---------VCR
 
 Roy J. Tellason wrote in a message to Phil Marlowe
 
 PM> Am pretty sure mine is a dried out belt (again
 PM> from what I've read) because it worked fine before
 PM> it was simply not used for about a couple of
 PM> years. It works now but eats tapes.
 
RJT>  That sounds like a rubber idler wheel (if it has
RJT>  one), which engages one or the other hub when the
RJT>  tape is supposed to be moving in a given
RJT>  direction.  The capstan and pinch roller _will_
RJT>  move the tape, but if it's not being taken up on
RJT>  the hub inside the cassette, it piles up and
RJT>  eventually wraps around the capstan or pinch
RJT>  roller and you get a mess. I know that the one vcr
RJT>  we have here in the bedroom, bought used, doesn't
RJT>  have this part -- it's (I'm told) all gear-driven.
 
 I'll save this for when I get a chance to look
 at that VCR, thanks, Roy.
 
 PM> [Unless something got in it?
 
RJT>  Any sort of lubrication on the belt or pulleys
RJT>  would make it slip.
 
 PM> If it is the belt the problem is finding a
 PM> local parts supplier who carries VCR belts for
 PM> older models. [Mike, you know of any such
 PM> supplier?] Of course the longer I put off looking
 PM> for it the less chance there'll be of me finding
 PM> an old belt replacement.
 
RJT>  I haven't seen a recent catalog, but I seem to
RJT>  remember MCM Electronics as being a good
RJT>  mail-order outfit for VCR parts, and not all that
RJT>  expensive.
 
 Will save this too. Thanks again.
 
 [...]
 
 PM> I think it's worthwhile, the older ones
 PM> having, as Mike pointed out, much better tuners,
 PM> and therefore far better recording capabilities as
 PM> well.
 
RJT>  I guess there's a reason they keep getting cheaper...
 
 I'll say. At one point I bought one of those
 Walmart less-than-$100 VCRs.  The tuner was so bad
 that taping programs was a waste of time -- they
 were un-viewable. Had to return it.
 
 [...]
 
 PM> Someone else pointed out another use for old
 PM> VCRs -- that you can dub video tapes with two old
 PM> VCRs, something you supposedly can't do with newer
 PM> models.
 
 PM> I think at some point -- 1990? -- the
 PM> mamufacturers were required to add some chip that
 PM> defeated your doing that. Copyright laws stuff.
 
RJT>  Oh really?  I hadn't heard about this.
 
 Well, up here in Canada. I'm assuming it's the
 same in the US. Yet another restriction....
 

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