JVC CV-0001 - Pt.1: Repair 

If you're wondering where part two is: The world got incredibly sad and I didn't want to go outside in order to get proper test video, but I will eventually do it. This guy is off in my storage unit but I'll get him back out and shoot part two as soon as leaving my house no longer has the appeal of swallowing a jar of bees.

5:53 looks like the plastic part says "53.7.1" on it, which looks like a date stamp. It's using Japanese emperor years. I looked it up and Showa 53 means 1978 in western years, so it's from July 1, 1978!

My VERY FIRST Video Camera! I love this camera so much! The start / stop toggle switch was awesome. At 12 years old, I did a TV show from my basement, that was my version of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! I would interview kids from around the neighborhood, and from school, and local celebrities that were on local TV with this camera. I built a set and everything! I would do a "multicamera" show, just like they did on TV, but only,.... with this one camera! Getting back to the start / stop toggle switch on the front of the camera,... you press once for record, and once for stop record. Well, I had a long string from my "Johnny Carson Desk" that went to the toggle switch of the camera! I would say, " welcome my next guest, Mr. So & So to the show" and pull the string and stop the camera, and then make my tight shot, a two shot, and pull the string again! It was a lot of work back then, but the end result looked like I had more than one camera! HAHA!

This is so cool. Today I learned what NTSC video looks like on a scope and that was awesome.

I really, really love these videos. I’m happy you make them.

I can't believe how entertaining you make these videos. I never would of thought I would of watched so much about 1980s camcorders

Watching repair videos never ceases to be a soothing experience, and I love hearing you talk about the world of obscure video equipment from the analog era!

You have amazing patience. Great video! BTW, this is the video camera I used for my home "movies" from Oct 1979 to March 1986. The camera was 7lbs, the "portable" VHS VCR with battery was 18lbs. Thanks so much for this video. Brings back memories. You're right about it requiring a lot of light, 90 lux as a start. The image you were getting on you camera was much better than mine. I brought the camera into Woodside, NY to JVC to have them improve the image quality and after 3 tries they were only able to make the image quality worse. Thanks again for the "teardown".

I’ve had this on my watch later list forever and I finally watched it tonight, and holy shit. You recognizing ntsc signal through an oscilloscope and then *demonstrating* how you can roughly read the signal‽ Absolutely wild.

Actually I gotta say the PQ is way better than I expected. Looks pretty good by the standards of the time!

I wish LGR would see this, just for the wood grain.

FYI Muji the housewares and clothing store sells an amazing little 9 piece screwdriver set. They are hardened steel and they fit Japanese electronics PERFECTLY. I think I bought mine for $5. They are probably $9 now.

Definitely looking forward to the second part :D

wow amazing job figuring out that connector! I need to get me an oscope too one day, dangit. Also i guess its just me, but i really like what this camera outputs. The video has a certain special look to it. Maybe its just the general look of tube cameras, i dunno

At least yours has a modular viewfinder. Mine has the viewfinder built-in and its flyback is on the main power supply board. And even worse, it died with a high-voltage short, bringing down the entire camera's power supply and since it isn't modular, I can't use the camera at all, as opposed to just removing the viewfinder and use an external monitor (or try to get lucky).

That large connector can provide power as well. That connector usually goes to some interface box that provides power, or they connected to VCR's..

that video plug on the back of the camera can also takes 12 volt to power the camera, it also will also take a play back video signal, from the play mode of the video recorder, based on "Ferguson VideoStar colour" PAL (Model) also the remote trigger the recorder pause on the front under the lens. I'am almost certain the mic was stereo, as it was recorder as two tracks on our recorder (it was about 40 year ago?) it could sent it down long cable I think booting of the video in the base unit for the camera, that where I got bogged down, and it started getting to messy for me. :-)

dearheart, you don't need goo gone for rubber cement. you just wait for it to dry & then rub it - the excess balls up & comes off easily. that's why it's called rubber cement. :) but this was a great video, super interesting. i always love learning from you.

I just saw that very same camera in the fourth episode of the first season, "Pros and Cons", of The A-Team from 1983!! In the last scene, were the A-Team busts the bad sherrifs and prison warden in barn where they used prisioners for illegal fightings, this camera is used by the A-Team to take video evidence of the audience. Apparently this camera also came with a portable something, that you can wear over the shoulder. Tape recorder? Battery pack? My guess is, they just used the external portable battery of this camera to fake a portable tape recorder... For the episode the JVC label was removed, but it is definitley the JVC CV-0001!

I can answer a lot about these.. used them a lot at grammar school. Power comes from the umbilical cord. These were used on “light tables” to show classes projects or activities. The view finders were never attached. This was a compact sensor btw. In the 70’s the size of the tube was about 3 X larger.

I have this exact model camera and I modified mine to use the mic jack to produce video signal as well! It’s a chunky camera with a pretty low resolution tube but still super cool! I may post a video about it!

Clint from LGR would love the woodgrain

Honestly that reaction to spilling the rubber cement is exactly how I feel when I'm doing things at my hobby bench (or, my nightstand) and something just decides to no.

Hey I just picked up one of this at a thrift shop near my house. I was wondering if you had any links to more info on this camera. I want to do an in depth essay on this camera but I'm having trouble finding much through google

That C2259 you point at is an NPN dual transistor, so basically 2 transistors in the same package. The idea was to be able to control/amplify 2 signals with a single output (low since this is npn)

Excellent video 📹 but I can't seem to find part 2...🤷‍♂️

That style of large slotted screw is meant to be able to be turned by a coin.

ahhh. Back when the cameras had wood grain. That way you knew it was classy!

Do you know if anyone is still producing video camera tubes after Narraganset Imaging closed in 2016?

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate that someone made a (fake) woodgrain video camera?!

that cable looks like a super mini tube socket

I have this camera along with the cables, viewfinder and the power supply . My grandfather won it in a drawing back in the early 80s. It was quite the novelty at the time. Is there any value for this system today? Enjoyed your video. Thanks.

You make good content.

Is there a specific charger for this camera? I just bought one and it’s not turning on, seller said it was working. Also do you know how to get the VHS in?

W O O D G R A I N

Was there ever a Pt. 2?

I have the victor version of this before JVC and i can turn it on but no video return :( i wana use it so bad

Hell yeah

PART TWO?!

As old as this camera is along with the microphone it really wasn't bad...early digital cameras were much worse in some cases...😅

16:40 wooaa.. vertigo warning

You wanna sell this?

I’ll be honest. You record a video with that now. I woulda sworn you were from the 70s, the way it gathers it’s imagine just makes everything look like it’s from the 70s-80s.

Nice content, but dude, cut your nails if you are going to show your fingers on camera.