{"id":3063,"date":"2020-06-16T02:50:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T02:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigheadamusements.com\/wordpress\/?p=3063"},"modified":"2020-06-16T08:36:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T08:36:18","slug":"from-doorstop-to-doin-it-again-re-aligning-the-panasonic-ag-w1-multistandard-vcr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigheadamusements.com\/wordpress\/?p=3063","title":{"rendered":"From Doorstop to Doin’ It Again: Re-aligning the Panasonic AG-W1 Multi-standard VCR"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m in the process of tweaking and overhauling certain aspects of a trio of websites \u2013 this one included \u2013 so please bear with some of the changes \u2013 but I thought I\u2019d start June with a short piece on what I figured was impossible for someone as mechanically disinclined as myself: re-aligning a very screwed-up vcr.<\/p>\n

Way, way back in 1992-ish, I got into the video transfer & conversion business because it seemed to be a decent way to seed the beginnings of a small post-production company. Along with a trio of JVC vcr’s, later a pair of Sanyos, a FOR-A TBC, Hitachi Vectorscope, and a slew of \u00be\u201d U-Matic beasts was Panasonic\u2019s AG-W1, the multi-standard conversion VCR which played and could convert between PAL, NTSC, SECAM, and their derivatives. It could also play back S-VHS in a quasi, dumbed-down composite signal, and the conversion\u00a0 was, for the money, decent.<\/p>\n

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My original Panasonic AG-W1 multi-standard conversion vcr’s, with two awesome JVC HR-DX68U VHS vcr’s sandwiched in between.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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High end broadcast converters did a better job \u2013 with the W1, you often saw a scan line flipping across the screen when there was a panning shot \u2013 but at roughly $3000, this VCR was a more serious entry into multi-standard vcr’s. When my first machine broke down, I got a second, and when the busted one came back, I had two W1’s, which cut transfer time in half and \/ or enabled bigger work orders.<\/p>\n

Panasonic’s AG-W1 was eventually superseded by two models, and perhaps for a good reason. One day a repairman cold-called about any needed work orders, and he shared what I learned from the previously kaput VCR \u2013 with no fan, these heavy machines became hot very fast<\/em>, especially in summer, and little by little things get fried. Possibly capacitors, as Panasonic\u2019s prosumer line of AG-vcr’s, including their editors, were known to be affected by rotten caps, much like every other major brand than fell for cheap knock-offs in an infamous case of industrial espionage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I sold the two conversion VCRs and most of the gear in 1999 \u2013 I\u2019d gotten out of the business, and the money was helpful for a move \u2013 but as the years went on, the need for playing back an occasional PAL tape made me think of the W1. Other manufacturers like AIWA had their own similar styled conversion vcr’s, but the W1 output a really<\/em> good picture when a tape was played in its original format.<\/p>\n

Around 2016, I had a client bring a batch of PAL VHS tapes, and having returned to video post-production with vintage analogue gear, I sought out Sony\u2019s DSC-1024HD \u2013 a now affordable broadcast upscaler that also features clean PAL-NTSC conversion capabilities.<\/p>\n

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