VCR Repair - Time to Call it Quits?

[Chris F.]

Judging from the amount of dust collecting on a stack of for-sale VCRs, in
my shop, I'd say the market is pretty much dead. Nobody is buying used VCRs,
and very few people are bothering to bring their own machines in for
estimates (and, only a few of them ever authorize a repair). I have a
storage building with piles of old VCRs stacked up to 8 feet high, not to
mention hundreds of old video heads and other parts stored elsewhere. With
virtually no use for the stuff, it seems pointless to allow it to use up
valuable space.
The heads are what I'm wondering about now - I'm sorting through them and
picking out the ones I don't need, and I'm considering putting the rejects
up for auction on Ebay. Not sure if anyone would buy them or not. 10 or 15
years ago, this stuff would have been worth thousands.
TV sales aren't faring much better, and I think within a few years we'll
all be looking for new jobs......
What's wrong with society, that people have become so wasteful and no
longer appreciate quality?

 

[Ian Molton]

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 00:01:07 GMT
"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote:

What's wrong with society, that people have become so wasteful and no
longer appreciate quality?

Simple - we dont charge people enough for disposal and/or littering.

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.

 

[James Sweet]

"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:71NDb.13544$IF6.604395@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...

Judging from the amount of dust collecting on a stack of for-sale VCRs,
in
my shop, I'd say the market is pretty much dead. Nobody is buying used
VCRs,
and very few people are bothering to bring their own machines in for
estimates (and, only a few of them ever authorize a repair). I have a
storage building with piles of old VCRs stacked up to 8 feet high, not to
mention hundreds of old video heads and other parts stored elsewhere. With
virtually no use for the stuff, it seems pointless to allow it to use up
valuable space.
The heads are what I'm wondering about now - I'm sorting through them
and
picking out the ones I don't need, and I'm considering putting the rejects
up for auction on Ebay. Not sure if anyone would buy them or not. 10 or 15
years ago, this stuff would have been worth thousands.
TV sales aren't faring much better, and I think within a few years we'll
all be looking for new jobs......
What's wrong with society, that people have become so wasteful and no
longer appreciate quality?

Well with VCR's I think a lot of it is just that DVD has caught on. I have a
few excellent Sony VCR's that I keep in good repair, however even so I
almost never use them. DVD's are so much more convenient, smaller, no
rewinding, random access, very noticeably better picture quality, and the
players are dirt cheap. Unlike VCR's, even a cheap DVD player will have an
excellent picture, though I agree that everything is too cheaply made these
days, can't find anything high quality.

 

[Ken G.]

Yep throw the stuff away .. I work in a place that sells some new
electronics that were store returns ``salvage`` The vcr sales have
almost stopped . they will buy the boxed ones probably for gifts . We
have the mono panasonics down to 20$ stereo 40$ new in box .

Free yourself from the piles of clutter . maybe keep some of the very
best ones with remotes & keep those to sell to those who come in with a
broken one .

 

[Impmon]

"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:71NDb.13544$IF6.604395@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...

Judging from the amount of dust collecting on a stack of for-sale VCRs,
in
my shop, I'd say the market is pretty much dead. Nobody is buying used
VCRs,
and very few people are bothering to bring their own machines in for
estimates (and, only a few of them ever authorize a repair). I have a
storage building with piles of old VCRs stacked up to 8 feet high, not to
mention hundreds of old video heads and other parts stored elsewhere. With
virtually no use for the stuff, it seems pointless to allow it to use up
valuable space.

I have quite a few VCRs around as well.

The heads are what I'm wondering about now - I'm sorting through them
and
picking out the ones I don't need, and I'm considering putting the rejects
up for auction on Ebay. Not sure if anyone would buy them or not. 10 or 15
years ago, this stuff would have been worth thousands.

Good luck. If you have a list of VCR model(s) that works with the
replacement head, be sure to list them so someone looking for a new head for
their VCR can find your auction.

TV sales aren't faring much better, and I think within a few years we'll
all be looking for new jobs......

Well, the 4:3 TV are quite cheap but in a few years, 4:3 TV will be obsolete
and we'd have to contend with HDTV, 16:9 NTSC TV, as well as LCD and plasma.
For a couple grands, repair is usually worth it on those TVs.

What's wrong with society, that people have become so wasteful and no
longer appreciate quality?

When you can get a new VCR for under $40 and new DVD player for the same,
it's often faster and cheaper than waiting for their old player to be fixed.

