DEMO, DISASSEMBLY and minor REPAIRS: VR312 VHS Philips VCR

Philips VHS VCR model VR312 from 1992 with the Charly Deck Mechanism

This is the VR312 VHS Philips VCR from the year 1992. This was my first VCR..actually, this one i got it last year through a seller on some site i can't recall right now. My original vcr is long gone and today the only things i have left from it are a few mechanical guts and boards for spare parts. I have given the case of the vcr to a friend of mine that wanted to transform it into a media center computer for his living room. I might show that one day here.

But today i have this PHILIPS model, which is the exact same model that i had 20 years ago. When i first saw it on the internet i couldn't let it go, i had to have it. I have so many found memories of it. So many tv shows and family movies went through it, so many afternoons disassembling it away from my mother, eventually killing the vcr with so many tear downs.

I have to say, i have never saw any more models apart from the one i had and this one i got now. Has anyone ever got this vcr?

Let's have a look at it shall we?

This is how i got it on mail. The DHL van was involved in a serious car crash leading to one of the drivers dying on the spot. I'm deeply sorry for him, my deep condolences to the family.

The VCR wasn't in very good shape. The front housing was detached and the protective foam found it's way into the whole unit.

I didn't know if i was to be mad at the seller for not putting the VCR inside a plastic bag to prevent this from happening or if i was about to laugh out loud.

Everything fixed, i only have missing the control door and the remote control of the VCR.

I asked to my friend my old VCR door, and now i own him a replacement. So if any of you have anything like this and you're willing to selling it, contact me at totalrandomtechnology@hotmail.com .

Has you can see the motherboard has a small dark bruise on the bottom right corner. That happened because of a leaky battery underneath. These always go bad after 15 years so it seems.

This is the Philips Charly deck design, some love it, and some hate it. I love it until i have to fix it because it's quite a complex mechanism if you're not much into it. No rubberized idler wheel. What a must, at least until the gears get brittle and break which would make it even more unfixable than just replacing a few belts! This VCR has 3 belts, all still in good shape as well as the pinchroller.

Here you can see the battery that i was talking about.

A better view of the main board.

Here is a view of the vacuum fluorescent display full of alphanumeric digits. I really enjoy this in a VCR this old!

A view of the back of this board.

And now the powersupply. This is a switching power supply type, and the filter capacitor was bulging a tiny bit. You don't want to mess with these and leave them inside like that, because when they fail, it can get catastrophic. Also, be aware of the high voltage stored inside the capacitor, even if the VCR has been plugged of the mains for a while.

I went ahead and decided to replace all the capacitors inside the power supply. Better to be safe than sorry. The smaller ones seem to still be ok so i'll keep them for small projects or experiments.
Oh, and notice the leaky battery.
By the way the video playback looked a bit better after this but i could be wrong about this, it was a really minor improvement.

Yummy?

I got the remote on ebay. It was a pretty lucky find.

Here with the cover opened.

Last but not the least, the instructions manual.
All in all, this VCR uniqueness is in it's deck. Reminds much of betamax decks! I should get more of these!