Problem with a Fisher FVH-980 (I think) VCR from the mid-late 80's

[l***@hotmail.com]

Hello,

About five years ago, I bought the above-mentioned VCR at a flea
market, and I loved it. It made some of the best recordings I have
ever made, and it also recorded at LP, which was something I'd wanted
ever since one of our older VCRs (one of the only ones that ever
recorded at LP) died.

But from the very beginning, I noticed an oddity in this machine-when
I hooked another machine or a cable box into the A/V inputs on the
980, occasionally the sound would drop out for a couple of seconds.
Sometimes both the sound and picture would go out entirely. When I
would be recording and this would happen, I'd play back the tape and
find that the audio dropouts would only affect the Hi-Fi audio, but
the picture and sound blackouts would be just as they appeared as the
recording was being made.

The machine was my workhorse for a couple of years, but eventually I
let it sit on the shelf for a while after I bought other machines.
Yesterday I hooked it back up to my TV to see if I could make some new
recordings with this machine, and discovered that it played tapes just
fine. I didn't bother hooking up the A/V inputs because I assumed
they would have the problem that they had before.

But when I hooked up my cable box to the machine via the RF input this
morning, I almost instantly saw a blackout just like I had seen when
using the A/V inputs!

So, at this point, I'm really wondering what is up with this machine.
I've never had another VCR with a problem of this nature before.
Apparently both the RF inputs and the A/V inputs have something wrong
with them, and I would like to get them fixed if at all possible.
There is a store in town that has a reputation for fixing old video
machines, so I can take it there if necessary, but I would very much
like to know if I should even bother, to know if this is something
that can be fixed at all.

Would really appreciate some info on this!

Will.

[Peter]

Post by l***@hotmail.com
Hello,
About five years ago, I bought the above-mentioned VCR at a flea
market, and I loved it. It made some of the best recordings I have
ever made, and it also recorded at LP, which was something I'd wanted
ever since one of our older VCRs (one of the only ones that ever
recorded at LP) died.
But from the very beginning, I noticed an oddity in this machine-when
I hooked another machine or a cable box into the A/V inputs on the
980, occasionally the sound would drop out for a couple of seconds.
Sometimes both the sound and picture would go out entirely. When I
would be recording and this would happen, I'd play back the tape and
find that the audio dropouts would only affect the Hi-Fi audio, but
the picture and sound blackouts would be just as they appeared as the
recording was being made.
The machine was my workhorse for a couple of years, but eventually I
let it sit on the shelf for a while after I bought other machines.
Yesterday I hooked it back up to my TV to see if I could make some new
recordings with this machine, and discovered that it played tapes just
fine. I didn't bother hooking up the A/V inputs because I assumed
they would have the problem that they had before.
But when I hooked up my cable box to the machine via the RF input this
morning, I almost instantly saw a blackout just like I had seen when
using the A/V inputs!
So, at this point, I'm really wondering what is up with this machine.
I've never had another VCR with a problem of this nature before.
Apparently both the RF inputs and the A/V inputs have something wrong
with them, and I would like to get them fixed if at all possible.
There is a store in town that has a reputation for fixing old video
machines, so I can take it there if necessary, but I would very much
like to know if I should even bother, to know if this is something
that can be fixed at all.
Would really appreciate some info on this!
Will.

If you are using an old, heavily recorded/re-recorded cassette, try a new or
minimally used tape. The dropouts may be coming from worn areas on the surface
of the tapes you've been using.

[l***@hotmail.com]

I should have made myself clearer. The issue isn't the tape itself, I
think it's the tuner and the line inputs.

[Peter]

Post by l***@hotmail.com
I should have made myself clearer. The issue isn't the tape itself, I
think it's the tuner and the line inputs.

Sorry I misunderstood your initial inquiry. Sounds as though the problem could
be either in the input signals supplied to the VCR's electronics or in the VCR's
input signal processing electronics.

Try jiggling the RCA cables connecting your input device to the VCR. Jiggle the
audio and video cables right at the plug areas (both ends of each cable) as well
as all along the length of each cable. A broken wire inside a cable could
provide intermittent signal. If you can reproduce a dropout, try a different
cable. If the bad area was near one of the plugs and you still reproduce a
dropout with a new cable, you might have a cold solder joint in the VCR's
connector for that cable. If all the jiggling in the world doesn't reproduce
any dropouts the problem is probably with the VCR's electronics although it
still could be a mechanical problem affecting the electronics (for example, oily
grime or dead insect carcass causing a high resistance short on a circuit board
or a cold solder joint somewhere in the circuitry). Although a "look under the
hood" is often useless in these cases, you might get lucky and see something
obvious. Good luck!