--
To reply, replace digi.mon with tds.net

 

[Alan Peterman]

With new name brand stereo VCR's in the $40 range on sale, it's pretty hard to
justify any repair on a used one. Frankly the low prices on these decks, and
consumer electronics in general is making repair and sale of used gear pretty
problematic. In the 70's I had a used electronics store - we sold used Betamax
decks for $500-700 for a while, and even up to 1993 or so a decent used HiFi VCR
would be worth $100 or so. Now, there's just no way to compete with the new
cheap gear. And with the imminent changes coming with digital TV broadcast
there's no real way to justify spending a lot on gear that will be obsolete
before the end of the decade.

Sigh.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Peterman al at scn.rain.com Tigard, OR
As I grow older, the days seem longer and the years seem shorter.

 

[MarkC]

I spent all of the 90's making a living from VCR repair but because the
price had fallen so much (when DVD players hit the market) I quit
working on them a few years ago. I had around 700 parts VCRs & I gave
about 75% to other techs & the rest to a recycling place where at least
they'll get recycled instead of becoming landfill. Most of the money I
make today is from repairing the bigger 27" & up TVs (I rarely see
anything smaller because in my town you can buy new 13"-20" sets for
$50-$100). I do some selected service calls (I stick to the chassis I'm
familiar with & don't work on big-screens) & pick-ups & deliveries. I
also buy broken 31"-36" TVs for $20-$50 & then recondition them & sell
them for $200 & up depending on their age & features. You've usually
really got to hustle to make a living at it nowadays. The techs that
will
do service calls on big-screens still have an edge & if you have some
hotel/motel accounts that really helps also. When the HD TVs start
breaking down then that will bring in some much needed cash. I hope that
they won't be a pain to work on.
Mark



"Judging from the amount of dust collecting on a stack of for-sale VCRs,
in my shop, I'd say the market is pretty much dead. Nobody is buying
used VCRs, and very few people are bothering to bring their own machines
in for estimates (and, only a few of them ever authorize a repair). I
have a storage building with piles of old VCRs stacked up to 8 feet
high, not to mention hundreds of old video heads and other parts stored
elsewhere. With virtually no use for the stuff, it seems pointless to
allow it to use up valuable space.
    The heads are what I'm wondering about now - I'm sorting
through them and picking out the ones I don't need, and I'm considering
putting the rejects up for auction on Ebay. Not sure if anyone would buy
them or not. 10 or 15 years ago, this stuff would have been worth
thousands.
    TV sales aren't faring much better, and I think within a few
years we'll all be looking for new jobs......
    What's wrong with society, that people have become so
wasteful and no longer appreciate quality?

 

[Chris F.]

Mark wrote :

hotel/motel accounts that really helps also. When the HD TVs start
breaking down then that will bring in some much needed cash. I hope that
they won't be a pain to work on.
Mark

Well I have a feeling they will be even worse to work on. As time goes on,
stuff is being made less and less serviceable. I had a 3-year-old Samsung
VCR came in the other day, the idler gears were out of position and the
entire idler assembly was permanently sealed. I also notice that newer VCRs
have the loaders built right into the steel chassis. There's just simply no
way to service these things!
When the time comes to quit the electronics business, I might even become an
anti-TV advocate. Personally I think television is destroying our society,
and my conscience suggests that by working in this industry I'm only adding
to the problem.
--------

 

[Sofie]

"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message

When the time comes to quit the electronics business, I might even become
an
anti-TV advocate. Personally I think television is destroying our society,
and my conscience suggests that by working in this industry I'm only
adding
to the problem.
------------------------------------

Chris F:
Do you think that "television" is destroying our society any more than
computers and the internet are? ......
Maybe join the Amish or the Quakers and get rid of modern technology
altogether and live the simple life..... probably live longer.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
-------------------------

 

[Chris F.]

Well to be honest, I believe that all information mediums - TV, internet,
etc - can be used for either good or evil. It just seems that evil seems to
be the most prevalent. TV seems to be the most effective way to spread
messages or ideas - good or evil - since the viewer is doing very little
actual thinking. One doesn't have to look far, to see how bad TV programming
has become. Sexual filth and perversion, merciless violence, frequent use of
profanity ("The Osbournes"), negative attitudes towards religious groups and
other minorities, are just some of the things that saturate virtually every
aspect of TV programming. Even the evening news has to be viewed with
discretion.
Television, used in moderation and with discretion, has the ability to
enrich our lives. But instead, many people spend countless hours absorbing
every bit of mindless garbage that their satellite dish can pump out, while
at the same time absorbing as many calories as they can stuff into their
mouths. We are also now seeing the harmful effects on children - childhood
obesity, poor academic skills, inability to entertain oneself without
TV/internet/etc.
But enough of my ranting - for some more objective advice, I suggest you
look around on the following site:
http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_front.asp
There really isn't anything wrong with TV, we just have to learn to use it
with better discretion. And if we can't learn to do that, perhaps we're
better off without it......

