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  #1  
03-17-2017, 11:47 AM
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deter deter is offline
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PERFECT WORKING, FULLY REFURBISHED AND REBUILT AG 1980'S.

For many years now have been repairing AG 1980 units, not once have I purchased or got a unit that didn't need repairs. These repairs costs hundreds of dollars.

These are some of the best VCR's ever made, sadly Panasonic used a bad string of capacitors that do not last.

It is not only capacitor issues that plague these units, you have other problems as well.

Signs that your unit may need to be fixed are as follows:
Dim Display on the front Panel
Humming noise with in the unit itself
Excess number of video drop outs in the picture on a good tape
Color shifting or dull color with in the unit, it may even go to Black and White.
If it takes a while for the unit to warm up.
Blue noise or lines in the picture.
Bleeding Colors and Saturation Problem
Frame Skipping and other Time Based Errors
Random Noise in the Picture
Very Dark Picture
Dull and Fuzzy Picture

To find a perfect working unit is almost impossible.

Just wanted to test out the marketplace to see if people wanted this type of work, it comes down to cost. Buying the unit, shipping the unit and than doing hundreds of dollars of repairs. Let us not forget about the skill set, very few can rebuild these VCR's.

Doing a Fire Sale, to give the community the best VCR they will ever own.

FINAL PRICE $675, you pay for shipping

All transaction are done via paypal, the VCR will ship out with in a day of the purchase, unless other wise noted. Send me a PM here at DIGITAL FAQ with your email address to send you the invoice.

You buy these on Ebay, more than likely going to get burned.

One year Warranty on all work done to the units.


Your post has been approved. Please note that it may have been edited to comply with rules for posting in the marketplace. We hope you're able to sell your video/photos/computer item, or locate your want — all for free, and better than you could on eBay or Craigslist. Thanks!

Someday, 12:01 PM
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  #2  
03-28-2017, 02:10 PM
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This was a test run to see if people of the video community had an interest in the Best VCR. You hear it all the time in the forums, people want the BEST quality. Here it is.

Have been repairing AG 1980 units since 2011, offer this service over at video help. Charge $375 for basic repairs + any extra costs. Normally with shipping it is around $500.

Over the last few months was sent a few VCR's which came from EBAY sellers who claimed they refurbished the units. Granted they replaced some of the capacitors, but the machines were not fully fixed. In each case had go in and complete the job that the service repair shop fail to do.

If you have an AG 1980 or any VCR, and you want them repaired PM my account.

Wanted to make available fully refurbished units. Had to go out and buy them and than fix them. This was not an easy project and spent around $2,000 for the entire lot. Selling these for $675 not really making that much per unit. Wanted to get these machines out to the people who take converting VHS to digital seriously.

Visual demo is worth a thousand words. Everything was recorded to a JVC MS100

Panasonic AG 1980, Demo Clip, Sports Recording 1990
https://youtu.be/Zg43E6vxaoo

Panasonic AG 1980 Demo, Store Purchased Movie Rental for early 90ties.
https://youtu.be/8VGw2QCbBRg

Panasonic AG 1980, Demo Clip, TV Concert, 1990
https://youtu.be/y7NlCI0FQSQ

Deter's Notes:

Panasonic AG 1980, the most amazing VCR

These units are built like you can't believe this is old school heavy duty electronics. However, time is the biggest enemy, the capacitors inside the machine don't last. Every unit I have ever seen has had problems. Electronic fault or whatever you want to call it.

In order in 2017 to get fully operational AG 1980; it has to be rebuilt.

This is a rare skill set that needs to be learned. Even most electronic technicians can't figure it out.

These were $2,400 VCR's back in the day, now you can get them for a few hundred. They don't fully work. They are not at the full potential of what the machine can do.

I hear it all the time people want the best possible quality with VHS. Here it is, right here in this post.

Once you get through all the issues you get a very clear sharp amazing picture.

