DIYbanter - Sony VCR repair in Atlanta -- seeking good tech

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Sony VCR repair in Atlanta -- seeking good tech

I have a Sony SLV-696HF VCR that won't playback or record. I can take
any tape (recorded by others, commercially recorded, anything) and it
plays back only garbage video (looks like blank tape to me) but perfect
audio. If I record on a tape in that deck and then playback on another
good deck, the tape shows nothing (don't know about audio). I already
tried a head cleaner :)

Some scouring on the net resulted in finding the following on
http://www.anatekcorp.com/faq/archvcr.htm :

Question:
Sony VCR #SLV-700HF no playback. Video unit will record fine
(played back on another vcr). Jail bar picture. No signal output
on IC801 on RP-149 pcb pin #20 + voltage does not vary from record
to playback as it should. Sound is perfect. Does this chip go bad
or am I overlooking another circuit? Logic voltages are ok.
Answer:
I found IC801, part#8-759-046-75 to be causing the jailbar
playback. After replacing the IC on the head preamp voltage on
pin #23 varied from record/playback as it should. Make sure you
replace the ground shields around the pcb!!!! If you don't it
still looks like you have a problem (noisy picture,no color,looks
like tracking off or dirty heads!)

This is the closest thing I found to my problem, although I can't even
record so it's not the same. Further, my model is a 696 not a 700, but
that's real close :)

If anyone has any specific tips, or knows that the above path applies
to my model, I'd love to hear it. I'm a electrical engineer so I just
need to be pointed in the right direction with a few troubleshooting
steps. It's otherwise a great VCR so I'd like to salvage it if
possible rather than just buy a crappy new one that'll eat tapes in 18
months.

Barring tech tips, can anyone recommend a good VCR repair shop in the
Atlanta area? Sony doesn't list any authorized repair shops, just says
they'll exchange it from their factory "with a comparable model". I'd
rather find a good local guy and give him my money to do a likely easy
fix on an otherwise solid machine.

No replies, so I'm doing a shameless bump. Any techs to recommend in
the Atlanta area? I've already been taken to the cleaners twice this
month on car and appliance repairs, I really don't need to do it again
with VCR repair ...

wrote:
I have a Sony SLV-696HF VCR that won't playback or record. I can
take
any tape (recorded by others, commercially recorded, anything) and it
plays back only garbage video (looks like blank tape to me) but
perfect
audio. If I record on a tape in that deck and then playback on
another
good deck, the tape shows nothing (don't know about audio). I
already
tried a head cleaner :)

Some scouring on the net resulted in finding the following on
http://www.anatekcorp.com/faq/archvcr.htm :

Question:
Sony VCR #SLV-700HF no playback. Video unit will record fine
(played back on another vcr). Jail bar picture. No signal output
on IC801 on RP-149 pcb pin #20 + voltage does not vary from record
to playback as it should. Sound is perfect. Does this chip go bad
or am I overlooking another circuit? Logic voltages are ok.
Answer:
I found IC801, part#8-759-046-75 to be causing the jailbar
playback. After replacing the IC on the head preamp voltage on

Have you inspected the video heads yet?
pin #23 varied from record/playback as it should. Make sure you
replace the ground shields around the pcb!!!! If you don't it
still looks like you have a problem (noisy picture,no color,looks
like tracking off or dirty heads!)

This is the closest thing I found to my problem, although I can't
even
record so it's not the same. Further, my model is a 696 not a 700,
but
that's real close :)

If anyone has any specific tips, or knows that the above path applies
to my model, I'd love to hear it. I'm a electrical engineer so I
just
need to be pointed in the right direction with a few troubleshooting
steps. It's otherwise a great VCR so I'd like to salvage it if
possible rather than just buy a crappy new one that'll eat tapes in
18
months.

Barring tech tips, can anyone recommend a good VCR repair shop in the
Atlanta area? Sony doesn't list any authorized repair shops, just
says
they'll exchange it from their factory "with a comparable model".
I'd
rather find a good local guy and give him my money to do a likely
easy
fix on an otherwise solid machine.

If you record on this machine and then play it back on the SAME
machine, does that work well? If so, I'd say that the tracking is
simply off.

Nope, same behavior. Static pure as the driven snow :)

Try adjusting the tracking while viewing a self recorded tape. If
that doesn't seem to have any effect at all, then there must be a
problem with the tracking adjustment/control circuit.

Could a tracking problem, even a severe one, be bad enough to cause all
videotapes to display absolutely nothing but static?

Have you inspected the video heads yet?

No. What should I look for? (note: I'm an EE but not a VCR repair
tech)

Otherwise, there are lots of links in the video chain, and the
problem could be anywhere along it.

OK, thanks, I'll give it a shot. But assuming that goes nowhere, I'm
back to the subject of this thread. Can anyone recommend a good repair
shop in the Atlanta area?

what year is the vcr from?

i ahve had to replace recently the caps on the head preamp board (which
had leaked) of a hitachi vcr from the early 90s which had similar
problems to yours. You could try that first.
-Ben