recently bought this Schneider SVC-216 VCR. It says it supports 60Hz, and has a few interesting features.

I concluded it's a Philips rebadge (the deck says it's from a VR120 according to Google) and also from using my phone as a Philips remote (Note 4, has IR sensor)

Anyways. I have a set of tapes I originally recorded with a Bush VCR (that later died in its life), and want to reuse them. They're in quite good shape (no mould on them) and haven't seen a lot of use.

At first, the VCR was running fine, and played tapes without too much problems (bar a few tracking lines every now and then) but for some reason, it first began to play a few seconds then enter that kind of shutdown sequence in which it would eject the tape then turn off, and now it simply won't spin the tape inside when I press play. Strangely, rewind works, and is the only command I can do while trying to play the tape. Fast forward won't move the picture.

Nearly the same happens if I try to rewind or fast forward the tape without playing it - it will spin the tape for a few seconds, then proceed to shutdown.

Any help as to what I can do? I really need this VCR and am willing to go to the depths of it to fix it.

[SkC1998]

I also have uploaded here two videos.

The first is somewhere after the image started deteriorating and before the problems in playing began (I just stretched it in Vegas, but other than that it's the original capture).

The second is what happens now when I try to play any tape. I should mention that shortly after the image disappears the VCR started the shutdown process.

[lordsmurf]

That's a really lousy VCR.
The lowest of the low-end VCRs.
If using that for transfer, your transfers will look worse than the original tapes.

[SkC1998]

It's the VHS feel I look for, so that wouldn't really bother me, as long as the picture is at least stable.

I'm looking to tape modern shows and then transfer them to tape, to give them that old feel.

Still, what can I do about the machine? I'd at least want to bring it to play tapes again.

[hech54]

Buy one off of Ebay. Germany is FULL of quality VCRs(compared to many other countries).

[SkC1998]

I'd rather try and fix the one I have. I have disassembled it but did not notice nothing out of the ordinary.

Should I go about cleaning the drum motor and heads?

[hech54]

Should I go about cleaning the drum motor and heads?

The tapes will eject cleaner.

[amaipaipai]

Many of this old VCR's require a "recap", recap means, you have to replace all the old electrolytic capacitors, why?
Inside the electrolytic capacitor there is a paper moisted with a chemical named electrolyte, that's why they call this component "wet capacitor", over time this chemical dry out and you have to replace it, this wet capacitors have a life span up to 10 years (15 years at best), after this period as the chemical start to dry out the capacitance decreases, the internal resistance increases, the component start to heat up, internal pressure start to increase leading to a leakage, as this parts start to leak, the electrolyte in contact with copper, start a process of deterioration.

The power supply has controls that monitor power consumption to protect internal circuits, overheating, etc. Since this parts are old and are deteriorating over time, this controls detects a power consumption over the threshold they are set to work with and this overload enables a internal protection that shut the circuit down and eject the tape.

That been said, next thing you have to consider is, does it worth to fix this?
A proper recap is not cheap, you have to disassemble the whole thing, take all PCB's contaminated with electrolyte out, preheat the board in a oven, remove all the old capacitors, do a chemical bath with isopropyl alcohol inside a ultrasonic cleaning machine / tank to decontaminate the board, this thank need to have a temperature control and fluid flow control to wash it out any residuals and dry the board out in a oven.

Replacing the capacitors is another story, if the circuit uses some kind of a switched-mode power supply and dc-dc power converters is mandatory to use low ESR type capacitors made of "solid polymer electrolyte", this components looks like a standard electrolytic capacitor but are not the same inside, a polymer capacitor is dry. SMD encapsulation in general for this types comes with a green, pink, violet or any other flashy color stripe, the standard SMD comes with a black stripe.

Is pretty common the need to replace the decoupling ceramic capacitors also, not all, just the ones doing a decoupling. This old CANOPUS ADVC converters that after a recap the main CPU start to overhead and stop working and you have to recicle the power over and over, the same happens with this old VHS deck.

As you can see it's not an easy task, some times it might cost more than what you have paid for this old VHS deck. Take notice that your VHS deck might have mechanical issues, if your deck uses rubber belts this belts need to be replaced also, some need to be realigned, etc.

In general old capacitors causes 90% of the issues that I've seen so far, is very hard to diagnostic something from the internet but you get the idea that this is not the case of a drum cleaning.

If you want to stay with VHS for a while I recommend you to buy a better VHS deck like Panasonic's, JVC's and do a maintenance on that one.

Good luck.

[JVRaines]

Any help as to what I can do? I really need this VCR and am willing to go to the depths of it to fix it.

It's most likely the idler that transfers power to the spindles. In PLAY and FF, it contacts the takeup spindle to pull tape onto the takeup reel. In REW, it contacts the supply spindle to pull tape onto the supply reel. This idler is most often a wheel with a rubber tire that works by friction. The rubber hardens over time and starts slipping. The microprocessor that controls VCR operation senses that the spindle is not turning and shuts down the machine to prevent damage.