Make sure to order ASAP, cause these are in stock; once I run out.

It takes 1 to 3 months from start to end to produce a fully refurbished AG 1980.

AG 1970 vs AG 1980

For some reason of late have been getting in a lot of AG 1970's to repair, they have the same basic issues. However the AG 1970 does not have a video card inside the unit, were as the AG 1980 does. Granted in many cases have to repair the video board in the 1980's. This card alone makes the unit that much better. You have a lot of other electronics inside these machines which sets this VCR above all others.

This is now year 10 since I got in to doing video restoration work, what I learned from Lord Smurf at the start was the VCR was the most important aspect. Had good VCR's back in the day but nothing like the AG 1980 or even the high End JVC decks.

One of my tech guys was messing around with one of the AG 1980 units, and guy walked by and asked is that a DVD player you are working on. He said no it is a VCR, the guy couldn't believe it he said I have never seen a VCR this good. The tech said that is cause you have never seen a high end VCR.
  #3  
03-28-2017, 04:09 PM
Maris 55 Maris 55 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deter View Post
PERFECT WORKING, FULLY REFURBISHED AND REBUILT AG 1980'S.

Signs that your unit may need to be fixed are as follows:
Dim Display on the front Panel
Excess number of video drop outs in the picture on a good tape
Bleeding Colors and Saturation Problem
Frame Skipping and other Time Based Errors
Random Noise in the Picture
Dull and Fuzzy Picture

You buy these on Ebay, more than likely going to get burned.
You are right. I bought a Blaupunkt RTV-950 which is very similar to AG1980 and it looks like new. But the problems are exactly what you named. It was repaired but not to the best expectations. One must have very much clients to earn back those $ 670. I can't .
  #4  
03-28-2017, 07:37 PM
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I can fix your Blaupunkt RTV-950, if some one already replaced the capacitors or most of them, charge a discounted repair rate. All those problems can fix. Send me a PM if interested.

$675 is pretty cheap considering have to rebuild every unit. It is not like I can get parts. So when the power supply is shot, or the TBC is broken. Or the wires are cut. The loading mechanism gears have snapped. The video heads are worn out. Need to use at least two machines to build one. Just the shipping is $35 to $45 dollars, what is that $70 in shipping lets say I get the units pretty cheap, $175. We are at like $430 already and no work was even done. On avg. dump at least $150 in to each unit, that is will no labor. Now we are at $580. It usually takes 20 to 80 hours to build a machine. Lets pay me $15 for 30 hours. Now we are at $450. That comes out to $1030. That is doing it on the cheap. The price is pretty fair for what is going in.

This is just a test run, if I got a bunch of orders may do more machines and repair them. It takes about 1 to 3 months per unit, worst case ever was 6 months, that was only once.

Charging $375 flat rate for repairs, if it is extra parts, like a video card, power supply, new TBC, broken sensors, replace and install a new video head, the cost goes up.

If it something easy or stupid, not ripping people off, if it is a $50 job will only charge $50, normally on these that is not the case.

-- merged --

For example, have stated many times how I like the JVC MV5 DVD recorder. My one unit if you pressed stop, when recording it would wreck the DVD. So had to figure out what the hell was causing this. My guess it was the DVD drive. Than all of a sudden the DVD player got the dreaded "LOADING ISSUE", what are these machines worth like $150.

Had an extra drive, lets say I didn't, and bought a broken one for $70 with shipping. Spent 7 hours today fixing this thing. Lets just say cause of my skill set I am worth $25 an hour. So that is $175 in labor + the part. Now we are at $245. Add than in the $150 for the machine we are at $395. Who is going to pay that for an MV5?

Honesty, it is hard to find a good working MV5's. Most of the time it is the DVD drive goes bad over time. That is if you can get a machine without the "LOADING ISSUE".

If this was for someone would charge him or her for the drive than maybe like $60 for the labor. That is install and fixing the loading issue. Than shipping both ways which for an MV5 is about $50. You are still at like $180 in cost. None of this repair work is cheap. I only charged $60 for my work on this example. (this project took up my entire day, it was problem after problem.)

