Where to repair AG1980, or do it myself?
What is a good, reliable, and reasonable place I can AG-1980 repaired. I looked at TGrant and Southern Advantage but price seems a little high. I am at a loss. I am even thinking of diving in my self to fix it but also afraid what other problems might come of it. Any suggestions will be fine.
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These units have dozens, if not over 100, capacitors. And each must be tested, replaced as needed. Some are known to be bad more than not, and are not even tested. There's also the matter of testing board values (gain, luma, etc), and that takes time. The LED sometimes doesn't cooperate with mere caps replacing, and needs coaxing. TGrant is extremely thorough.
I have no faith in Southern Advantage repair jobs on AG-1980 decks. They're not thorough. |
I would really like to get it done by TGrant being local. The price is the only issue. According to some people who attempted to change the capacitors on their own counted a total of 37 which costs about $30. I still don't mind getting it done by TGrant if you can get a better repair deal worked out for your members. As of right now its a steep price for repair for non video-professionals.
-- merged -- Correction 235 but I doubt all have to be changed. |
You could ask Dave of 12voltvids how much he charges for such job. Keep in mind he lives in Canada.
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The issue driving cost is bench time. To have it done by someone "on the clock" will cost. It is not a quick process and qualified electronics technician time is not cheap.
Many of the electrolytic capicators will likely NOT need to be replaced, (and many of those are hard to reach). The Y/C board is the primary problem area effecting the color image, and the timer board for dim display. At least those can be reached with only moderate difficulty. But every machine's needs will likely be different. DIY works if you have competent electronics technician skills, the necessary tools, and time to spend on it (the first time trough will take a long time - learning curve). |
The 12voltvids videos are quite informative. I am not trying to offensive to any technicians out there but I had been in several situations where technician hypes up the problem more than what it actually is and fixes it it in 2 days with 2-3 parts changed. They gave me the parts they changed out. This is why I am a bit skeptical about the price. Also another thing being ignored is it takes a person who does these repairs on a daily basis a much shorter time than someone who does it every once in a while. But you say the problem is most likely in in the Y/C board and the timer board?
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The repair cost will depend mostly of how much you wanna spent. Sometimes is easier and a lot cheaper to replace all caps, even if they are ok, rather than be looking wich capacitor is causing problems. Also there areas wich are known to have most problems (like dpalomaki said, the Y/C circuit). At least for these decks who are know for having caps problems, I would do a recap if I see many issues. Remember: The price is not about the parts changed, is for the time it takes to FIND WICH PART is broken or causing the problem. If you see Dave's channel (12voltvids) you see he fix things quite fast, mostly because of his 30+ years of experience, so he's has seen a little bit of everything and the most common causes. But also there are videos wich he takes a long time to find the problem, going back and foward, testing, taking caps out, testing each one, so on, so on. An even if a problem is solved, there could be others, so, it takes time to find the issue. |
I am not denying the time it takes. Like you said its easier and faster to replace all caps then find which one is causing the problem. But I think there should be categorization for repair cost instead of just flat $360. For example if only a cap problem it should be much lower and additional problems should be charged on top of that.
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It really all depends of the case. Some equipment can be fixed by replacing 1 capacitor and then could work 10 years in a row without any other issue.
Normally, when a equipment starts to have issues with caps, is most sure that the others caps will have issues aswell, sooner or later. This is more your case and knowing that the AG1980 has issues with the caps, like I mentioned before, I would change most of the caps. Personally, I would do it myself. It's not has hard as you may think. But if you have never soldered SMD or electronics, then I would recommend to take it to a technician. |
I have soldered before. The smallest thing I soldered is a small 10 ohm resistor in a tv to get tv speaker working (success). I never did SMD before but have soldered different resistors on circuit board on numerous occasions. Have you done it before? If so have you faced and other issues after changing the caps?
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Well, most people would tell you that you need a hot air station for SMD and they are not wrong.
