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After figuring out my needs in an all-arounder VCR, I kept coming back to these Japanese models as a potentially very affordable option. I'd like to encourage some discussion surrounding them, and to learn more, since there isn't too much information out there. (NV-SV1 for example, which I know at least one forum user here has.)
I can't vouch for all of these, but I know some of these have their TBC and DNR buttons right on the front, making it easier to navigate the Japanese menu. With the NV-SV1 I couldn't deduce how to turn on something like an "edit mode." From the translated manual but I hope maybe you guys have some insights, as I am interested in one of these VCR's. I used an AI assistant to help me compile this. Of course, many of it's cited sources were bunk. But I think a lot of the info was correct. I curated it a bit, and verified what I could, and it still may not be 100% accurate. But it's a good rough guide. Please feel free to correct me where it's wrong so I can correct the post. Also below are the manuals for several models listed. I had these translated into English. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good. Again these are not the original manuals, but English translations. This is a work-in-progress list, not yet definitive. __________________________________________________ _ Victor (JVC)
Panasonic
Mitsubishi
Hitachi
SONY
Toshiba
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I've got an SV1 for testing, but haven't done much with it as of yet.
While not a "late" model, there's also the W-VHS machines that have line TBCs, namely the HR-W5. I believe that model was introduced in 1995, but they made them for several years I think. Release-date-wise, this might precede the 7x00 series. There were a ton of them listed recently on eBay that look to be in nice cosmetic condition, though most are just tested for power. What's interesting about the W-VHS machines is that they are said not to have significant head switching noise (or just no noise at all) and they do have a pretty crazy number of heads - 11 video drum heads to be exact (including the one flying erase head). My theory is that they must choose from the 5 pairs of heads that produces the best signal even if it isn't a W-VHS tape being played. You do have to really be prepared for a project machine if you buy a W5 in unknown functional condition though, they tend to need recapping and the mechanisms aren't particularly fun to work on if there's a timing issue. |
Thanks for the information! Good stuff. It's definitely a looker that HR-W5.
And thank you to whoever helped format my table even better, I tried my best! I'll add a few more notes about these VCR's I've gathered. First note, If you play North American NTSC tapes on these VCR's (I believe they are NTSC-J for Japan) The blacks won't be accurate because of differences in the formats, but they are close enough and it can be compensated for on your card or with a proc-amp, or possibly through software as a last resort. I found a few threads talking about this with actual values given, among other things. Here is the first: here on Digitalfaq. Here is the second: over on Videohelp. Another thing to note, is that they run off 100v mains, not 110-120v. If you plan on buying one, I highly suggest a Variac (a variable voltage transformer.) While Variac is the brand name, you can pick up cheap chinese versions from vendors like Vevor that will do the job. It will give you better performing power, and it will allow you to feed it a more precise 100v. Win-win. |
That is correct, most Japanese VCRs do require 100VAC. They do mostly use switching power supplies, so theoretically they might be able to handle more voltage, but probably mostly depends on the voltage rating of the main filter capacitor which is possibly changeable. The safe thing is to use an autotransformer or variac as ge0dude mentioned.
As far as NTSC-J vs regular NTSC - I don't think black levels matter at all for playback as the black level of an NTSC recording will be recorded with a black level of 7.5IRE and it'll play back the same way on an NTSC-J machine. However, if you make a new recording on an NTSC-J machine, it'll scale black to 0IRE and if you were to then play it back on an NTSC machine, you'll end up with very crushed blacks displayed. With either scenarior you could always just use a proc-amp inline to verify/adjust black levels to what they are supposed to be for the receiving device, pretty easy to do with a waveform monitor. |
It's too late for me to edit my post but I had a brain fart, the second chart is for Panasonic, not Victors. And I labeled the PDF's as Victor's, but they are in fact Panasonics. If a mod feels like fixing the small mistake feel free!
aramkolt, thanks for your insight and knowledge, it's always a pleasure. |
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I thought I would drop a few more translated manuals and an English manual for the "K-Mechanism" likely found in the listed Panasonic VCR's. As well as a link to a 3d printable piece of the "K-Mechanism" that I found online.
According to my assistant, the K-Mechanism was used in Japanese, other Asian, and European models. But no North American Models. So an English manual was available. The K-Mechanism is talked about a little bit towards the end of this thread. If anyone can actually verify that these 3 Japanese Panasonics from the first post use the K-mechanism, that would be wonderful because it is very difficult for me to verify with the language barrier. According to my assistant they do indeed use the K-Mechanism. Part #VDP1434 on Printables alt link on Thingiverse I'll be on the lookout for belts for this "K-Mechanism." -Probably from somewhere in Europe, unless someone can find domestic equivalents. |
AG1980 uses the K mechanism as well as several other lower end "Pro Line" machine models. I personally wouldn't 3D print the loading motor coupler as it is a high stress part and pretty tiny, they are available on eBay for less than $7 each when you buy 2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/276155981871
Those newer Japanese models use a much more compact mechanism. |
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Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it. That's good information. Those assistants sure know how to BS. Finding belts might be a challenge.
