What would make a VCR fast forward when you hit play?

[Billy Golightly]

I have this little VCR that plays 8mm camcorder and Hi8 tapes. Its like a $500 piece of equipment I got for $70 off of ebay(for a reason, evidently). I emailed the seller before I bought it and asked if it worked, they replied it did and they had been just using it recently. :rolleyes: It seems to work, other then when I push play, it instead fast forwards. While its doing that, you can hit pause and see the picture fine. Stop, eject, re-wind, ect all work fine. Sometimes, if you play>pause alot it will like freeze up and wont do anything, then I just eject the tape and put it back in and it works fine. I tried looking around on the sony site for some info but couldn't find nothing. Its probably 15 years old or so, the model is CVD-1000 and like I said its made by Sony. Does anyone know where I can download an owners manual, or even better a service manual? Any ideas on what might be causing the problem and how to fix it? I want to get this thing fixed so I can copy down Nathan's (03OrangeShee) video from Haspin and get it copied down onto DVD or on the computer where I can start editing it but this has me screwed up.

I'll take it to a TV shop or something if I have to but I'd like to fix it myself if I can. I've already had the cover and front panel off. All the wires going to the front buttons seems to be in OK shape and nothing is disconected or shorted out from what I can tell. Theres a little circuit board the buttons themselves are soldered to and then the wires plug into some sort of connector where they are soldered in and then ran back into the machine. Help me! :lol:

[bigredhead]

Are you hitting play on the unit itself or on the remote ? if it's on the remote you may have to re-program it ( might be programmed for another model/brand of something )

If it's on the unit itself that it's doing this... then ..... well.. you got problems.

Have you tried hitting play twice.. like a double click ? might be play x 2 x 4 etc..

Try turning it off.. unplug it.. hold the power button in and plug it while holding the power button.. some sony brand do a memory reset this way.. ( My ES444 amp does it )

[bigredhead]

http://www.eastcoastcontrol.com/manuals/UTCS/UTCS_manual12.htm


Do you have the e-bay link with the picture of it .. google don't give squat.

Does it have a toggle round thing on it to advance play speed.. or reverse speed ? with a middle normal PLAY position ? :lol:

[Billy Golightly]

Yeah theres no remote. They originally came with it but I Dont have one. So its right on the unit. It DID work one time for like 5 seconds, and then I stopped it and put in another tape cause I thought it was fixed, wasn't though :( I've did alot of googling and haven't found nothing either. I think this is kind of rare thing, I dunno though. The Sony site was confusing and I searched for the model # a few times and didn't get anything.

Ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7534548293&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

[Howdy]

Being as it originally had a remote with it, I would do this: Get a universal remote that you can program to work this machine. Heck, I probably have a extra one here ( NEW ) that I could send you to try. You never know it might work good with a remote.
Howdy

[Billy Golightly]

Thats a good idea Howdy...I might see if I can pick one up tomorrow and try it out and see.

[bigredhead]

Is there a setting for HI-8 VHS etc.... they might play at a different rate ???

[Billy Golightly]

Theres an up and down speed button on the front panel, but I've messed with them all along and it hasn't changed the speed of the playback. I dont know if thats for something else or not. I NEED an owners manual for this thing so I can know what the heck I'm doing heh. There isn't a switch for the different types of tapes from what I've seen. I've tried normal 8mm, Super 8mm, and then Hi8, all with the same results.

[bigredhead]

Can you try regular VHS

[Billy Golightly]

no, a VHS tape is way to big in physical size. This isn't a normal VHS VCR, its made for 8mm camcorder tapes.

[Billy Golightly]

http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=topdeck11xd.jpg
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This is the tape carraige and the actual reader upside down. The first one is the bottom deck of the tape carraige thing (For a lack of better term). 2 Screws, and 4 ribbon type wires later and your at the
actual bottom of the tape carraige. The pictures of that are kind of shitty because I couldn't lift the other level completely off, it still had some stuff attaching it. There is a little bit of black grease on a couple gears in the last 4 pictures, but I believe thats there as a lubricant to keep things from getting stuck. Other then that, I dont have a fricken clue what I'm looking at. I didn't see anything right off that looked like a rotary switch, but that doesn't mean its not there. I believe the big gold colored thing is the back half of the gear that actually turns and moves the tape. I dont know about the pancake looking one that is further away.

$5 delivered to anyones Paypal account who can help me get this figured out within the next 48hours.

