How we repair Panasonic AG-1980 VCRs

Whether you're sending us your Panasonic AG-1980 for repair, or if you're considering purchasing a refurbished unit from us, rest assured that it will undergo an intensive battery of repairs and testing.

All the component parts are removed from the AG-1980's chassis. The power supply is inspected, capacitors in it are tested for correct ESR values, and many capacitors that are known to cause trouble are removed and replaced.

The Y-C color video board is removed and all the SMD aluminum capacitors are carefully removed and replaced with new SMD versions. (We use the correct SMD replacement capacitors, not tantalum capacitors that some other VCR rebuild services use).

The VFD (front display board) is removed and all electrolytic capacitors are replaced, including one hard-to-reach capacitor under the display. Following these repairs, we use a special proprietary method that helps to increase the brightness of the fluorescent display.

All of these preemptive repairs to the circuit boards give us increased confidence that the VCR will perform well for a long time.

The mechanism itself is removed from the chassis, examined and many parts are upgraded or replaced. We've found that several parts in the mechanism are susceptible to problems, and we have some upgrades that we've developed to prolong the life and durability of the mechanism. At this point, an upgraded K-GRIP™ thread motor featuring our proprietary design improvements is installed (this solves many of the threading problems inherent in the original AG1980 design).

After these repairs, all the circuit boards and the mechanism are installed back into the chassis. Now we start a complete battery of tests. We have a comprehensive checklist of over 95 functions that we test. This includes checking and adjusting the head switching point, video levels, s-vhs levels, audio levels, time base corrector, REW scan, FF scan, stability of the tape guides, and the list goes on. If everything passes these initial tests, then the alignment is tested and adjusted using our video waveform analyzer and waveform monitor. This is an important step, since the new capacitors in the Y-C video board change some of the video output characteristics of the VCR.

Following all of these very technical tests, we finish up with "real world testing' using over 12 VHS tapes that were recorded on several different VCRs between 1978 and 1999. This gives us a confirmation of the type of playback you'll experience when you start using your AG-1980. Some of our test tapes were actually damaged, or recorded on "out-of alignment” VCRs. If it plays them all back well, the AG-1980 passes the final test and is ready to be returned to you!

As you can imagine, these repairs take several days, but we feel that the extra effort is well worth it!  After repairing over six hundred AG-1980's, we still feel a surge of excitement when we press PLAY and see the wonderful images that that it reproduces!

All our AG-1980s come with a 90 day warranty. If you have any pre-purchase questions about an AG-1980, Please contact us 

Note: The above content  is copyright TGPSales & TGrant Photo. Copying or use on another website is prohibited.