EEVblog  

the engineering on this thing in the later 80-90 is fucking incredible this is crazy crazy crazy complex and original for the time it really mind blowing

Big round can thing is a SAW filter for the receiver IF filtering - very common in TV receivers

These engineers were geniuses who came up with helical scanning on magnetic tape. Such amazing engineering.

I wonder if Techmoan has one?

Some early colour video LCDs used analogue LCD drivers to avoid the need to digitise the signal.

"It's upside down, all the electrons are gonna fall out" I keep thinking this joke will get old, and it may, but it hasn't yet. (for me)

Great video! You should pull out the video head drum assembly and tear it down, as well. Contains a 3 phase brushless motor with several hall effect sensors and pulse generators for servo feedback, and a multiple winding rotary RF transformer to get the signals to and from the rotating video heads. Plus a bunch of high precision bearings and machined parts.

And now be a good boy and put it back together!

I feel old now Dave - when you were explaining the tape path and head I was thinking 'everyone's pulls dozens of these apart Dave, no need to explain it' then I realised that maybe the current generation of hobbyists would probably not have done this like some of us used to. :). Another great tear down.

The "unusual" can in the RF-frontend is probably a SAW-filter.

It's already wednesday here in the Netherlands, but like your teardowns, keep it up Dave!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! As a broadcast maintenance engineer, I've worked on almost every videotape format from 2 inch quad to HDCAM-SR (Sony HD production format). This was an engineering feat, but it was an incremental one. There were two generations of helical cassette tape before this. Umatic used 3/4 inch tape and VHS/Beta used 1/2 inch tape.

Gotta love the Sony screw arrows. I recently replaced the belt on an old Sony linear turntable, and thanks to those arrows, I didn't have to guess which screws to remove to just open the case.

Ladies and gentlemen good evening and welcome to show "Void warranty with Dave" :)

I loved these old machines .......... So robust and strong manufactured.

Oh, and Dave...stop collapsing an antenna like that. You're supposed to push it in from the bottom, not push it down from the top. That's how antennas break.

That LCD was a work of art. The whole this is amazing as well. Jeez.

I never thought of it before but how do all the signals contact out of a rotating head like this? Is there just one tap at the top of the rotating head, that is the data out? There maybe has to be a supply voltage to the head board.

What's incredible to think is that stuff did not really get simpler, just more compact and integrated. A lot of that circuitry can now fit into more purpose built ICs and take up less space. Incredible really. We went from big vacuum tubes based devices to this, to even smaller.

Now I want to see it back together :D Great video, thanks!

Hi Dave, nice video. I would be interested in knowing a little bit more about the tuner and the techniques that were used in that design. Thanks!

is that the thing you can use to "stabilize" out of spec video signal from old computers? makes is easy to grab the video that the grabber card dont liike.

I bought a similar one in high school to take on a choir trip (think it was a GV8...maybe). Had it for a few years but never really used it much. No idea what happened to it. I had a case that held 6 'AA' batteries to power the unit. I'm thinking it was around $850??? About the same price as the Sony MZ-1 Minidisc recorder that came out a few years later. Had to have that too. Loved that thing. Got more use out of that than any video walkman or cd player I had at the time.

I missed the words: "It's a DSTN passive matrix LCD, none of that modern TFT rubbish!" ;)

Dave - great video as always! thanks for making these. Btw, does anyone here know good sites that hosts service manuals for guitar amps?

Back making Videos already! Hope the legs still doing well, been watching on eev2. Top job!

Hi Dave thanks for this and all the great vids --- gonna crack the minidisc player open soon? Expecting it to be very fiddly. Looking forward to that one :D

hell yea! dave still up and running!

What's the long dark thing with many pins flopping off the left side of the display, seemingly only connected by four wires?

This brings back memories of the time I used to work in Panasonic VCR mechanism production.

Hi I like Your macro footage. What camera are You using?

