New device, getting strange wavy / dot like patterns on the capture?

[Soundguy]

the VCR with S-Video eliminated the dot crawl, and at last I was getting captures that I was happy with, the quality far exceeding what I had before. Two blissful days ensued, continuing with the project, then Murphy's law struck and the VCR packed up. It started with an intermittent F 04 error, now it won't power on at all.

That isn't surprising at all. Most sellers on ebay simply stick a tape in the player, press Play, see a picture on the screen, and call it "working". The reality is it has old oxidized belts and pinch roller that are about to fall apart. Old leaking capacitors just waiting to heat up and die. Unless you find a recently reconditioned (by someone who knows what they're doing) deck you're taking a big risk.

Apparently it WAS re-conditioned, it clearly had a careful pre-owner as there was barely a scratch on it, but as to the person knowing what they were doing I can't confirm, they had very good feedback on ebay is all I know. But yes it's always a risk, I would never buy without some sort of refund guarantee, my main concern is getting the tape back. I only need it to work for about 6 months, by which time I would have recorded all the tapes I have.

[DB83]

Gee man. That really is bad luck.

[Soundguy]

Gee man. That really is bad luck.

Yes, and now the seller is quibbling the refund, saying I must have tampered with it. I'm shocked at how rude he's being, hopefully my buyers rights will overshadow his quibbling.

[DB83]

IIRC There is a procedure to deal with such matters with Ebay if he does not oblige with his listing wording.


I am no lawyer but it may help you if others were to read the original listing.

[Soundguy]

IIRC There is a procedure to deal with such matters with Ebay if he does not oblige with his listing wording.


I am no lawyer but it may help you if others were to read the original listing.

I've finally convinced him that I'm not a scammer but it was hard work (linking him this forum thread helped I think) so I should be getting the refund. I'm still at a loss to understand how this "scam" would work, what would someone have to gain by buying a VCR, deliberately breaking it, then sending it back, makes no sense at all. He refused to return my tape though, but I managed to get it out.

[DB83]

Hope you do see the money.


I guess he was thinking that you had done all you wanted to do with it so attempted to scam him for the refund.

[Soundguy]

Hope you do see the money.


I guess he was thinking that you had done all you wanted to do with it so attempted to scam him for the refund.

It had a 30 day refund policy, so I could have done that anyway, there would be no sense in me breaking it first. I think he'd been scammed a few times and was just really paranoid, but boy was he rude and unsympathetic, it was unbelievable.

[Soundguy]

OK, new one purchased. Apparently refurbished, tested, all that jazz, hopefully this won't be a duffer. Seller says no returns (which he's not actually allowed to do, as it violates consumer rights), but I'm buying with PayPal, which gives me an extra layer of protection, along with the consumer rights I already have, so fingers crossed. I know it's a ticking bomb, but it just has to last for the tapes I have.

I'm linking the purchase just in case I have to prove I'm not a scammer again https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284311149555

[DB83]

Most buyers do not appreciate, or tend to 'fool' the buyer, the basic consumer rights.


But there is always an 'out' which Ebay might not take up. It's the 'Law of Contract' that could be that by buying you agreed the TOC stated by the seller (even if they were not exactly 'legal')


But let's hope you get more luck with the secondary purchase.

[Soundguy]

Most buyers do not appreciate, or tend to 'fool' the buyer, the basic consumer rights.


But there is always an 'out' which Ebay might not take up. It's the 'Law of Contract' that could be that by buying you agreed the TOC stated by the seller (even if they were not exactly 'legal')


But let's hope you get more luck with the secondary purchase.

Thanks. Ebay disputes are heavily loaded towards the buyer, that's one of the reasons I think that last seller backed down. Once he could see I had reasonable proof that I bought the VCR on good faith for a genuine, long term project and had even been consulting before purchase, (thanks to this forum thread) he probably realised that he didn't have a hope in hell of winning a dispute. Threatening small claims court probably helped too, he was quick to apologise after that.

I just have to take my chances, short of knowing personally a VCR seller / repairman, ebay is my best option, as you pointed out a few posts back. Surely my luck can't be THAT rotten, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[dellsam34]

There are buyers on ebay that buy a VCR for a quick project and hope to return it for a full refund, Also there are parts chasers who buy VCR's for parts and return them, and obviously there are a lot of sellers scammers, As a seller myself I have dealt with this before and now if I sell a VCR, even when I know it's 100% working I'll still list it for parts/not working and explain in the description why. eBay previous policy forced the buyer to pay for shipping back and now seller pays it all, In any case there is no perfect policy because there is no perfect sellers and perfect buyers, So it is what it is.

[Soundguy]

There are buyers on ebay that buy a VCR for a quick project and hope to return it for a full refund, Also there are parts chasers who buy VCR's for parts and return them, and obviously there are a lot of sellers scammers, As a seller myself I have dealt with this before and now if I sell a VCR, even when I know it's 100% working I'll still list it for parts/not working and explain in the description why. eBay previous policy forced the buyer to pay for shipping back and now seller pays it all, In any case there is no perfect policy because there is no perfect sellers and perfect buyers, So it is what it is.

I understand, but this guy flat out accused me of scamming right off the bat, with no evidence at all, when it was him that sold the dodgy VCR. That's not the way to do business, even as a private seller, you shouldn't automatically accuse the paying customer of being a scammer, you'd probably get sacked on the spot for doing that in a corporate retail environment. I certainly won't be buying from him again.

He also tried to entrap me, by refusing to return the tape that he knew was important to me and irreplaceable, but then said that if I attempt to remove it, he will take that as tampering and void the refund, even though the VCR wouldn't even power on at that stage and was completely shot anyway, absolutely disgusting, not to mention spiteful, seller conduct in my book.

[oln]

Most vcr will have a way to turn and load/unload the mechanism manually. On this one (which uses the panasonic K mechanism) you can do it by turning the worm gear next to the motor on the underside of the mechanism. On this vcr you would probably have to take the mech out of the vcr to access it though. So, usually unless something in the mechanism broke, one can unload a stuck tape without having to actually disasemble the mechanism itself and risk damaging or mistiming it.

[Soundguy]

Most vcr will have a way to turn and load/unload the mechanism manually. On this one (which uses the panasonic K mechanism) you can do it by turning the worm gear next to the motor on the underside of the mechanism. On this vcr you would probably have to take the mech out of the vcr to access it though. So, usually unless something in the mechanism broke, one can unload a stuck tape without having to actually disasemble the mechanism itself and risk damaging or mistiming it.

Thanks, good to know if this happens again.

[Soundguy]

Can you believe it? Second VCR arrived yesterday, seemed in great condition but won't load tapes, an F 06 error right out of the gate, which is apparently related to the motor used to load / unload tapes. I'm starting to wonder if these machines just don't hold up to be being transported by post, either that or I'm cursed. I've messaged the seller but yet to hear back. No stuck tape this time, didn't get that far, so there's that at least.

Update - Thankfully this seller is being more accommodating and has agreed to repair the VCR, it's another frustrating delay but at least better than the previous seller's response.

[dellsam34]

Ebay has its own risks, You can get really great deals on ebay if you know how to fix your own VCR's otherwise it's a high risk buying platform.