That's a shame. I've heard about that from others in the UK. Apparently in order to sell used electronics in a thrift store they need to be recertified as safe, so the stores just don't bother? Not sure how true that is. Ebay here (in Canada) is stupid expensive and shipping costs are equally outrageous, so I tend to do everything local only.

Really, what model? By 1985 top loaders were almost gone, besides some old stock. And of course the portable VCRs meant for use with cameras.

@@probnotstech PV-1231R

Is it the PV-1530?

@@probnotstech it is indeed! I actually had to pull it out and check.

Interesting that those early Goldstars used part of Panasonic mechanism. I always thought it was odd that they used the Panasonic displays, so I guess early in their VCRs, they used some technology from Panasonic. Also, I've seen rebadged Panasonics as Quasar (owned by Panasonic), Magnavox, Sylvania, GE, RCA, JC Penney, Curtis Mathes, Teknika, Nikko, and I'm sure there are others.

Those Goldstar have basically the same exact chassis but with some parts that are their own like the capstan motor and the entire front loading mechanism. For the rebadges there's also Philips and Technics, which is a Panasonic brand, and I've seen on KZfaq a Canon brand VCR rebadged Panasonic too. Do you know if the rebadged models were less expensive than the original ones?

They weren't less expensive as I remember it, just different styling and sometimes different features. At the time, RCA and GE and Sylvania were quality brands. They simply outsourced the manufacturing of their VCRs to Panasonic since these companies weren't capable of making their own machine to any level of quality like the Japanese manufacturers could. Regarding Philips, I don't remember seeing that brand in the 80s. When they started selling in the US, they sold under Magnavox, since Philips was too close of a name to the existing US brand, Philco. I think here in Canada we just also got the Magnavox brand. Eventually they were able to use the Philips brand (first Philips-Magnavox, then just Philips). I forgot about Canon... I think it was databits that did a video on their rebadged Panasonic VCR?

Yeah it's databits. I don't know why the rebadged Panasonic VCRs from the 80s are so common, I rarely see them in thrift stores here, but they're like more common than the Panasonic badged ones. I have a Philips VR6620 rebadged Panasonic VCR from 1985.

Well, the American brands were better known at the time, so it makes sense that they sold more. I've noticed the same with Hitachi. I rarely see a Hitachi VCR from the 80s, but see tons of rebranded models.

OD = 1.228", ID = 0.990", THK = 0.125" Part # is VCRIT25 from SMC Electronics

probnot's tech Thank you so much! Do you also happen to know what size/type of pinch roller this uses? And if so where you could even find a proper replacement?

probnot's tech the reason I ask about the pinch roller is because my PV-1531 sometimes chews just the bottom edge of a tape as it’s playing through and I can’t figure out why it’s doing that... it plays fine it just naws at the edge of the tape and if you put your ear close to the machine you can hear when it’s happening

@@probnotstechhxjiyujhoj

@@probnotstech vlvoboapon

He's actually got a pretty sweet Panasonic PV-4760 which has everything except the delicious woodgrain. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iruDY72nl6e0mok.html