The musical stylings of the JVC HR-S5500U

My family's first VCR, and what a solid beast it was. We got it about 1990 and it still works! The fold-up door, the very long remote with several dozen buttons and its own display, and more are all exciting features, but just for now I'd like to showcase the other thing that ingrained itself in my family's brains: the sounds it makes.

In particular, the little "tune" the parts created at the start of playback was the most memorable. Even with this in a box for about a decade until this month, and out of regular service for twice that long, I could still recall it perfectly. And why not? We used this VCR very frequently until the late 90s. But it started being a little difficult, mostly when overheated, and we got a new one around 1999 but kept this around as a backup/dub unit. In fact, when it would fail, even before we could see the off-speed picture on the screen, we knew it by the sound, as the last "note" cut off early instead of pitching back down. (I did capture that too, but it's not in this video.) Less frequent use and plenty of air seem to be all that's required to keep it operating now.

This is just a quick demo of some of the sounds the VCR makes, not a comprehensive overview by a long shot. Operations were conducted by the remote, which is more audible than intended, but overall it's a decent recording. I might revisit it before long, and maybe even take the cover off to see what makes each sound, but wanted to ensure I had at least one for now. Parts to watch for:

0:05 actually an unusual sound for tape loading, yikes (mild sign of disuse? should sound like a shorter version of what's at 0:47)
0:07 two more familiar notes for a load, then a quick winding sound usually only heard on insert if the tape was fully rewound
0:10 the main melody, in full, followed by the hum that shows it's all OK (S-VHS light flashes sometimes, occasionally a bad sign, but fine here; might always go exactly once per loaded tape)
0:26 closeup of the very big and detailed display to show it off, in particular (at various times in the video) the status lights for pause, wind, etc. and the sound meters (status lights for record and editing functions not shown, but colors do vary!)
0:30 pause
0:34 un-pause
0:38 visual seek
0:45 first stop of several (and the weight of the mechanism feels audible)
0:52 tape winding in stop mode, etc.
1:11 another play melody (from stop, no S-VHS flash)
1:29 eject (very rhythmic)
1:34 power off (satisfying click)

Видео The musical stylings of the JVC HR-S5500U канала MCMcommunications