"Sofie" <sofie@olypen.com> wrote in message
news:vu10ql2av8oc80@corp.supernews.com...

"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
When the time comes to quit the electronics business, I might even
become
an
anti-TV advocate. Personally I think television is destroying our
society,
and my conscience suggests that by working in this industry I'm only
adding
to the problem.
------------------------------------

Chris F:
Do you think that "television" is destroying our society any more than
computers and the internet are? ......
Maybe join the Amish or the Quakers and get rid of modern technology
altogether and live the simple life..... probably live longer.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
-------------------------

 

[LASERandDVDfan]

If you are going to throw out NOS video heads, you wouldn't happen to be
selling replacements for Akai VCRs and Betamax decks in general? - Reinhart

 

[Andre]

"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<WC1Eb.14162$IF6.627419@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca>...

Well to be honest, I believe that all information mediums - TV, internet,
etc - can be used for either good or evil. It just seems that evil seems to
be the most prevalent. TV seems to be the most effective way to spread
messages or ideas - good or evil - since the viewer is doing very little
actual thinking. One doesn't have to look far, to see how bad TV programming
has become. Sexual filth and perversion, merciless violence, frequent use of
profanity ("The Osbournes"), negative attitudes towards religious groups and
other minorities, are just some of the things that saturate virtually every
aspect of TV programming. Even the evening news has to be viewed with
discretion.
Television, used in moderation and with discretion, has the ability to
enrich our lives. But instead, many people spend countless hours absorbing
every bit of mindless garbage that their satellite dish can pump out, while
at the same time absorbing as many calories as they can stuff into their
mouths. We are also now seeing the harmful effects on children - childhood
obesity, poor academic skills, inability to entertain oneself without
TV/internet/etc.

Hmm. Hopefully when the X-80 class solar flare in about a year's time
wipes our "advanced" technology off the face of the Earth, society
will realise that depending on technology is a negative survival
trait.

Just my $0.02 worth.

-A

But enough of my ranting - for some more objective advice, I suggest you
look around on the following site:
http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_front.asp
There really isn't anything wrong with TV, we just have to learn to use it
with better discretion. And if we can't learn to do that, perhaps we're
better off without it......

"Sofie" <sofie@olypen.com> wrote in message
news:vu10ql2av8oc80@corp.supernews.com...
"Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com> wrote in message
When the time comes to quit the electronics business, I might even
become
an
anti-TV advocate. Personally I think television is destroying our
society,
and my conscience suggests that by working in this industry I'm only
adding
to the problem.
------------------------------------

Chris F:
Do you think that "television" is destroying our society any more than
computers and the internet are? ......
Maybe join the Amish or the Quakers and get rid of modern technology
altogether and live the simple life..... probably live longer.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
-------------------------

 

[Chris F.]

I only have one Betamax head and 2 or 3 Akai's, they aren't in the bunch
I'm putting on Ebay. The only reason I kept the Akai's is because I have a
beautiful (but worthless) VS-6U that I want to restore someday. For a
top-loader, it's quite fancy - Dolby sound (mono), full numeric keypad, full
direct drive tape handling, etc.
Why, are Akai heads valuable?
BTW these are used-but-good, not NOS.

"LASERandDVDfan" <laseranddvdfan@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20031217170148.08055.00000996@mb-m16.aol.com...

If you are going to throw out NOS video heads, you wouldn't happen to be
selling replacements for Akai VCRs and Betamax decks in general? -
Reinhart

 

[Andy Cuffe]

Chris F. wrote:

I only have one Betamax head and 2 or 3 Akai's, they aren't in the bunch
I'm putting on Ebay. The only reason I kept the Akai's is because I have a
beautiful (but worthless) VS-6U that I want to restore someday. For a
top-loader, it's quite fancy - Dolby sound (mono), full numeric keypad, full
direct drive tape handling, etc.
Why, are Akai heads valuable?
BTW these are used-but-good, not NOS.

Dolby on a mono VCR? I've never even heard of that. Is it stereo with
a mono tuner?
--
Andy Cuffe
baltimora@psu.edu

 

[Brett]

markcharles@webtv.net (MarkC) wrote in message news:<7659-3FDFE645-391@storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net>...

