Re: S-VHS cassette recorders

On 1/6/2025 9:59 AM, bitrex wrote:

On 1/6/2025 6:57 AM, Lasse Langwadt wrote:

On 1/6/25 01:19, Cursitor Doom wrote:

On Sun, 5 Jan 2025 13:24:22 -0700, Don Y wrote:
>

On 1/5/2025 12:28 PM, bitrex wrote:

CD players are probably right up there for Rube Goldberg complexity,
people who knew what they're doing probably repaired them regularly
back in the day but I've never had much luck if the unit has a serious
fault, and the service manuals I've seen tend to be pretty unhelpful.

>
CD players are relatively trivial, compared to VCRs.  There is NO "media
handling" other than hoping the user installs the medium on the spindle
correctly.
>
By contrast, a VCR has to extract the tape from the cassette (after
opening the access door and unlocking the reels) and pull it around the
rotating head assembly.  Then, has to ensure the alignment of the head
tracks the magnetic slices laid down on the medium, in real time.
>
As well as having to ensure the *mechanism* is operating at the right
"rate of speed" to ensure the video signal complies with that expected
downstream.
>

A lot of the parts for vintage CD players are unobtanium now
particularly the laser diode which seems to be a common fault, in a few
decades I expect there will be almost none in working condition. like
the Chevy Vega.

>
If you resign yourself to using drives intended for use with computers
(even having audio output capability), you can rescue as many as you can
carry!
>

I see why people miss vinyl sometimes but I can't imagine anyone will
really miss the CD, a real stopgap technology.

>
The CD was a huge step up from vinyl.  No fussing with tracking, warped
media, dust and other contaminants, etc.  Play it the Nth time and it's
just as faithful to the source as the first!

>
True, but there must be *something* about vinyl that more than compensates
for its shortcomings, given the fact that prices for old turntables have
soared and record shops are now stocking vinyl albums again.
>

>
Vinyl sales have been higher than CD sale for years and growing something like 20% per year while CD sales drop like a rock

Let's see, 40Million units last year?  Compared to that many PER ALBUM
in the 80s?
     <https://bestsellingalbums.org/decade/1980>
What you're seeing is just people not BUYING music on durable media.
People stream to their phones, now.  Or, rip onto PMPs.
Last time I saw someone walking around with a portable record player
was.... never.

The album art is bigger on LPs, and they have more distortion (warmth.)

Nostalgia.  Folks also play 80's video games.  Yet, you don't see
those industries ressurected so the demand is more of an oddity
than a financial reality.

Also as I somewhat mentioned before they haven't made _good_ standalone CD players at a consumer-friendly price point in like 25-30 years. New cars don't come with CD players anymore. Very few laptops have optical drives anymore.

But you don't need those drives.  SWMBOs vehicle has a CD player.  AND, an
internal disk drive (that can be loaded from CDs).  And a BT connection.  And
a USB port.  Plus AM/FM/HD/XM.  She has her music stored on the internal
disc, mine on a thumb drive hiding in the console -- plus whichever phone(s)
we happen to have with us.

And a lot of the more budget models even in the early 90s were getting

So, a "budget" turntable is a step up??

enshittified and cost-reduced. And once the laser diode on them goes that's it, I've read that audiophiles have started resorting to cannibalizing cheaper units with the same mechanism to keep higher end ones going.
 Meanwhile there are probably like 50 million Technics SL-whatever turntables floating around in generally working condition they made basically the same turntable for like 40 years.

Only for the "look at me!" factor.  I've probably a hundred vinyl boots
"just out of shrinkwrap" stored -- along with a Beogram 8000.  None
have seen the light of day since they were ripped (the sound quality
isn't going to get any BETTER with use so whatever I captured originally
has been faithfully preserved (and repeatedly reproduced) each time
I listen to them -- regardless of WHERE I choose to do that (including
on cross country flights:  "Miss, can I plug my turntable in, somewhere?")