[TeamGeek6]

Fire it up with a tape in and short the pins on the Play switch with a screwdriver to simulate pushing the switch. See if that puts it in play mode. Could be a bad Play switch, or something in the system control scan (all those buttons go into a microprocessor). Also, un solder the FF switch because it may be collapsed or bouncing. Disconnect the cable to the remote control sensor (if it can be disconnected), Ive seen them send false signals to syscon and do all kinds of strange things. If that doesnt do it, try a remote, that will bypass the circuits for the front panel buttons. If that doesnt work, sys control is shot and it needs to be dropped from a 4th story window.

Black grease is supposed to be there, dont mess with the mechanism, especially that switch or the whole thing is toast. Its a nightmare to put those mechanisms back in time.

Large wheel with gold hub is the capstan motor, it drives the tape, the one in front of it is the motor for the video head.

[Billy Golightly]

Alright heres the scoop on the thing. A couple nights ago I took it down to almost nothing, because someone else on another forum had told me that under the bottom side of the tape reading mechanism there was some type of master switch or rheostat for controling the play speed. I went in search of it and didn't find ****. After I re-assembled it back together and I popped a tape in I realised that I didn't hook up the 2 main wires going to the tape cradle, the power and ground I guess they where (red and black). I took it back apart, plugged those in and since then it will not pull the tape out of the cartridge over to the drum to read it. I guess the timing on it is all screwed up now. I haven't messed with it anymore since then. I dont know what to do with the timing, I guess I can try unplugging those 2 wires again and keep trying it till it works? I guess theres only so many different combinations it can run through before its back where it belongs. I got an owners manual coming for it, but I dont know how much it'll tell, if anything.

I never thought of un-soldering the fast forward switch. Dang :cry:

[bigredhead]

I think your best bet is to find an electrical repair guy with a busted 3 wheeler and no knowlege of trikes !!! :p

I've had more of these darn paper weights open than i could ever count... by this time in the game the only thing you get .. is more stress.

If you can get it back to it's prior state ( with the fast forward problem ) i'd try to find a universal remote and see if it helps . ( I don't think you will be able to find a universal remote that supports this sasquach, but program it as a VCR for the prog code )

And finally. if all else fails,. tie it to the half car and call it an 8 track player.

[Billy Golightly]

lol, Actually I have a remote programed for it (First sony code I picked out of the booklet too!) so if I can just get the dang thing to play the tapes again now I might be onto something. I called a few electronic places and they all said it wasn't worth messing with :(

[TeamGeek6]

" master switch or rheostat for controling the play speed"

Yepper! Changing that switch will goof it up to extreme, thats called the "mode switch" and it controls the synch of the tape deck. Change that and the tape speed will go to zero.

The red and black wires are either power to the front load motor (if the tape holder has a motor) or a limit switch. If theres no motor on the tape holder, then the drive comes from below the deck and the timing is messed up. If its not pulling the tape out, then the computer thinks the cassette is not loaded.

That fancy state switch should have an index mark, usually an arrow to indicate home position. See if its aligned, the tape holder may be keyed to it.

I lost count of the number of VCRs Ive worked on at several thousand. Some of those Japanese units are absolute nightmares to get back in time, especially Panasonics.

OWners manual wont cover this stuff.

And, speaking of fixing VCRs, heres the magic tip for cleaning heads - use paint thinner (toluene or acetone) and a Q-tip, itll dissolve anything that gets on the head, including grease and tape residue.

[AZ250R]

And, speaking of fixing VCRs, heres the magic tip for cleaning heads - use paint thinner (toluene or acetone) and a Q-tip, itll dissolve anything that gets on the head, including grease and tape residue.
Nail polish remover, the real stuff, works good too. Just be real careful of the heads, they have tiny coils that can be damaged easily. Only lightly brush them side to side the way they glide over the tape, never up and down.

Sorry I saw this thread late... I used to fix this stuff @ an audio video store. You've most likely really screwed up the timing, and it's a real pain to fix. However, I'd put good money on it that the original problem is just that the belt you see on the bottom of the thing just needed replaced! :eek: :rolleyes:
I'm serious, with most belt driven tape drive devices that belt gets a tad old and streached and messes with ALL of its features. Keeps the timing gears, that you F'd all up, from engaging all the way to the play setting. If you can get it back in timing just get the right belt and you may get er fixed. ;)

[TeamGeek6]

Yep, good point about not breaking the head, makes one unhappy to snag a Q tip and bust it off. Been there, broken that :cry:

[3 weelin geezer]

When all the obvious reasons have been explored try the not so obvious. You FATfingered it.