I owned one! It was an xmas gift and I loved this thing! Like a quantum computer now back then. I made an extension cable for the screen and used it to watch movies in school! :D

Oh, I remember when I was a kid, my dad had one of those, and I was sometimes allowed to watch something on it. It also had a big vertical bar across the screen, I think it was yellow or red, wandering from left to right, indicating the channel frequencies (if you notice the frequency scale above the screen), so it had a digital tuner and could even auto-search for a tv signal!

Dave, are you going to put it back together?

Hi dave. I love your videos, especialy your repair videos. I always learn a lot from them, even If you dont actually repair the product in the end. I would like to see another video on the HP DSA35670A. And what about the Tektronix 2465B from video 695?

Hi Dave I know it’s been a few years but do you still have this video Walkman ? I recently purchased the same model in PAL too and after a recap it works great except for the lcd that works but it’s very dull and almost inverted picture Any ideas ?? I did change the lcd display but made no difference and the tuner board with same result The pal version is alit more rare than ntsc Thanks Mike

What you do after shooting the video? Do you re-assemble the stuff or you just throw it away?

how does the pause work on vhs tape?

Great video. I love these 80's tek tear-downs. Technology in the 80's and 90's was exciting. Everything had tons of buttons and every button had a purpose. I lusted after one of these when they came out. Very expensive though. I think it was the portable DVD players that took over from these things.

That weird metal can thing at 16:50 is a Toshiba F1034 SAW filter for 38.9 MHz TV IF. I am only half way through the vid but already thumbs up!

There were similar units for mini-dv too. Used some times for filming with a hidden pinhole camera or filming action sports with a small camera on a helmer with a cable to the recording unit in a backpack or pocket. The Days before GoPro...

Hi Dave, portable DVD players came after this, Pioneer provided a couple of dozen to Eurostar for people to watch on the train to and from Paris and Brussels.

Brings back memories... I had a Hi-8 version of this! It was a very significant improvement in video quality over the normal "Video-8" format. The Hi-8 model was used a lot in "intelligence gathering" situations... spy camera recording. (more...) Later, when D-8 (Digital-8mm) format became available, they had a D-8 Video Walkman... which replaced the Hi-8 version for spy activities. The D8 equipment was usually backwards "playback compatible" with the Hi-8, and even Video-8 formats. D8 was VERY high quality... for its day. I even used it a few times for TV broadcast work. I still have my old Sony Hi-8 CCD-TR700 and DCR-TRV510 D8 camcorders. I also used a Sony D8 computer tape backup drive for several years... I could even share tapes between the two devices... Video work or Data Backup. The holes in the bottom of the tapes determine not only Write-protection, but tape length and tape series as well... V8/Hi-8/D-8. BTW, that large round "can" in the Tuner is a SAW Filter... Surface Acoustic Wave Filter for those not familiar.

Nice teardown Dave! Sony electronics from the 80s & 90s always prove to be interesting. This is especially true of Betacam and Betacam Digital VCR decks. If you ever see one locally, it's well worth a pickup for teardown.

Wave soldering isn't common any more except for low priced stuff? What's used instead? Reflow?

Spinning the head and yelling "Woohoo!" really cracked me up more than it should have.

I remember having to choose between VHSC and 8mm. We went for the VHSC because it was playback compatible with standard VHS. OH, glad to see you're back on your feet, so to speak (at least not int terrible pain).

noooo I have been looking for one of these forever!

Are the fine tracking adjustment guide pegs loose? (The 2 moving ones with the screwdriver slots on top.) This transport has a long history of the pegs coming loose and shifting up and down at will. Sometimes they even fell out completely and rattled around inside. I've repaired a lot of these things. This transport was used in every Sony 8mm product for several years plus Canon also bought Sony transports to use in their products as well.

