EW0125 - National NV-180 Portable VCR Investigation & Repair 

Thanks for the video about these beautiful machines! I have some notes: 0:37 - NV-180 exists both for PAL and NTSC regions. NTSC one almost always silver, PAL can be silver or black. AG-2400 is the same machine, but put by Panasonic into "professional" category (hence "AG-") and has dark gray case. PV-8000 is upgraded version with stereo sound and more tape speeds, PV-9000 upgraded yet again with HiFi stereo. 01:35 - Panasonic OEMed NV-180 (and PV-8000, PV-9000) for many manufacturers, such as Bauer, Blaupunkt, Bosch, Canon, Grundig, Magnavox, Olympus... 10:40 - I have a short video on my channel for replacing and re-oiling the drum on NV-180 32:44 - that's rebranded PV-9000 47:50 - you don't need to disassemble the machine, reoiling can be done all from the top, no need to remove bottom part of the drum from the transport 57:48 - S-VHS version called AG-7400 01:03:38 - it's dangerous to remove "don't loose" screws without removing top drum because it drops down on the motor and head tips can be wedged and cracked from contact to the bottom part (made that mistake myself and cracked a head) 01:09:24 - not sure that a greese should be in the bearing, I've seen liquid oil in drum motors that were not dryed out yet and I put ATF III oil in there, grease only onto the trust plate, wrong oil causes motor to overheat and stop 01:22:48 - that snow usually indicates worn out/cracked head, pause uses heads in a different configuration (look for the table in service manual), also for NTSC machines all speeds should be tested because different heads used for different speeds I also have three long videos about NV-180 history and repairs on my channel.

It never ceases to amaze me how much equipment you've hoar-- I mean, collected. Absolutely surreal. Enough to open your own museum~ The swappable battery/ac adapter thing is honestly really cool. I wish the concept was used more often elsewhere. Since the serial protocol is straightforward and well documented (those booklets were amazing, thanks a lot for showing), you could easily run these VCRs with some custom PC software if you wanted (or write something in LabVIEW since that's your expertise). Or you could make your own 3D printed remote control with some cute custom graphics~ Regarding greases, I would guess instinctively that the grease has to have somewhat reduced viscosity in order for the microgrooves in the drum assembly (including the spiral thingy) to move it around effectively, as opposed to just stirring it, but too little viscosity would cause it to leak out so it probably has to be "just right". Since the previous grease "dried out", it probably wasn't the best quality. A common issue with greases that are mixtures of stable thickeners (for example, PTFE) and stable oils (for example, PFPE), is that when left alone for a long time, the thickener and the oil will separate (even though those individual components are incapable of degrading). As such, the oil can leak out, increasing the viscosity of the grease over time. Often, the "quality" of the grease (for instance industrial-grade vs aerospace-grade) is differentiated by reduced thickener/oil separation for higher grade greases. Thanks as always for your videos!

You are truely the best, there is soo much invaluable information in this video! Watching this was soo surreal after I spend hours staring at that cut-away diagram of the video drum; trying to understand how the rotary transformer works and how you can take it apart. I was glued to my screen when you "loosed" those 3 scary screws :D That warning in the service manual made me so afraid! I think the warning refers to the rotating part "crashing" down after removing the 3 screws. I will insert a shim into the gap of the video drum to prevent this. I cannot thank you enough!

I had a pal nv180 branded Philips, with the same Panasonic camera you show here. I shoot a video of my first USA journey, August 1988. The nv-180 was never stereo, the one you show here must be a special USA version.

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I still have a couple of NV-180 recorders, along with the matching tuner / timer VW-ET180. I haven't used them for so long I'd be surprised if they even powered up now. Belts are probably bad as well. Time and lack of use doesn't do these decks any good.