However it's possible to solder smd with a normal soldering iron. In fact, you can get a smaller tip if you wanna be extra carefull. You can get all the electronics parts list from the Service Manual (page 107 to 122). They are separated by board or circuit. Check the boards or circuit that you intent to fix or repair. This will give you and estimate budget, so you can see if it's worth the trouble. Also keep in mind that some circuits might no be needing they caps replaced, like dpalomaki sayd, try to stick to the Y/C circuit and the TBC circuit (if you plan to use it). I ask you again: what issues is showing the vcr? images problems? can you post a picture or capture? |
LCD screen on the VCR not working and red green blue stripes diagonally across the screen that come and go during play back.
Look closely at her wedding dress you will see RGB diagonal stripes. https://streamable.com/tkkd9 |
It's never just 1 cap.
The testing alone takes time. I don't mean a few hours, either. I use video gear, and I can repair lots of mechanical issues with VCRs. But that AG-1980P is a beast of a deck. And again, repairing an AG-1980 doesn't just require replacing caps. If all you do is replace the caps, values will be off. It needs calibration. If you want to repair it yourself, I'm all for it. :) If you find you have the expertise to offer it as a service to offers, I'm for that too! I remember deter did mine for about $250 some years back, Jots for about $275, and TGrant had done some for us for about $325. All were very non-secretive about what all was involved, and they get as frustrated with fixing them as I do with paying for the repair. It's not easy, nor fast. But necessary. What I don't want to hear is how techs "overcharge" for it. Because that's just not fair to them and the work involved. The mechanic makes more fixing a puny issue with my car. |
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You misunderstand. Not the values/levels of caps. Values/levels of the video signal/image. When you start replacing caps, it can change. TGrant knows far more about this than I do. Replacing the caps is just step 1 of a refurb. I've seen decks that just had caps replaced, and it had issues with chroma, brightness, contrast, etc. As good as deter and Jots were, their repairs always had some off values. TGrant was calibrated.
If you can do we he does, great. Do it. But first find out what that is. |
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Topics are rarely locked.
I'm curious as well. I've only been an AG-1980 user for about 12 years now, and it's been a love/hate relationship since the start. It's probably the best VCR ever made for EP/SLP mode, but it has other caveats and issues. JVC is still best as a first defense. Compared to a JVC deck, it's next-gen tech ... but not really. JVC is lean, Panasonic is an obese elephant. I understand JVC, and Panasonic is confounding and over-engineered. Anybody that wants to work on one, I wish them luck, tell them what I know, and direct them to others that know more than I. In addition to TGrant and deter, several other forum members here are pretty adept at VCR repair, including varying degrees of knowledge about the Panasonics. I keep hoping more and more of them will participate here. Good luck. :) |
Do you have any experience with Sony SLV-R1000 and JVC-HR9911U? I am considering those if it saves the hassle of repairing this. Cost wise I can get a working one about the same price as AG-1980 for parts. But there is a risk of not working when it gets to me like my experience with AG-1980 and AG-1970. With the not working AG-1980 that is not the issue as I will be fixing the board and if all goes right I will be putting that fixed board in the vcr I already have.
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Personally I haven't yet found a AG1980 that I could be interested in buying: they are pricey and the ones that are for sale are overused (or abused). Don't get me wrong. They ARE one of the best SVHS out there, but today, if I have the chance to get an AG1980 or any JVC HR-S5000 (or superior) would go for the JVC. Actually I have my hands pretty bussy with my AG4700's (soon there well be 5 :P). Wich btw,doesn't have almost any SMD caps, so it's quite nice to work on. Quote:
If given a choice: recaping a AG1980 or getting a JVC-HRS9000, I could go either way, but I would go for the JVC. BUT after watching the capture you made, I see little reason for letting it go. I would stick to the AG and take it to a proper technician to calibrate and clean. Regarding the color lines issue, have you tested the tape on a different VCR? Have you tested the VCR with another capture card or method? |
Unfortunately my town isn't big enough to get good stuff like that in my local Goodwill. The color line issue goes away after playing for a few minutes or so. I did get another capture card but that doesn't work on Windows 10. I sent it to the manufacturer to get it exchanged for one that works with Windows 10. I have to wait for that to come. But as far as I know it is an issue with the VCR. That issue wasn't present in my other vcr (non SVHS non TBC) connected to the same capture card. Also I was just messing around with my AG-1980 again and noticed that RGB stripes disappeared when I softened the picture in the VCR settings. Is that normal?
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