The point I am making, these AG 1980's are a steal at this price, that is my opinion.
  #5  
03-29-2017, 01:10 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deter
$675 is pretty cheap considering
Yeah, times change.

1995 = $2k new
2000 = $1k new, $500-750 used
2005 = $150-250 used, $50 broken
2010 = $250-350 used, $75-100 broken
2015 = $400-600 refurb'd used, $250-350 not refurb'd used (HTF!), $100+ broken

In just 2 short years, it's now to the point of being $600 refurb'd easily, fat chance finding non-refurb'd used, and $125+ broken. If you were not around about 10 years ago, you missed the low-cost lull. Lots of supply, no real demand yet.

Lots of factors, especially the pricing of parts (ie, there are none!), and the time and skill for caps replacement, have led to the price increases. It's not just supply/demand.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maris 55
One must have very much clients to earn back those $ 670
No.

Buy it, use it, resell it. It holds value. In fact, as I show above, it may actually increase in value, depending on when you bought it. I'm actually afraid that 1980 units will eventually be priced out of the budget of a hobbyist ($1k), and once again be hardware only seen in video workplaces.

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  #6  
03-29-2017, 01:51 AM
Maris 55 Maris 55 is offline
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Deter, don't catch me wrong! I appreciate your skills and knowledge very high. I completely agree on your suggested prices. But I am just a hobbiest and so I could pay for repairs, but I won't earn this money back. You are true, but sadly that makes no sense for me.

Blaupunkt RTV-950, LG LV-880 HiFi, Sony miniDV ..., Canopus ADVC 55, WinDV,
The following users thank Maris 55 for this useful post: lordsmurf (03-29-2017)
  #7  
04-14-2017, 12:46 PM
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This project has been a failure cause I thought it was possible to flip these. It comes down to money, the consumer would buy these if the price was lower. They are more likely to buy a bad unit at the lower price hoping by some miracle they can get use out of the unit.

My take, if you convert the tapes with the machine errors in the picture you can't get rid of these defects. Once you have a working unit. you will have to re do all your tapes.

The goal was to provide a service were I take on all the responsibilities of getting the unit, repairing the unit and the consumer doesn't need to worry about it.

The mind doesn't work that way, the people who are interested are the ones who see the problems in the machines they own. I get those in to repair.

Because of the nature of all that is involved with rebuilding these units, can only sell them for X amount of dollars. Paypal even takes a %. You lose on that, so making $25 to $50 a unit, does not warrant doing this in the future.

Shipping to the West Coast is also an issue, cause it costs $50 to $70.

Going to lower the price again

$550

you have to pay for shipping.

All the machines that I have all work great, they should run for a long time.
  #8  
04-14-2017, 01:10 PM
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Don't lose hope in this.
I want to PM you tomorrow about some things, and you'll probably change your mind.

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  #9  
04-19-2017, 03:53 PM
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This Fire Sale Price Will Not Last, Buy it Now, Before I run out of Units or Raise the Rate back up to $700.

Got three really good units right now for sale....
  #10  
04-27-2017, 07:18 PM
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The FIRE sales has ended. Sadly the community didn't advantage of this DEAL.

Right now currently sold out of units. Here is the new deal, cause I am not taking on out of pocket costs.

You can pre order a unit or a few units. It is $350 upfront and than $350 when the unit is complete, it takes about 45 days from the 1st deposit til the final payment and you getting your Perfect Quality Fully Restored AG 1980.

Shipping on the East Coast is part of the deal, Mid West to West Coast it will be $20 to $50 extra per unit.

If I get a few more lose ended units may relist them.
  #11  
04-27-2017, 08:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by deter View Post
Right now currently sold out of units.
Then this ad is done.

- Did my advice help you? Then become a Premium Member and support this site.
- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
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