Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.

Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

What could be the problem?

M

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

Matti wrote:
This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.

Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

What could be the problem?

M


This is an easy one. It WONT work with American televisions the color
frequencies are different in PAL systems than they are in NTSC systems.

Jim

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

Jim Poore wrote:
Matti wrote:

This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.

Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

What could be the problem?

M

This is an easy one. It WONT work with American televisions the color
frequencies are different in PAL systems than they are in NTSC systems.

Jim

Oooops I may have spoke too soon. I didnt realize that your email was
from Finland. If you are using an NTSC television then ther will not be
color. If you are using a PAL television then its possible that there
is a switch setting inside the vcr that switches from PAL to NTSC.

Jim

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

On Apr 28, 9:14 pm, "Matti" wrote:
This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.

Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

What could be the problem?

M

firstly, disconnect your aerial from the vcr, so you just have the
video connected by coax to the tv. Then adjust the tv fine tuning, see
if that helps, it may have drifted.
If the colour appears, that may be all the is to it; if when you
reconnect the aerial the pic is b&w, you need to adjust the UHF output
on the vcr (i think this model has a small screw at rear to adjust ch
range: UHF 32-39

of course the modulator could be bad or its supply voltage unstable
due to bad PSU caps, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. let us know
how you get on
-B

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.
Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

This is an easy one. It WONT work with American televisions the color
frequencies are different in PAL systems than they are in NTSC systems.
Oooops I may have spoke too soon. I didnt realize that your email was
from Finland. If you are using an NTSC television then ther will not be
color. If you are using a PAL television then its possible that there is
a switch setting inside the vcr that switches from PAL to NTSC.

Thank you.
The VCR and TV are PAL and they have worked together earlier. The VCR was
disconnected and out of use for several months. Now when I tried to use it
again, the colors were gone.

M

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

firstly, disconnect your aerial from the vcr, so you just have the
video connected by coax to the tv. Then adjust the tv fine tuning, see
if that helps, it may have drifted.
If the colour appears, that may be all the is to it; if when you
reconnect the aerial the pic is b&w, you need to adjust the UHF output
on the vcr (i think this model has a small screw at rear to adjust ch
range: UHF 32-39

of course the modulator could be bad or its supply voltage unstable
due to bad PSU caps, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. let us know
how you get on

Thank you. I tried to fine-tune while aerial was disconnected and the VCR
was playing a cassette, but no help: the pic just went worse. So apparently
the TV tuning is ok.

Otherwise the VCR works fine and the (black-and-white) pic is very good.

M

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

Matti wrote:
This vcr is from 1994. Picture is good and crisp with SCART cable, and
nearly as good with antenna cable, but no colors. Only b/w.

Tried also with other cables and other TV, no difference.

What could be the problem?

M

Does tunning a channel on the VCR show color? If b/w picture is only
from tape it could be the heads have clogged or the recording is weak.
Try another tape or try to make a recording and play it back. The
chroma signal is recorded separately on the tape as a low frequency AM
signal.

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

Does tunning a channel on the VCR show color? If b/w picture is only
from tape it could be the heads have clogged or the recording is weak.
Try another tape or try to make a recording and play it back. The
chroma signal is recorded separately on the tape as a low frequency AM
signal.

When the aerial cable is disconnected and the VCR and TV are connected with
coax, the VCR menus shows fine on TV, with blue background. As soon as I
connect also the aerial cable to the VCR, the screen gets b/w and shows a
lot of disturbances ("snowstorm").

Then I removed the coax cable between VCR and TV, connected them with SCART,
connected the aerial cable to VCR, and switched TV to external input. Now I
can tune channels in VCR, and the channels show with colors on TV screen.
There is however some disturbance in the pictu flickering, fluctuating
grayish horizontal lines. This does not exist when receiving the same
channel with TV receiver. Starting to play a cassette makes the picture b/w.
Another cassette makes no difference.

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

On Apr 29, 5:41 pm, "Matti" wrote:
Does tunning a channel on the VCR show color? If b/w picture is only
from tape it could be the heads have clogged or the recording is weak.
Try another tape or try to make a recording and play it back. The
chroma signal is recorded separately on the tape as a low frequency AM
signal.

When the aerial cable is disconnected and the VCR and TV are connected with
coax, the VCR menus shows fine on TV, with blue background. As soon as I
connect also the aerial cable to the VCR, the screen gets b/w and shows a
lot of disturbances ("snowstorm").