Oh it does record video from external cameras? Need to get this for my Blackmagic Ursa mini

The Virgin Atlantic comment made me think of the scene from the first Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie, the scene from the plane the flight attendant asks Ethan if he wants to watch a movie, she has a big bin of tapes & next to Ethan's seat is something that I recall looking distinctly like this unit.

Use to get that with tapes on 1st class flight in the old days, had tape wrap up on the head 3 times on one flight until the run out and I had to pick new film

I love those envelope designs. It's so intricate.

@4:28 AFAIK, NTSC never used delay lines. It didn't need them, since we didn't do the phase alternating on our color signals, thus we never had the problem with Hanover Bars (which is what the delay line is supposed to compensate for).

Another thing is that the helical scan rotating head uses small rotating transformers to transfer the video signal from the moving to the static part. Real nice piece of design.

Amazing video, thank you :D

Pretty insane engineering in that!! Amazing hey

i have no words to say how much i miss those days

I wonder how many of those parts and subassemblies were reused or adapted from/to other portable gear. Such as camcorders with the tape mechanism in the camera, small CRT TVs with the tuner jammed in to a corner behind the CRT, Betamax VCRs etc.

Had one of these in the day....... brilliant technology beautifully made, and $2,400 from memory. The battery lasted around 1 1/2 to 2 hours and it was followed up by a stereo version with a larger screen similarly priced. They were a flop in Australia - Everyone i showed it to (and that was many, I love show and tell) were amazed and had never seen anything like it before, It was about the only attempt at portable video until the rise of the personal DVD player - due mainly to the fact you could buy a reasonable used car for that at the time....

Amazing how they jigsaw-ed all that together with the limited CAD of the day. I can imagine many, many cabinets of engineering drawings and other docs.

This device is absolutely incredible. I love this type of AV equipment. I wish I had a working one now. I love having all those video in and out options on analog. Everything is on lockdown these days. How in the hell was stuff like this designed? I can't imagine they had CAD software yet. Seems like a bunch of late nights. As for the product following this one, I bet it was a Japan-only minidisc affair. Great video, Dave!

I knew I had one of these GV - 9, just found it in stored away box. I have over 200 Super 8 MM movies that I intended to watch on this. Found a Super 8mm VCR playback after the GV-9, so this one is like new. Amazing fun ahead.

That unusual looking metal can in the SAW filter.

Awesome. Never seen anything like that from that time. Did you put it back together? :)

Funny you mentioned Virgin Atlantic used these. I actually remember having to use one on a flight between LA and London in 1993 because my in-seat screen was dead. Worst flight ever, battery was terrible and flight attendants weren't interested in replacing it.

I worked with Sony's video recorders in the mid-90s to mid 00's building surveillance gear. Later stuff than this but a pretty good variety of this stuff and Panasonic's VHS stuff dovetailing into early digital and DVD recorders.

@ 16:48 : Sony was a big user of SAW filters in the ~45 MHz TV IF circuitry, since at least the late '70s, at least in miniaturized sets. Saved lots of time, parts and board space.

Little know fact. For years and years the Sony Video8 recorders where the perfered "playback" device for major film shoots in the from of a a CCD tap off the view finder on the 35mm film camera). It was reliable, and just got stuck as "the standard". Many people in LA/Hollywood made their living operating them on set.

Amazing how we were practically living in the Dark Ages with respect to technology going back only 50-60 years.

I used one of these on a Virgin Atlantic flight to Florida back in the day.

LCD display? Driven by TTL logic or CMOS semiconductors?

Did you get it back together afterwards??? ;)

Ohhhhh man when I clapped my eyes on one of these back in the day I was in AGONY!!!! I was in love and I wanted one like AAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!!!! Sadly couldn't afford one but what an object of desire. Beautiful!

Off topic question Dave but you brought it up first, with your leg I would of assumed you'd be encouraged to sit down leg up to stop swelling?

I remember see this device on display in 1990. Over AU$2000 (probably $4k in today's money). I was astonished by this device and desperately wanted to have one at the time.

