1982 Magnavox (Rebadged Panasonic) VHS Top Loader and 1970 Sony KV-1212 Trinitron TV

[Pugslee3]

The top design looks a lot like a old nes with those vent slits!

[TEACHYOUTEEWHY]

I LOVE THAT VCR!!

[Jediiii]

I was a fan of "Betamax" back in those days. IMO way better than VHS in both Video and Audio.

[Sharkie626]

Great vintage pice! One thing I really liked about these older VCRs is that the rollers only pulled the tape to the playback head when playing and put it back when stopped. Less wear that way.

[GPatsos]

I have the panasonic NV-333. Must be the original.

[METALMAN4Wii]

Wait wired remote didn't wireless remotes exist since the 1970's....?

[KISSarmyGuy]

That thing is like a tank.

I love it!

[timforsyth89]

OMG that looks exactly like the one i had

[azshaw123]

Love your videos..I could watch them all nite..Thanks my friend from manchester england in the uk!

[cameron20101000]

i got a magnavox vcrs it's from 2009 and 2005 one in hi-fi and one in mono it includes SP & SLP.

[Watcher3223]

The capstan is driven by its own motor connected to a belt; the idler tire you see between the take up reel and the capstan post is what drives the take up idler during play.

[philosoma9]

amazing classic one

[SWO4LIFE]

now thats a classic!

[rick62008]

How to you fix a slipping tire?

Do you have to replace the whole assembly or do you only replace the rubber around it?

Will a belt with a matching size do the trick?

[MRLOL785]

Would these be any good for converting tapes with bad control tracks?

[spatsbear2]

@MRLOL785 The older ones seem to handle it better.

[MRLOL785]

@spatsbear2 That seems about right. They had manual control for the speed and audio, so I guess they wouldn't sense a drop out in the ctrl. track and go nuts.

[Watcher3223]

@MRLOL785

VCRs, even those of this vintage, did not have manual speed control for playback. The control track is what identifies tape speed.

A big reason why modern VCRs tend to go bonkers with a bad control track is because the control track plays a major part of a modern VCR's automatic tracking control. Older decks like these, of course, use a manual tracking control.

[gli7utubeo]

My old 1985 top-loading Panasonic VCR has those same tiny tuner switches with the V(low)/V(high) setting. Nice unit. Thanks for the vid!

[3y3raven]

the reason you love top-loaders is because THEY DON'T EAT TAPES!! XD

im like you i would love to have an old top-loader

[TheNascarfan14]

what model is it?????

[PupuTheClown]

When I was quite young and looked frequently in the newspaper for these VCRs I always remember all the different brands looking the same, Magnavox, Curtis Mathes, Quasar, Sylvania, RCA, Philco, GE, Panasonic.

[johnbourbon]

sonofabitch, we had this very vcr. wow!

[jajvick]

A great machine

[RealSkyDiver2]

U can smack a PS3 with that thing...

[briteidea08]

My folks had a vcr like this. On the end where the channels are located you can pull out and renumber what channels

[ada19851985]

Question: Why do all these Panasonic made vcrs from that era early to mid 1980s have a arching noise when you plug them in? I notice over time the display goes out first than the vcr goes completely dead.. Does anyone know what I'm talking about..It seems to be a common issue with these VCRS.. I wonder if the transformer goes or if a few electronic caps needing to be replaced..everyone of these I've come across in my life haves an arching noise when p[lugged into an outlet..

[MRLOL785]

I love the old top loaders, it just screams " Lasts long!!"

[dashwarts]

I guess the GE 1VCR4002X was a rebadged Panasonic as well... Very similar (some stuff was rearranged, but the top loader mech, spooler mech, tuner lights, and tuner adjust are all the same.)

[ISSI7681]

I had (I may still have it) an old JVC VCR from 1978. It was a top loader but it went up to channel 99.

Also my wired remote had all those bottons your has, (except for search) and it had volume up and down and channel up and down.

[chickeninthebreadpen]

Wow! I have the same exact style/ design vcr, but panasonic. It's an '85 and the buttons on the front are different.

[AugustoAAL]

I have an a panasonic G9,and it makes the same scratch noyse when you press the stop function,what it can be?

[WinVistaUser2]

Dude, nice VCR. I think in Napoleon Dynamyte, they have those kinds of VCRs,

I have a VCR/DVD Combo. Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ForgetfulCollector]

Hey, I just bought one of those at a thrift store! The only difference was that it was made December of '82, and it has big analog knobs like on older TV sets, apart from other minor differences.