Then I removed the coax cable between VCR and TV, connected them with SCART,
connected the aerial cable to VCR, and switched TV to external input. Now I
can tune channels in VCR, and the channels show with colors on TV screen.
There is however some disturbance in the pictu flickering, fluctuating
grayish horizontal lines. This does not exist when receiving the same
channel with TV receiver. Starting to play a cassette makes the picture b/w.
Another cassette makes no difference.

Sounds like it might be time to recycle the VCR and get a new one, sad
to say,

H. R. (Bob) Hofmann

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

On Apr 30, 12:41 am, "Matti" wrote:
Does tunning a channel on the VCR show color? If b/w picture is only
from tape it could be the heads have clogged or the recording is weak.
Try another tape or try to make a recording and play it back. The
chroma signal is recorded separately on the tape as a low frequency AM
signal.

When the aerial cable is disconnected and the VCR and TV are connected with
coax, the VCR menus shows fine on TV, with blue background. As soon as I
connect also the aerial cable to the VCR, the screen gets b/w and shows a
lot of disturbances ("snowstorm").

Then I removed the coax cable between VCR and TV, connected them with SCART,
connected the aerial cable to VCR, and switched TV to external input. Now I
can tune channels in VCR, and the channels show with colors on TV screen.
There is however some disturbance in the pictu flickering, fluctuating
grayish horizontal lines. This does not exist when receiving the same
channel with TV receiver. Starting to play a cassette makes the picture b/w.
Another cassette makes no difference.

check for dry joints on the main pcb. also look for a little metal 2
legged can in the chroma decoder circuit (pal section - some models
also accept secam)) there should be a number containing 4.43 printed
on it.

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

check for dry joints on the main pcb. also look for a little metal 2
legged can in the chroma decoder circuit (pal section - some models
also accept secam)) there should be a number containing 4.43 printed
on it.

Couldn't find the 4.43 can.

Found some brown stuff under two black-gray condensers in area labeled
"primary" under the same hood where the power inlet is on main pcb. Would it
be worth trying to replace these?

Also a component labeled "Sharp 12SZ11" seems to have been running hot.

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

On Apr 30, 7:00 pm, "Matti" wrote:
check for dry joints on the main pcb. also look for a little metal 2
legged can in the chroma decoder circuit (pal section - some models
also accept secam)) there should be a number containing 4.43 printed
on it.

Couldn't find the 4.43 can.

Found some brown stuff under two black-gray condensers in area labeled
"primary" under the same hood where the power inlet is on main pcb. Would it
be worth trying to replace these?

Also a component labeled "Sharp 12SZ11" seems to have been running hot.

if it is hard stuff then its just glue used at manufacture; if it is
sticky and/or the caps are bulging replace them.
you would probably have other symptoms if the caps were leaking that
badly though.

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

check for dry joints on the main pcb. also look for a little metal 2
legged can in the chroma decoder circuit (pal section - some models
also accept secam)) there should be a number containing 4.43 printed
on it.

Couldn't find the 4.43 can.

Found some brown stuff under two black-gray condensers in area labeled
"primary" under the same hood where the power inlet is on main pcb. Would
it
be worth trying to replace these?

Also a component labeled "Sharp 12SZ11" seems to have been running hot.

if it is hard stuff then its just glue used at manufacture; if it is
sticky and/or the caps are bulging replace them.
you would probably have other symptoms if the caps were leaking that
badly though.

Replaced the two leaking capacitors. The old ones were clearly wet
underneath, and the pcb around them was sticky. But this did not fix
anything.

How can I find the chroma decoder circuit?

Other suggestions? (Yes, the device is old and worth nothing, but I take
this more as an amateur repair challenge.)

Sony VCR SLV-E20 PAL: no colors
 

On May 3, 9:29 pm, "Matti" wrote:
check for dry joints on the main pcb. also look for a little metal 2
legged can in the chroma decoder circuit (pal section - some models
also accept secam)) there should be a number containing 4.43 printed
on it.

Couldn't find the 4.43 can.

Found some brown stuff under two black-gray condensers in area labeled
"primary" under the same hood where the power inlet is on main pcb. Would
it
be worth trying to replace these?

Also a component labeled "Sharp 12SZ11" seems to have been running hot.

if it is hard stuff then its just glue used at manufacture; if it is
sticky and/or the caps are bulging replace them.
you would probably have other symptoms if the caps were leaking that
badly though.

Replaced the two leaking capacitors. The old ones were clearly wet
underneath, and the pcb around them was sticky. But this did not fix
anything.

How can I find the chroma decoder circuit?

Other suggestions? (Yes, the device is old and worth nothing, but I take
this more as an amateur repair challenge.)

check on www.eserviceinfo.com for the service manual or schematic.
also try the e-repair or highlandelectrix tips sites. good luck! -Ben-