JVC SR-VS30U no output, needs servicing?

[Davis]

Have a JVC SR-VS30U that functions mechanically, but has no video output on composite or S-Video connectors. Also, when in the stop mode you should normally see a blue screen with selected input displayed in white letters. All it shows is a black screen with unreadable white garbage which is probably the white lettering but you can't read any of it as the screen is tearing bad, that's about the best description I guess. Never seen one with this problem. My best guess is that it may have a failed IC on the motherboard.

If you switch it to the DV deck, it displays the blue screen correctly. Probably need to see if that deck plays although I never use those in this machine. Even if it does, the video may be processed through a different IC than the VHS deck.

Any ideas or if you know the cause, I would appreciate the info.

Thanks,
Marty Davis

[latreche34]

First make sure you're testing it with a TV, Capture cards are not the right tool to test VCRs.

[lordsmurf]

If you're lucky, it's just that the output block became unsoldered.

If you're not lucky, which is more likely here, the mainboard has failed, and there is no fix, no parts. The unit itself is now only good for parts.

These VS (and MV) decks were mostly sold to gov/edu organizations when new in the early 00s (sold mostly via CDW, not even B&H, certainly not Best Buy or even Circuit City), and heavily used (and abused) during the unit lifetime. If this isn't originally "your" unit, or was a bad eBay buy ("for parts or repair"), then you are likely best served to just move on to a new unit, as odds are that it's a lost cause. Even those of us experienced in JVC/Panasonic repair tend to have less than 50/50 odds at repairing certain errors, on certain decks, and this is one of them.

If you want to spend time de-soldering and re-soldering the output, do that. But it's probably just time wasted.

If it's not that, quit, move on.

[Davis]

Thanks for the input. I may investigate a little more, but I'm thinking it may be an IC failure on the motherboard. At least all the mechanism is working well. I have 2 more of these units that are working so this one will probably become a parts unit or go on ebay someday for parts.

[aramkolt]

The VS30U's I've had tended not to show much use on the VHS side. Could be that more of the the semi-industrial use was more for the miniDV deck rather than doing much with VHS at that point. I generally gauge how used they are based on how much "track wear" there is where the P2 and P3 tape guides move along which gives a general idea of of how many tapes have been in and out of the machine. This one here is a VS30U, looks like it hasn't had more than like 30 tapes in and out of it, maybe less. It's metal on metal after all, so there should be shiny along that track if it has loaded and unloaded enough times. I've definitely seen units that do have a lot of track wear, but that hasn't been the norm in my experience. Could be just lucky I guess.

P2 Track.jpg