Hi,
Long-time lurker, but I think possibly first time posting here. I've been using this site for guidance on choosing a VCR in order to rip some old-school UK TV to DVD from VHS. More by luck than judgement I recently acquired an NV-HS860 for a bargain price (in a spares/repairs bundle - without remotes, cables, etc.) - but long story short, it's now working and playback is pretty nice (compared to the NV-HS830 that I was using until yesterday).
I already have a Panasonic remote specifically for the NV-HS860 (and NV-HS960 too - that's what I originally bought it for, while I was trying to find a decent NV-HS960 to archive my tapes). I know that the remote itself at least partially works because my Panasonic TV responds to volume and power when I switch the remote to TV. When I switch the remote back to VCR, however, the VCR doesn't respond at all- it doesn't matter how I set the switch on the remote (it has option for VCR 'A' or 'B', which can be set in the menus - except I can't access the menus without the remote).
I also have a OneForAll universal remote which I know works, as I used to use it on an old Samsung VCR until just yesterday... I tried 3 different codes in order to get it to talk to the NV-HS860, but so far the VCR isn't responding on any of them.
Given that the VCR doesn't respond to the proper remote on a known good button (e.g. power on/off), and given that the universal remote (which was in use until recently) can't talk to the VCR either, I suspect a problem with the VCR itself rather than the remote(s). That said I can't imagine that the remote function would pack up - but then I know very little about VCRs in general and maybe such a fault is more common than I'd imagine (??)
So I'm hoping to tap into some of the advice here. Does anyone know some sort of test I can try to prove where the fault is (and better yet can anyone help me fix it)? I can use the VCR as-is and it's fine for ripping videos to DVD, but it would be awesome if I could get it working on the remote too!
I'm a reasonably(ish) competent amateur. I don't have any test equipment (save for a multimeter) and would be wary about taking a soldering iron to the VCR. I'm happy to remove/reinstall the Z-mechanism (without dismantling it), but that's about as far as I've gone.
Any help would be gratefully received!
Thanks in advance