Other idler trouble spots: the pivot mechanism, the clutch, the belt that connects to the capstan motor.

If you are really game to work on this VCR, you should take off the bottom panel and see what the mechanism is or isn't doing when you play a tape. Please be advised that this is DANGEROUS and you will have to take precautions to avoid electric shock.

[SkC1998]

Many of this old VCR's require a "recap", recap means, you have to replace all the old electrolytic capacitors, why?
Inside the electrolytic capacitor there is a paper moisted with a chemical named electrolyte, that's why they call this component "wet capacitor", over time this chemical dry out and you have to replace it, this wet capacitors have a life span up to 10 years (15 years at best), after this period as the chemical start to dry out the capacitance decreases, the internal resistance increases, the component start to heat up, internal pressure start to increase leading to a leakage, as this parts start to leak, the electrolyte in contact with copper, start a process of deterioration.

The power supply has controls that monitor power consumption to protect internal circuits, overheating, etc. Since this parts are old and are deteriorating over time, this controls detects a power consumption over the threshold they are set to work with and this overload enables a internal protection that shut the circuit down and eject the tape.

That been said, next thing you have to consider is, does it worth to fix this?
A proper recap is not cheap, you have to disassemble the whole thing, take all PCB's contaminated with electrolyte out, preheat the board in a oven, remove all the old capacitors, do a chemical bath with isopropyl alcohol inside a ultrasonic cleaning machine / tank to decontaminate the board, this thank need to have a temperature control and fluid flow control to wash it out any residuals and dry the board out in a oven.

Replacing the capacitors is another story, if the circuit uses some kind of a switched-mode power supply and dc-dc power converters is mandatory to use low ESR type capacitors made of "solid polymer electrolyte", this components looks like a standard electrolytic capacitor but are not the same inside, a polymer capacitor is dry. SMD encapsulation in general for this types comes with a green, pink, violet or any other flashy color stripe, the standard SMD comes with a black stripe.

Is pretty common the need to replace the decoupling ceramic capacitors also, not all, just the ones doing a decoupling. This old CANOPUS ADVC converters that after a recap the main CPU start to overhead and stop working and you have to recicle the power over and over, the same happens with this old VHS deck.

As you can see it's not an easy task, some times it might cost more than what you have paid for this old VHS deck. Take notice that your VHS deck might have mechanical issues, if your deck uses rubber belts this belts need to be replaced also, some need to be realigned, etc.

In general old capacitors causes 90% of the issues that I've seen so far, is very hard to diagnostic something from the internet but you get the idea that this is not the case of a drum cleaning.

If you want to stay with VHS for a while I recommend you to buy a better VHS deck like Panasonic's, JVC's and do a maintenance on that one.

Good luck.

Recapping isn't unfamiliar for me - I've been doing it on motherboards for 2 years now.

I did a visual check though, and none have leaked or bulged (or unusually heated up) yet, nor did they dry out. The dates are around 2001 though, so that's not quite far from their usual lifespan. (about 2 years past their lifespan assuming it has a 15 year lifespan)

I will look into this though, even if they're the good brands (Panasonic and Rubycon). I had this happen on PCs but didn't think of VCRs having this problem though.

JVRaines - I tried taking off both the front and bottom panel. The bottom is unremovable (or at least I can't remove it) but the front is. It acts really weird - FF and Rew will work if I don't press PLAY first - this means that while it's idle (just after you insert a tape but BEFORE playing it) I can rewind and FF for about 3 to 5 seconds before it ejects.

However, pressing PLAY and THEN trying to FF will result in the VCR immediately proceeding to eject the tape and shutdown, while rewind will work for 3 to 5 seconds before doing the same thing - eject the tape then shutdown.

I don't think there's a way to watch what's happening down there when plugged in (on AC that is) since I noticed a connector on the PCB and the mechanism (around where the loading motor is located) that will only connect if the loading mecha is attached to the motherboard via the respective connector. I did notice the capstan rubber belt had almost no oil but it wasn't hardened. Other mechanisms spun as they should when spun by hand.

This quite sounds to me either a cap problem or a microprocessor problem - note that the spindles DO spin when the machine rewinds the tape just before ejecting, and so it does if I try to rewind before playing or fastforwarding in the same condition. It's just that after 3 to 5 seconds it detects something wrong (although the tape spindles spin as they should.) and proceeds to eject then shutdown.

[JVRaines]

When you PLAY, does the takeup reel turn?

[SkC1998]

When you PLAY, does the takeup reel turn?

No movement.

Only if I press rewind while playing then it does move. Fast forward doesn't do anything else than null the timer before the machine begins the shutdown procedure.

[JVRaines]

So the idler (which I described above) is not driving the takeup spindle. That is the source of your problem.