PAL VCR repair in North America?

dana2 · #1 11-29-2016, 03:10 PM

I have a PAL VCR, Blaupunkt 966, similar to a Panasonic. It has the following problem: does not want to accept tapes, and when it does, funny sounds can be heard from inside, and refuses to play the tape.

Are there any shops in North America that may want to repair such a unit? What can be wrong with this unit, and how much would it cost to repair it.

Otherwise the unit looks gorgeous, very little signs of use. I would like to keep it, if it is possible to repair it.

lordsmurf · #2 12-01-2016, 12:50 AM

Most should also support PAL. The only real issue is certain PAL-unique parts, if the deck needs any. Outside on Europe, Australia or Asia, some may be difficult to locate or acquire. (If you have a spare "parts deck", it will help.)

But are you in USA or Canada? The problem is some stubbornly refuse to acknowledge that the video world is larger than 48 contiguous states. Yeah, some even refuse to ship to Hawaii or Alaska!

You're in Canada, right? Southern Advantage may work. Contact them.

See also: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vcr-...place-jvc.html

dana2 · #3 12-01-2016, 05:18 AM

Thanks Lord Smurf, yes, I am located in Canada. In case VCR places do not ship to Canada, I can use a service such as ReShip that is US based, will receive the parcel for me and re-ship it to Canada. Or I can ship the parcel to Niagara Falls US, where I have a PO Box.

And no, unfortunately I do not have a spare deck

dana2 · #4 12-01-2016, 07:19 PM

As an aside, people do not want to get involved with the hassle of shipping across the border, and it is understandable. For instance, these days I had an order from B&H Photo, they shipped my 8TB hard disk. It was DOA, so I sent it back for a fresh one. Guess what, I got dinged twice with paying taxes - once for the first hard driver, and second, for the repaired hard drive.

Needless to say that B&H covered the expenses, but I doubt they made any profit on the sale. I am guessing nobody wants this type of hassle.

dana2 · #5 12-02-2016, 10:22 AM

Tom's reply: "I'm afraid there's many differences in the PAL system; the colorburst, video bandwidth, video frequency and sound carrier, just to name a few. The circuit boards would all be adjusted to suit PAL, and I suspect that they would also use different video heads to accommodate that."

I am beginning to wonder if this can be repaired in North America ...

Quasipal · #6 12-07-2016, 05:16 AM

This uses the K deck. A well know problem is the plastic drive dog splitting which will make for loading issues, jamming tapes, trouble switching between modes. You can change it without fear of affecting the alignment, but of course it means taking the mechanism from the chassis. It takes about 30 minutes to do.