On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 09:01:19 +0100, bugbear
wrote:

Two nights ago my VCR refused to play a tape;
the tape was already in, and had been recorded
on timer. The display showed 80 minutes
of recording.

On pressing "play", the head whirred up for
around 20 seconds, an then the VCR when into
"standby" mode.

A little experimentation revealed that this is what
happened regardless of key presses.

In particular, eject didn't work :-(

I removed the case, and noticed that a cam-cog, driven
by a worm gear, appeared to be jamming in some way.

A hefty prod with a finger managed to get it
to travel "fully", and I managed to eject the tape.

Trying to load a (old, unwanted...) tape was futile,
with loading failing with the same jam of the cam-cog,
sometimes accompanied by clicking noises that sounded
like a cog slipping a tooth. The cassette case loaded OK,
and the tape threds over the head OK, but "something"
that the cam-cog does ... doesn't.

The local TV shop has quoted a MINIMUM repair fee of 100 quid,
and VCR's aren't really available on the market right now.

In a bid to save money, and defer the inevitable
(eventual) purchase of a HDD/DVD or PVR box,
I would like to try to get my VCR going again.

It's a five year old Panasonic NV-HS830B, and I've put a wide shot
of the internals, and a close up of the "cam-cog" he

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...830b/video.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...hs830b/cog.jpg

If anyone has tips, advice or experience, I'd be a happy man :-)

BugBear

Well, I can't really help, but I had a JVC VCR that had a similar
problem, but I though it might've been a sensor not detecting the tape
properly. It's not worth paying £100 to get it repaired. I got a
lovely used JVC VCR off Ebay for £20 (top of the range, S-VHS) so I
think that would be your best bet if you need another VCR. Also, try
to look for another Panasonic, so there are no problems playing back
stuff you recorded on your old VCR. My recordings of the JVC don't
play as well on other brands of VCR.

Marky P.