Thanks a lot for all of the helpful information and time spent helping me on this tread Quasipal, I should be getting the deck in the next 2-3 days. I'll update you about it's condition when I get it.

In that case, from my own experience: +1 to what Lordsmuff (and Quasipal, implicitly) said — keep hunting.

If I've already seen the thread, no, I do not get updates. (But it doesn't often come into play.)

The NV-HS950 is very nice, comparable to the NTSC Panasonic AG-1980P.

Hello everyone, still haven't gotten the deck but in the anticipation I've been reading the user manual and something caught my eye. This question is for anyone that actually owns one of these decks, on page 22 or 23 the manual states that you have to set the tape length to learn the remaining time. Does this VCR not have auto tape length detection? Thanks

-- updated --

Hi again, depressing day for me, I guess. I had sent the message to the guy on the 4th and today he finally replied that he had just shipped it yesterday, and all of this could have been averted if the phone number he had left was even valid! That's a real let down, I was planning all of my maintenance and I was so excited about getting a new VCR and making it perfect. Guess I'll just have to repair my VR969 and stick with it until I can find a replacement. Speaking of that, I've been looking in the mechanism and I can't find which shaft Quasipal was talking about. There's actually at least two metal shafts on which the cogs appear to be split. I'm gonna add photos to show you and hopefully someone can give me advice on what to do next. Also, since I've been doing just fine without TBC on my 969, would anyone say that a Panasonic NV-HS900 is better (for arround 40GBP). Thanks
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The accused gear are these:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/imag...assettek-1.jpg

Exactly what said by Quasipal in post #16. May be only one or both broken.

This is a guide (in German) for the same problem.
http://www.berlin-repariert.de/phili...mt-nicht-raus/

Thank you! My german is quite rusty but I'll try to read it.
Edit: On mine, both appear fine, could it be the small crack that's visible on the last photo I posted? Also I forgot to mention that it started making a grinding noise when winding (but not rewinding), is that also because of the driveshaft?

Philips Turbodrive is really nice and simple but gears can split or cogs jump a tooth. So what I did was to take all the gears off for checking and cleaning then replace them in correct sequence using a manual I found online. I'd never even seen such a mechanism before but with a little care has it working like new. It was badly out of alignment with some parts smashed from forcing a tape but after aligning all the dots it was happy again.

Any cracks in cogs mean it is likely slipping under load so at least check for that. Sometimes cracks are hard too see if they are full of grease. Its the grease that makes them crack as it hardens the nylon.

Thanks Quasipal, what about the Panny HS900?

Its ok, picture is a bit muddy and colour not as good as HS1000 or HS950. Good heads but the HS950 was a step up. If the HS950 gets a 9 out of 10, the HS900 gets a 6. But if you can get one under £40 its decent enough.

This is another noise, or the same you mentioned in the post #1?
The broken shafts fault is that videocassette is not laded or not ejected (locked inside VCR), because the shafts drive the lift assy (other than for threading the tape).

The grinding noise when winding (but in other case can happen also in rewinding) is due to the brake gears: the white round, placed under the two reel table (take-up and supply). Simply need grease in their housing, but to reach, firs remove the two reel table and the two main brake.

Sorry if my English is not good, but hope is enough clear.

This is another noise from the one I mentioned in post #1, the machine makes three different noises,
The first one happens if the machine is playing the cassette and I hit the rewind button to do a reverse image search. The search starts but then 2-3 seconds later I hear a plasticky knock, like if two pieces of plastic hit each other.
The other noise that happens is the grinding while winding the tape, I can only hear it when I'm winding the tape forward at speed, not when I'm doing a slow forward image search.
The third one is kind of a rubbery noise, hard to describe (I'll try recording the noises when I reassemble the machine so you guys have a clearer picture of what's happening), it happens after I'm done with a reverse or forward image search and I hit play.
Also I was wondering if I need to lubricate the mechanism before reassembly as it's been sitting outside of the VCR and on my work surface for probably 20 hours.