It's odd that mine still works like new except it won't record in Standard Play. That and the remote is missing... Still in all, its a cool VCR, they just don't make them like that anymore.

[bbishoppcm]

I spent most of my middle school years repairing Panasonic OmniVisions for my own use. The neighbors would give me their junk units and I'd use the parts to fix mine... then it would die and I'd take parts from another unit. I love the mid-80s OmniVision units and their rebadged variants.

[floridapig]

But the case on that unit looks much like the Sanyo Beta top loaders of that era.. The very first front loading VCR is the Sony Betamax SL-5000 from 1981. Notice how JVC's VHS copied Sony's Betamax

[spatsbear2]

I actually have an SL-5000. Belts and tires in it are actually still good in it. That one is a tank.

[floridapig]

The SL-5000 Betamax vcrs are built like tanks, they pretty much still used the same parts as those big clanking top loaders did.. Those SL-5000 betamax vcrs are great, as long as you replace the defected capacitors on the service board, which cause playback problems. if those belts are original, I'm surprised they are still working, usually the rewind starts to become weak once they start wearing

[spatsbear2]

Well, at least they were still good last time I tried it.

I haven't restored it yet. I'll be getting to a lot of things within the next year or so. And yes, it is plagued with the bad caps. It loses sync after about 15 minutes of being on. And even the clock has problems too, behaving like bad caps as well....

[floridapig]

hum, I've never seen on with clock problems..

[floridapig]

Many manufactures were relabeled Panasonics. GE, Sylvania, to name a few. The early front loaders were mechanically the same as that one, tho the front display say, play rew, and ff etc. most of those had problems with the power supply after many years of use..

[EmersonCollie]

Wow for a top loader it is very quiet. I like those top loader vcrs and wired remotes.

[coondogtheman1234]

My preschool had a top loader Model like this. at the time my parents had an old front loading fisher VCR but it broke and wouldnt play tapes but my friends used if as an RF modulator for their playstation and it had those fine tuning controls on the front. the fisher i had wouldnt FF or Rew good had to do it in play mode or use a rewinder. my RCA selecta-vision VCR has a wired remote like this one, man they dont make cartoons like this anymore heathcliff was classic.

[AnalogueAudio1985]

You know, I really want one of those top loaders. And I LOVE the little channel push buttons!

And that's cool how it's got a wired remote! Hehe that's so awesome!

we had a top loader when I was a little kid. I think it was a JVC; it had the giant colour coded play/rew/ff/stop/rec buttons.

[spatsbear2]

I have that very model top loader you are referring to. It is from 1981, and that was the one with the tungsten lamp in it.

That one the belts are so far gone, it won't even load a tape. Though I haven't even had a chance to get to it yet.

I have a lot of projects ahead of me.

[DieselPoweredHamster]

Reminds me of an oldskool NES console.

[Trance88]

Oh man! How could I forget! I loved heathcliff when I was little!! Haven't seen it in over 10 years.

[Trance88]

"Top loader machines are awesome"

You got that right!!! "Pop tops" RULE!! I had one for a short period that sadly only played a tape once when I had it.

I recently picked up a Sony trinitron from May 1984 Model no. KV-1362. It's about a 13 inch. It's got some minor problems like distorted audio past mid level and a slight focus problem in the left bottom corner but overall a very sharp picture!

I hope to see a video of this VCR working properly!!

[CoolDudeClem]

VHS will outlive DVD. If you get a new DVD recorder or player now, by the time it stops working, the VHS will still be going strong!

[DvdXploitr]

@CoolDudeClem my 1984 Curtis Mathis VHS still works PERFECTLY!  yet my parents DVD player barely reads disks

[retrochad]

I really like the VCR and TV and that particular Heathcliff episode is just awesome! I saw a two-manual organ, plus an exremely powerful vintage electric fan and a classic Cadillac plus animated cats!

[ess1898]

I used to have one just like these except I had the metal case version. I had the wired remote and everything. I really wish i still had it. but I loaned it out to a friend and it got infested with roaches at his place. which really sucks. top loaders are so much better because you don't have to take the whole VCR apart to rescue a stuck tape. I also love how every function is on the console on these no stupid easily lost remote just to use the tracking, they should makeapliances like this again

[Organgrinder010]

Wow. I can't wait to see this one. :D

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

VERY NICE!

[Maxxarcade]

Now that's in interesting one! Big case, small buttons, idler drive capstan, ac outlet...

I like the sliding door on the front. Keeps the RCA jacks clean and stuff.

OMG Heathcliff, I haven't seen that in forever.

[Silverwolfstarz]

that is a nice VCR and that Tv got great color