-- merged -- After a bit of sleuthing and OCR and translating. I have 100% confirmed that the HR-VXG300 has TBC and "3-dimensional noise reduction" and was made around the year 2000. We can safely add it to the Chart (and I would love to if I were able to edit my initial post!) -I would share the translation but it's a mess and not easy to read. I would assume by the "TBC & 3D" button on the HR-VXG100 and HR-VXG200, that they also indeed have it, just like the all the rest of the HR-VXG family. Some of these manuals are difficult to track down and translate. Unfortunately, most of the Japanese VCR manuals I've checked that are available on Archive.org seem to have most of the characters replaced with little rectangles, I believe they're called ANSI Control Characters. (I'm sure from something like a conversion glitch.) I highly encourage all to support Archive.org in their Mission. So we now have 3 more we can add to the list, and I have even more I have not verified (nor can I even find a trace of on the internet!) -- merged -- I have 2 more VCR's we can add to the list, one's a bit of a mystery! These were both made circa 1999 and have Line TBC and DNR. -Hitachi 7B-BS710 -Panasonic NV-SB900 According to this post The NV-SB900 is highly praised and uses the "Z Mechanism" I've attached a PDF of the Z mechanism service manual below. The Hitachi on the other hand I have little information on other than that it is used for capture in Japan. The manual I have procured is a poorly scanned document, and will be a bother to translate, if I can even get it through OCR. Edit: I think we can add the Hitachi 7B-BS810 to the list as well. Though I have to see If the manual is translatable to verify (or find another source.) |
The ability to version posts will be available eventually. (FYI, the reason to not allow editing past 1 hour is that sometimes people get stupid, and want to delete all of their posts on sites. Well, that hurts the site, so no, not happening. Sometimes it's from misplaced ideas on "privacy"/GDPR/whatever, other times malicious activity from people with access to your computer/devices. We made that policy change 15+ years ago, after manually having to restore posts from malicious deletion. Supposedly a crazy soon-to-be-ex did it.)
Just re-make the chart in a separate post, I'll merge it into the first post. Here's your code: Code:
!table]Japanese model | Rough N-America twin | Launch year | Notes |
Thank you so much LS, I very much appreciate it. Here is what I have so far. I haven't dove into the Mitsubishis or "the missing link" yet. Japan really got a lot of cool toys we didn't get.
-- merged -- I would like to encourage people to investigate https://buyee.jp -they're a reshipper for Japanese shopping and their website makes it very easy these days with the translations and streamlined integration of different stores. Keep in mind every tab at the top bar is a different store you can search. The best deals I've found to be on yahoo auctions, but that's not always the case. I just picked up a Panasonic NV-SV1 Fully serviced with a new belt and a remote control. It cost me $78 to buy and get it shipped to the reshipper. I'll update later on the cost to get it forwarded to me in North America, but I was quoted about $32. Tariffs are set at 15% I believe. For something that supposedly is on par with the ag-1980, I think I can tolerate some Japanese menus at that price! |
Refurbished could really mean anything, most likely it was just a belt change (takes probably 2 minutes and you could do it yourself) and possibly some lubrication and then just seeing if it does all functions.
If it was me, I'd get one off of eBay for a bit more than go through a reshipper. I've used reshippers before if items are otherwise unobtainable, and you just have to hope things don't get lost since technically the item was delivered to the reshipper (so it wasn't lost from the original Japanese shipping side) and buyee won't refund you either for their services if it gets lost. They might have some sort of insurance for lost items, but I don't really know that I'd trust it. With eBay, if it doesn't arrive, you get a full refund. If it doesn't work as described, you can return it free of charge and still get a refund. If there's an issue with a buyee purchase, then you're responsible for the return shipping (and you have to hope it doesn't get lost on the way back) and it'll also cost you a lot more to ship from the USA to Japan. I'm not sure why Japan to USA shipping is rather inexpensive, I've seen a $300 item with free shipping that weigh 60lbs on eBay. I'm pretty sure if I were to ship a 60lb item from the USA to Japan that it would cost more than $300 in shipping alone. |
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(1) High $800 USA de minimus exemptions (which are going away end of this month**). Compare that to about $70 exemptions in Japan. It's one-sided postal/shipping trade policy. In effect, shipping here was cheap. But us shipping there was not. Our (USA people) had/paid higher outbound shipping costs paid for their (Japan shippers) costs to collect duties/tariffs (or rather associated fees/costs incurred by duties/tariffs). They (Japanese people) effectively did not fully pay to import, we (USA people) paid some of that as the exporter. Inversely, USA (government) collected nothing, thus charged nothing, and they (Japanese people) got cheap shipping costs to export. Due note that they (Japanese people/businesses) still paid duties/tariffs (to Japan government) beyond what we (the USA shippers) baked into shipping costs. This isn't 100% accurate, but close enough for a paragraph here. (**And regardless of political affiliation in USA, you should hate de minimum exemptions. This has allowed China to inundate us with low-quality low-cost crap, as subsidized by the Chinese government. It was a form of economic warfare started by China, to disrupt "western" North American and European industries.) (2) Forex, aka the exchange rates. The Yen has been lower than USD for the past 25 years. Lower Yen allowed cheaper shipping. After August 2025, this will all change. So buy now, or probably never buy it. I ordered something I wanted from Australia, and it gets here this week. Pricing for it will be 25% higher come next month. |
