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  #1  
03-29-2016, 12:39 AM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Ok, so this might be the dumbest entry in the whole forum but I promise I'll get better after a while.
Basically, I just bought a Panasonic NV FS200 editor, and now I wish to make it work.
It's obviously an used VCR but it looks good.
I know it has many features, and I plan to use it for transferring vhs to PC, and maybe record TV broadcasts as well, but right now I need to know it's at least useful for performing playback, as I bought it from the internet and if this does not work I should state some kind of formal complaint (in the next days).

I have a 4 head Fisher VCR (btw, this is a crappy one, right?) with the most basic connection, that is: the VCR plug connected to the outlet and a RCA cable connecting both, TV and VCR (with no coaxial cable I suppose I cannot record from TV), and it works for playback.
Now, I tried something like this with the FS200, but it didn't work. In the front of the VCR there's a yellow entry next to the audio ones, so I thought that would be for video composite, but in the user manual it says that's for "connecting the video cable of a video camera or a second video recorder". There I connected the video composite plug of the RCA cable, and next to it the audio ones. I turned on the VCR by pressing the VTR button in the front (btw, I have no remote control) and a tiny red light below the buttom showed up, the TBC indicator was lighted as well. Somehow, the multi function display was not lighted. I introduced the tape, pressed the play button and I started to go through the channels in the TV, selected Video1, and Video2, but nothing appeared.

Is that connection possible? Or only s-video is allowed?
Should I tune in a particular channel, or press a particular button?

I didn't try that much, I'd rather ask you than mess the whole thing up.
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  #2  
03-29-2016, 08:05 AM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orientation View Post
I have a 4 head Fisher VCR (btw, this is a crappy one, right?)
That is correct.

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Originally Posted by Orientation View Post
In the front of the VCR there's a yellow entry next to the audio ones, so I thought that would be for video composite, but in the user manual it says that's for "connecting the video cable of a video camera or a second video recorder".
As the manual states, the front panel jacks are inputs, not outputs. There is no output signal from those jacks.

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Or only s-video is allowed?
s-video only. It makes no sense to use composite with a high-end VCR, even if you could.

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I turned on the VCR by pressing the VTR button in the front (btw, I have no remote control) and a tiny red light below the buttom showed up, the TBC indicator was lighted as well.
The unit does indeed power up, or you wouldn't see the lights.

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Somehow, the multi function display was not lighted.
That is a sure sign that the VCR is in poor condition and requires considerable repair work and capacitor replacements for proper operation. You can't use it as-is. The output image will be very poor quality, not indicative of the unit's capabilities.

Sorry to see you're having this difficulty, but it's not uncommon with aging VCRs. Do let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.
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  #3  
03-29-2016, 05:24 PM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Hi sanlyn, many thanks for your answer.

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s-video only. It makes no sense to use composite with a high-end VCR, even if you could.
What if my TV has no S-Video input then?

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That is a sure sign that the VCR is in poor condition and requires considerable repair work and capacitor replacements for proper operation. You can't use it as-is. The output image will be very poor quality, not indicative of the unit's capabilities.
How easy or difficult is to change the capacitors and put the VCR in condition? Can I do it myself?
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03-29-2016, 11:10 PM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
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What if my TV has no S-Video input then?
Hmm, I think we might be going in circles here. Your first post begins by telling us that you purchased this VCR with idea in mind "to use it for transferring vhs to PC." How does your TV figure into this? You can't capture to a TV. If your idea is to edit tape-to-tape, I have to warn you that it is very low quality with even good VCRs, and a phenomenal waste of time. Capture tapes to a PC and edit on the computer without the multi-generational loss and distortions fromcworking on tape.

The idea behind high-end prosumer VCR's is to avoid inferior transmission methods to begin with. Otherwise you're wasting money to pay for features you'll never use. There are a great many decent quality machines around that don't have s-video outputs. Usually a legacy tbc pass-thru recorder with y/c comb filters is used to clean up composite signals from analog tape players that don't have better s-video outputs.

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How easy or difficult is to change the capacitors and put the VCR in condition? Can I do it myself?
You don't have to trust my reply on this, as eventually lordsmurf or one of the other pro techs might show up and give you more detail. But the short answer is: you really really really really don't want to try it yourself.
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  #5  
03-30-2016, 11:45 AM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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No, I don't plan to edit tape to tape, that would result in a VHS one generation higher as far as I know, which means colours fading, distorted audio, and so on. I want to transfer VHS, but that would be later on, I first need a good captura card.

But as I mentioned, the main issue right now is to test the VCR for playback at least. I want to connect it to the TV for that, but my TV has no s-video input. What can I do?

Also, any electronic repair service would be OK for changing capacitors, or you almost need a "VCR engineer" to perform such a maneuver?
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03-30-2016, 03:26 PM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
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If you can get your hands on an a/v receiver or DVD recorder that will accept an s-video input and has output that connect to a TV, you can audition that way. In any case you need a capture device, either add-in card or USB dongle, to capture to a PC. Most such capture devices can accept s-video input. Use VirtualDub in capture mode or other capture software to check the player's output.

