I've noticed recently that my latest VCR (the replacement for the one with the bulged Panasonic FC cap) has started to show worrying symptoms. It's not taking forever to power up, and doesn't take a while to 'warm up' before the picture stabilises; it's more to do with the mechanics.
When I play-rewind (scan) a PAL tape that's near the end or near the beginning, the VCR for some reason switches to NTSC playback mode, giving a very distorted and corrupt picture. Upon pressing Play again, it takes about half a second then detects the PAL signal, and switches back to PAL mode.
Also, I've noticed that when the gears change to go into rewind or fast forward mode, I can hear a sort of 'groaning' noise, and the process of head drum wrap-around seems slower than it was when the VCR was new.
Opening it up, I found one giant ELNA cap where the mains comes in, and all the rest of the caps are Lelon. There are no visible signs of bulging or venting yet, but could the caps be failing?
When I play-rewind (scan) a PAL tape that's near the end or near the beginning, the VCR for some reason switches to NTSC playback mode, giving a very distorted and corrupt picture. Upon pressing Play again, it takes about half a second then detects the PAL signal, and switches back to PAL mode.
Also, I've noticed that when the gears change to go into rewind or fast forward mode, I can hear a sort of 'groaning' noise, and the process of head drum wrap-around seems slower than it was when the VCR was new.
Opening it up, I found one giant ELNA cap where the mains comes in, and all the rest of the caps are Lelon. There are no visible signs of bulging or venting yet, but could the caps be failing?
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