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All in all, after taking off those potential aftercosts it's about the price of a New York City Pizza in California :laugh:. More budget to try other niche Japanese VCR's and document them. I saw many cheaper deals as well that were "tested, playback working" which were tempting. I'm talking $20-30 cheap (as they should be for questionable/parts VCR's.) Quote:
That said here is my latest compilation for you to edit into my initial post LS, and I will also drop a handful of translated manuals, and one English European manual for the European version of the HR-DVS3. Also, LS if you could change the title of the post to something more appropriate and fix my spelling error. Something like "Late Model Japanese TBC+DNR S-VHS VCR's?" -Feel free to take liberty on the naming. -- merged -- I was able to verify a few more, as well as discover a few hidden gems scouring Yahoo auctions in Japan. Ignore the last chart, here is the most updated chart below. LS edit -- merged table into 1st post. :congrats: |
Alright, I've made your most recent merge, as requested. :)
I'm not entirely convinced that DVS3, SR-V10, V101, are Japanese in any way. That info seems wrong to me. What is your source on it? That may need to be removed. Only the "VX" and "VF" JVC models appear to truly be Japanese. I also wants to stress the fact that some of these models are not safe for shipping. For example, do not ship models based on the SR-VS10 or VS20, those are fragile. I have reinforced deck areas with Gorilla Tape, double-padded (5+ layers large bubbles), and used oversized boxes full of peanuts -- and it sometimes made no difference to shipping damage on certain known-fragile models. The DVS3 should only be shipped with proper padding and thick boxes -- something most sellers do not do (either from ignorance, cheapness, or laziness). Not all decks are suggested for overseas shipping. |
Thank you so much, I really do appreciate the help and effort, deeply. I've been learning from you for years and I appreciate all you do for the community. You're a real superhero in my book.
The DVS3 states in the European manual I posted that it has TBC and 3-DNR. I can also link firm examples of Japanese Victor HR-DVS3's existing. The only missing link is whether the European version and the Japanese version are both similar enough to have TBC/DNR. Unless I'm missing something (like it was made too early.) As far as the other 2, that is a good catch, while they seemed very likely, I cannot 100% verify that they exist and they're one of the few (a few Victors) I relied on the Assistant for, but feel free to remove them if you'd like, please and thank you:) Which made me revisit 2 more assumptions I made. Because I found evidence of the HR-VXG1, VXG100, VXG200, & VXG300. I assumed HR-VXG2 and VXG3 exist and have the same TBC/DNR as the rest. However I cannot confirm them, as I can't find a trace of them. Besides that I believe everything else on the list has been verified pretty well. Of course I cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, but I tried my best And i didn't rely on my assistant for most of it (you can tell the difference in the notes:laugh:) Thanks again, this has been a journey, and all your help around here has been invaluable, I cannot have done this without your collective wisdom. I hope to compare a few Japanese VCR's side by side when the time comes. |
We can safely take off the "claimed TBC unverified" Mitsubishi VCR's (HV-S300, HV-BS300) off the list. I have been able to confirm from a Japanese press release that they did not get a TBC. Though many ads claim they do indeed have one! Be careful and always verify! It's their older brother that has it.
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I thought this was interesting enough to make another post, I found a reference on a website I couldn't access (forbidden server error) I was able to retrieve it on archive. It's a Japanese forum thread from 2015, there are links to 8 more threads just like it at the top but they were not archived.
I translated it and archived it. I've attached it below. I wasn't able to get through the whole thing today but there is a lot of good info about Japanese workflows. I will eventually make another post for discussion, and post a finished chart on Passthrough TBC's made in the Japanese Market (like some of the Panasonic DMR series.) There are even a few combo recorders like the DMR-E70V with S-VHS players, TBC and all, and the TBC even seems to be passthrough. Unfortunately the S-video Output is only good for the DVD portion, so that's Unfortunate. I do however have a small list I've compiled of VCR's I need to verify and put on the list, so I will do that tomorrow most likely. Are these Japanese DMR's as good as the ES10/ES15? Stay tuned.. I just might pick one up to compare to my ES10. |
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I'm not interested in a combo unit, rather a dvd recorder. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here, just make comparisons for budget items. I don't think there's any harm in that.
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My opinion - mission impossible. If you need good VCR with TBC, find a good VCR with TBC, they are all listed in this forum. But your search looks like "I want Porsche but for the price of Opel, maybe somewhere is Porsche for that price, but only difference is in hieroglyphs instead of Latin letters." No. There are Japanese analogs for Japanese market only but they cost about the same.
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