JVC HR-S9500U tracking problem?
 

I'm using a JVC HR-S9500U (a US NTSC unit) in London/UK, though a power converter, with a TBC-1000 into a PC with a BlackMagic card. I've had the VCR for about a year, bought it from the US and used it a few times since, not too much.

I just noticed when I was using it to transfer a VHS yesterday, around an hour into the capture the tracking was phasing in and out over about 20 seconds or so. The picture would be fine, then it would break up completely over 8 or so seconds then come back to normal again for 10 seconds. I tried the same tape in another VCR I have; a PAL JVC HR-S7600, and it played perfectly from start to finish, swapped the tape back to the NTSC VCR and had the same problem. I tried another NTSC tape which I knew was fine, and that suddenly had the same tracking problem too.

Today I thought I'd give it another go, and the same VCR/VHS played fine for around two hours with the same tape before the same problem started happening again. I tried shutting it off for an hour as a test and the problem is still there, but much less frequent. I've tried two different US/UK power supplies/converters and the problem is identical, as well as with or without the TBC, or plugged directly into a TV with alternate cables. It's definitely the player.

Even if it's a fairly simple fix (which it may not be), not only do I need to find a company which can repair it, but one that can repair and NTSC VCR within the UK.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Does the 9500 have the stabilizer? I forget. If so, turn it OFF.

Almost all JVC VCRs should have this turned off 99%+ of the time, rarely useful -- aside from SR-VS20/30 models, where it is actually helpful most of the time. Works as intended.

If that's already off, we shall continue to troubleshoot... :)

I've tried both with and without the TBC/DNR setting, and the separate 'Video Stabilizer' setting, along with fiddling with a number of the other settings to no avail!

It could be bad contact somewhere that prevents the tracking signal from going from the Audio/Control head to the system control chip and thus preventing the video drum from locking to the tracking signal. Does the issue look like what happens in this video? In that case cleaning the ribbon cable was enough. May not be that easy though, we have a Samsung SVW-7000 multi-system VCR here with similar symptoms as in the video, but I haven't managed to solve it yet. If it starts after a while, maybe it's something affected by heat?

I'm not a repairman by any means so, this is just a suggestion.

Had a quick look through that link, and I've uploaded a quick 3min clip to YouTube which shows the specific issue here;

https://youtu.be/rbGPfUQzLhM

In the breakups, the A/V bizarrely seems to speed up, then slow to normal again. The first 45mins of this capture was fine, then it would phase into breakups for the remainder of the 45mins of the tape, even if I rewound to the beginning of the tape, which had played fine earlier.

The captures I tried tonight were from two different tapes, the 90min first tape played and captured normally, but the second tape started breaking up half and hour in. I also tried swapping back to the first tape, and that was now breaking up too. None of the tapes seem to have been damaged as they play fine on my PAL JVC HR-S7600, some tapes are older and some newer, from different sources.

Hm, that looks like it might be a different issue to what I'm experiencing then. I hear a clicking sound that correlates with the video going in and out, and it's subtly different every other click, like something turns on and off. Also looks like the video itself speeds up when that happens, as if the tape isn't running smoothly at the right speed. Maybe our resident expert on this quasipal has a better idea of what could be wrong.

Hmmm... just trying again this evening, and the tape from yesterday is still playing up the same. Something I have noticed was that I started the counter only got to about 30secs, then virtually stopped. It's still counting up but very slowly and the picture is rolling as per the youtube example above?

I'm now capturing the same tape using my PAL JVC HR-S7600, it works fine enough for high quality retail tapes which play perfectly, but I can't use my Time Base Corrector TBC-1000 with that, as it won't properly display a PAL-60 signal (It displays as black & white), so any dodgy or chewed up tapes won't capture properly.

I was hoping not to have to replace the NTSC VCR, as that JVC HR-S9500U cost me about $250 only a year ago. Does anyone have any recommendations for UK companies who would be able to look at repairing an NTSC VCR?

Speed regulation issues usually point to the capstan or related systems having problems. Make sure the fixed audio/control head is clean. Also make sure the pinch roller is clean and in good condition, a high hours deck will likely need it replaced. Anything past that will require digging into electronics.

This seems like very similar to the problems I'm experiencing with my JVC HR-S9500, the PAL model though :/

My thread is here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vcr-...jvc-s9500.html