I spent all of the 90's making a living from VCR repair but because the
price had fallen so much (when DVD players hit the market) I quit
working on them a few years ago. I had around 700 parts VCRs & I gave
about 75% to other techs & the rest to a recycling place where at least
they'll get recycled instead of becoming landfill. Most of the money I
make today is from repairing the bigger 27" & up TVs (I rarely see
anything smaller because in my town you can buy new 13"-20" sets for
$50-$100). I do some selected service calls (I stick to the chassis I'm
familiar with & don't work on big-screens) & pick-ups & deliveries. I
also buy broken 31"-36" TVs for $20-$50 & then recondition them & sell
them for $200 & up depending on their age & features. You've usually
really got to hustle to make a living at it nowadays. The techs that
will
do service calls on big-screens still have an edge & if you have some
hotel/motel accounts that really helps also. When the HD TVs start
breaking down then that will bring in some much needed cash. I hope that
they won't be a pain to work on.
Mark



"Judging from the amount of dust collecting on a stack of for-sale VCRs,
in my shop, I'd say the market is pretty much dead. Nobody is buying
used VCRs, and very few people are bothering to bring their own machines
in for estimates (and, only a few of them ever authorize a repair). I
have a storage building with piles of old VCRs stacked up to 8 feet
high, not to mention hundreds of old video heads and other parts stored
elsewhere. With virtually no use for the stuff, it seems pointless to
allow it to use up valuable space.
The heads are what I'm wondering about now - I'm sorting
through them and picking out the ones I don't need, and I'm considering
putting the rejects up for auction on Ebay. Not sure if anyone would buy
them or not. 10 or 15 years ago, this stuff would have been worth
thousands.
TV sales aren't faring much better, and I think within a few
years we'll all be looking for new jobs......
What's wrong with society, that people have become so
wasteful and no longer appreciate quality?

Mark:

The idea is to be on the leading edge of a trend not the end.
My 36" Sony WEGA is so heavy it took me and my mife to lift
just one end on the floor stand. There is defenately a chage
in the air it is High Tech Flat screens of all kinds. Provide
service for your local sales, Circuit City, Best Buy etc., either
becoming certified by the Manufacturer for field service or
turning your business into a service center for the Manufacturers.

This is a leading edge trend that will provide profit, it
just requires a will to succeed in todays new business structures,
and a good hand truck to bring these monsters back to the shop
when field service is not possible. Charge a delivery fee say like
$35.00 up, Home Depot is $50.00 now. It took sliding pushing the box
to get a 36" Sony into the house from my van. I would have never
guessed it weighed over 190 pounds and is bulky no where to lift.
This was a one time deal in my book and would't do it again.

Don't give up just change the rules of engagement:

Best holiday wishes to all !!

Brett

 

[klm]

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:53:42 GMT, "Chris F." <zappyman@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Well to be honest, I believe that all information mediums - TV, internet,
etc - can be used for either good or evil. It just seems that evil seems to
be the most prevalent. TV seems to be the most effective way to spread
messages or ideas - good or evil - since the viewer is doing very little
actual thinking. One doesn't have to look far, to see how bad TV programming
has become. Sexual filth and perversion, merciless violence, frequent use of
profanity ("The Osbournes"), negative attitudes towards religious groups and
other minorities, are just some of the things that saturate virtually every
aspect of TV programming. Even the evening news has to be viewed with
discretion.

Do have faith in mankind. You remember that not too long ago the idea
of a 500 channel 24hour TV universe was going to be the next big
thing?

 

[Chris F.]

I'm pretty sure it's mono only (no stereo audio jacks). It is rather
unusual, and this is part of the novelty that allowed it to be spared from
my last several spring cleanings.

"Andy Cuffe" <baltimora@psu.edu> wrote in message
news:3FE12DC6.4DCB@psu.edu...

Chris F. wrote:

I only have one Betamax head and 2 or 3 Akai's, they aren't in the
bunch
I'm putting on Ebay. The only reason I kept the Akai's is because I have
a
beautiful (but worthless) VS-6U that I want to restore someday. For a
top-loader, it's quite fancy - Dolby sound (mono), full numeric keypad,
full
direct drive tape handling, etc.
Why, are Akai heads valuable?
BTW these are used-but-good, not NOS.



Dolby on a mono VCR? I've never even heard of that. Is it stereo with
a mono tuner?
--
Andy Cuffe
baltimora@psu.edu