Panasonic AG6200 VHS servicing - Part 1

This week we're looking at a Panasonic AG6200 and this is part 1 due to me needing several parts which are now on order - hopefully! This is a professional use duplication machine commonly used in banks of machines which could be daisy chained and synchronised into upto 500 decks. The AG6100 is the playback only version of the machine is is missing the VU meters as well as all the recording functions but will still playback NTSC tapes.

Yes, I messed up what deck this machine uses. Not sure this is a true D Deck but it's certainly based on the same basic design.

I'm slightly concerned the heads are very worn but we'll cover that in part 2 but the tracking is exceptionally good so we might have other issues on the electronics side of things. One sure way would be to make a recording from a high-contrast source and look for 'darklies' - black horizontal lines pull from light-dark edges.

Link to the correct lamps for the VU meters and the cassette illumination: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153637400704

Lots more to come and please like and subscribe too - it really does help the channel.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:00 The issues
04:00 Looking around the machine
06:19 First look under the top cover
10:03 First look underneath the machine
13:44 Power on testing
16:21 Pinch roller
17:20 Advice on cleaning the outside of the machine
20:00 Removing the front loading mechanism
24:52 Replacing the pinch roller
25:54 Seized exit guide repair
28:10 Changing the VU meter lamps
38:30 Mode lock switch and machine appearing to not work!
39:13 Testing the machine and conclusion