NTSC: Never The Same Color

Woah, tape mechanism is beautiful

Hmm you didn't show that long canned bar thingy on the side of the LCD, that is connected with 3 wires to the board. My guess is that these are a bunch of buttons. Each one connected to a different resistor so you can decode the buttons usind an ADC. I have seen that in a Grundig TV once.

I was wondering if you could do a VCR teardown Dave. thankyou :)

my dad have said that these auto clean of the head was one of the best things that happened for him the time he worked fixing vhs, these things aways mess the head and they clean them to wait for the guy come back a few mounths later to clean again

We had the version before this one with the smaller display when I was a kid. I used it all the time to watch TV and movies on trips. I did have to bring like 3 batteries with me though. I also used it a lot for video editing. I'd use my 8mm cam corder as one input and this as the other. This would run in to this little video switcher/fader thingy I had that would also accept audio inputs, such as my macintosh :D. The output would run in to a VHS recorder. I had to edit everything live, no final cut pro! So if I messed something up it was back to the beginning again. I used to dream of being able to do editing on a computer but with my mac plus maxed out at 4mb memory I couldn't even fathom that we would be able to edit video on PCs some day. We've come so far! Thanks for this trip down memory lane!

I would guess the shield is here too keep/protect the signal integrity of the small signals under the shield, as the drum motor is just next to.

I don't know if it was already mentioned In the 300 plus comments but the LCD unit almost looks like a LCD projector drop in unit?

Remember working with one, was a Hi-8 version for a job I did in late 2002 and had to feed an Elmo/Sanyo miniature camera into it. Was a pretty amazing little deck I thought and a beautiful design. Remember it was expensive over £2K UK at the time, I nearly bought one for work use as a small portable recorder however was worried how long it'd last? Plus servicing would never be easy or cheap and you can see why. A marvel of Sony design though.

OH NICE!!! Please do more vids about magnetic tape stuff!

HE'S BACK!

"It's a Bobby Desla " What does that mean? " We'r in like flin " What's a flin?

ISTR reading these were popular with certain government agencies for surveillance uses

That display is transmissive, not transflective - TF displays are used where the backlight can be turned off for use in bright light.

Do a minidisc walkman teardown. It always amazed me that it's possible to run it from only one AA battery for such a long period! What's inside that makes it that efficient?

The metal can @ 16:40 looks an awful lot like a Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter. Hence the component designation SWF101. If you manage to get a repair manual for this, I'm pretty sure the internals of those chips will be explained, engineers ran product development at Sony back then, and they REALLY knew how to put service guides together. Amazing manuals, nothing quite like them, the absolute dog's danglies.

1989 i had idea such things only exist in Star Trek TNG, but they were real. amazing!

holy moly, the engineering gone into this is just outstanding. almost unbelievable! does anybody know what they cost on release?

I don't think that I will be opening my Video8 camera to see what's inside.

@13:44 Now that's some very very precision engineering. Brilliant

Great video! I have the stereo version and I used to use it for audio only... as an audio walkman! Sound quality was really good and it even had index search that could be controlled from a backpack with a remote if I remember right. I jammed a much larger battery onto it also. Got it used with a dead pixel but it still cost me everything I had as a teenager; Guess I really hated audio cassette sound! Video walkman sounded almost as good as a CD, of course this is analog FM helical audio. Sadly the outer surface of the case turned to some kind of urethane goo- it's a real mess.

I've got an old broken Snes Super Wildcard "Piracy" device letting you copy Super Nintendo games to floppy disks i was going to send in and cross my fingers for a teardown, but my wife went and threw the thing in the trash without telling me.

You must get a DigiBeta to tear down, same mechanical tech with helical scan but all 1's and 0's. They are quite simply an engineering work of art inside. It was probably also the height of Sony tape tech before solid state memory took over.

This thing was 1000 years ahead of it's time in 1989, if you owned this thing at that time,you become the king of that era.