I wouldn't say that just "any" electronic repair shop could handle the VCR properly, but you might find someone who is familiar with such players. Most shops that handle shop-grade electronics should be able to advise. In the U.S. there are several such shops, but I don't know of any that handle PAL players. It would be considerably more labor intensive than something simple such as cleaning video heads (which any shop would check anyway). The main requirement would be the proper premium materials and close tolerances of the replacement caps; there are quite a few of them in those players.
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  #7  
03-30-2016, 05:56 PM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Thanks again for answering sanlyn.
Way to expensive to use any of the options you pointed. I was thinking about some 4 pin s-video to RCA converter or adapter, like this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/S-Video-4-Pi...wAAOSwmrlUxua8

Also, If I connected the TV and VCR with a coaxial cable, would I still need to connect both devices through a s-video cable?
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  #8  
03-30-2016, 08:31 PM
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Various adapters never work as intended. The receiver is the best idea.

That said, a TV is useless altogether. You really need to see how it behaves through a capture card, as a TV ignores and hides too many flaws. You're only seeing about 50% of the image quality that way (be it an SD TV or HDTV).

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- For sale in the marketplace: TBCs, workflows, capture cards, VCRs
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  #9  
03-30-2016, 08:59 PM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lordsmurf View Post
Various adapters never work as intended. The receiver is the best idea.
Wouldn't a receiver be almost as expesive as getting a TV with s-video then?

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That said, a TV is useless altogether. You really need to see how it behaves through a capture card, as a TV ignores and hides too many flaws. You're only seeing about 50% of the image quality that way (be it an SD TV or HDTV)
Yes, my main interest is to use the VCR with a capture card. But I need one for playback as well. Should I use the FS 200 (even if it needs reparation) or a low quality one is OK?

Also, what about using a coaxial cable alone?
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03-30-2016, 10:51 PM
sanlyn sanlyn is offline
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You can use coaxial if you want. You'll have to tune your TV input to channel 3 or 4, or whatever your TV needs to match with the VCR's coax output. Unfortunately many HDTV's today will not tune an analog signal through their coax input. Even if they can, the picture quality will be worse than with the other connections. The demands of consumers for everything "digital" has been answered, but with a double-edged sword.

I wouldn't recommend that anyone try to enjoy a VCR in disrepair with a TV that lacks the proper connection. Likely can't use it for capturing tapes in its present state. Your older VCR would probably have a better image but poor playback stability and no line-level tbc. Your best bet for quality is to have the Panasonic repaired. Another choice, which would be a step down but not nearly as bad as trying to work with a broken player, would be to use your lesser VCR with a tbc pass-thru device such as an old Panasonic ES10 or ES15. But in that case you'd have a lot of denoising work ahead.

S-video is disappearing from TV hardware and will eventually disappear from a/v receivers as well, along with other analog connections such as component video. Eventually the only connections available will be HDMI. I'd advise that you capture your tapes while you can; analog tape doesn't match well with HDMI devices. If any of your tapes are copy protected, that's another hurdle.

Don't waste a dollar on those passive s-video->composite adapters. As lordsmurf says, they are ridiculously bad quality. That kind of transmission conversion requires electronic circuitry that would cost more than another VCR or a/v receiver, and the result wouldn't be as clean as s-video. As it is, HDTV is a poor hardware medium for use with VCRs that were designed for CRTs. Unless your tapes are captured and denoised with a PC and encoded for digital media, they will never look as "good" to you as they did on your old CRT. I recall many years of enjoyment using my old VCR's and a very good professionally calibrated CRT. But those days are over now, for better or worse.

Last edited by sanlyn; 03-30-2016 at 11:04 PM.
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  #11  
04-08-2016, 12:16 AM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Ok, it's been helpful to read your comments so many thanks again for answering.

I've been trying some possible connections with a coaxial cable.
I connected my crappy VCR to the TV that way, and when turning on the VCR, TV cable stopped working but I got the VCR signal (blue screen) on channel 3 (I can manually set it to 4 as well).

Now, I tried this with the FS200, and something weird happened. Let's say 80% of the cable TV channels were watchable as usually, then the rest were totally inaccessible or had lots of distortion, noise, whatever (be it with the VCR on or off). Went through the channels but saw no trails of a VCR signal.
Still, I introduced the tape, and the tape could be played but no video was displayed in the TV screen (well, I can't know for sure, but I checked almost every possible channel), so I guess it's no heads problem.
When I checked the tape with my other VCR I verified the tape had been played 5 mins or so, until I took it out.
So what can it be?
Here I attach some pics of the connection I tried. Is it OK?


Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_0108.jpg (51.7 KB, 5 downloads)
File Type: jpg IMG_0111.jpg (71.9 KB, 4 downloads)
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  #12  
04-08-2016, 03:19 AM
Quasipal Quasipal is offline
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If you use a SCART to phono adapter you can plug the VCR straight into the TV missing out the RF stage altogether. You would need one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-Metre-S...sAAOSwnDZUIG5N and set it to 'OUT' and your TV to AV input.
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  #13  
04-08-2016, 01:12 PM
Orientation Orientation is offline
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Thanks for the info, I didn't know about this device.
But why the current connection isn't working? And what assures me that is going to work with this device?
Also wouldn't it be similar to having a s-video to RCA adapter, or this provides better quality?
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04-11-2016, 03:41 AM
Quasipal Quasipal is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Orientation View Post
Thanks for the info, I didn't know about this device.
But why the current connection isn't working? And what assures me that is going to work with this device?
Also wouldn't it be similar to having a s-video to RCA adapter, or this provides better quality?
There is no reason what you are doing shouldn't work, however using the RF link means tuning the TV to the VCR and even as someone who has done this many times it is not always easy. Also if the RF part of the VCR is faulty that would stop it working also. I'm not saying this lead will work, but its something I would try. As to the S-Video to RCA adapter, I have never seen one of those, but I would imagine it just merges the Y/C to give composite, same as using the lead I suggested.
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