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New member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 7 Registered: Feb-06 | i have my 2 other posts here and thought that I would ask this question. We have had this unit in the shop and cleaned and lubricated and then bought a new tv and were doing what we considered a basic hookup. As you can tell by my posts there are issues with the connection and playback. Now we have another problem with the unit and that is why we were considering the purchase of a cheap Toshiba which seems to be all that is around today. I have now familiarized myself with this site and see that David Massey recommends Mitsubishi as good VCR's. We believe that to as we bought our Mitsubishi over 20 years ago and it is the real spare, retired to the basement family room. However, since Mitsubishi is no longer the real manufacturer, we seem to be vulnerable to centres that like to take the vcr apart and recommend cleaning, look at belts, lubricate etc. and we have done this to the tune of $160 since last July. Now since this last cleaning and lubricating after the unit quit recording period we get it back and under the vcr/tv setting and using channel 3 we record in "EP" and get a terrible copy, and that is using TDK. When it was working, before this last cleaning we got great quality of copies. Now the Tech says it is probably the Head. This is a 4 head hi-fi vcr. We have tried phoning around and virtually all service centres for vcr's and tv's say that they don't do Mitsubishis and won't even get a price on a head for this unit. I called Mitsubishi Electric in Eastern Canada and left a message to see what a head would cost and they said they would return the call. I have yet to hear from them. We are tired of having the unit ripped apart and work done and then have a quality problem with our video copies. I asked Mitsubishi Electric who handles vcr, tv inquiries in the message that I left last week for a service centre and got no reply and that is why we are really frustrated about what is going on and are looking at this cheapie Toshiba that has a head that is supposed to copy in EP mode very well. We have googled as well and can't seem to find anything except parts for Mitsubishi cars. I would appreciate comments as it is discouraging to find out the price of these heads that is quoted by the service centre. Thankyou. |
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New member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 8 Registered: Feb-06 | The only cheap Mitsubishi heads are the Generic, right!! Mitsubishi, Funai...etc. etc. ( Mitsubishi...the real original company is history, even I knew that and thought that someone here knew more about real part availability....however.... There is no such thing as a $35 head except the above. I talked to Mitsubishi eventually today and they thought the comments about the price of the head mentioned in this forum were amusing!!! So far no answers to my questions, so I guess so much for an inquiring mind!!! Cheers and have a great day!!! |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2313 Registered: Jul-04 | http://www.mcminone.com/search.asp?keyword=mitsubishi+video+heads&restrict= Click on Mitsubishi video heads at the top of the screen. I don't know if they ship to Canada or not. You'll need a soldering iron and a desolderer. |
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New member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 10 Registered: Feb-06 | I have spoken to a Head supplier in Eastern Canada and the the heads upper and lower install and an alignment has to be done as well; the total cost by Mitsubishis tech support that I consulted with today is $400 parts, labour and taxes. They showed me an identical model to mine that they installed Generic heads into and there were mega problems in compatibility. The sound and picture were inconsistent and so the customer told them to just keep it. We discussed all of the other parts inside the unit that could now be worn as well due to its age and then the issue of whether the parts would be available when these other components eventually wore out. Mitsubishi has a Head supplier in Canada and I spoke to them while I was at the Tech Service Centre. That is a non-issue and while we were discussing this, the centre logged into this site and found the insertion of the icon in green "laughing" at my question regarding a supplier in Canada for Heads for a Mitsubishi very unknowledgeable (silly) and wondered who would be in this forum saying Mitsubishi is a great product and not know where to direct a member for parts in Canada, when there is indeed a place. I talked to the warm body on the phone at the location on the phone. As the person said let people that are sincere in fixing their units learn about where to acquire parts as it does not take much effort. Having found all of this out, I don't have to go outside of the country to acquire the part. There is nothing like doing ones own homework and research!!!! Cheers and I look forward to a response. |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2316 Registered: Jul-04 | Out of the dozens of heads I've replaced, I had to make slight alignment adjustments once or twice. The whole assembly doesn't have to be replaced, only the drum. I don't know why someone would think I would know where to get parts in Canada when I live in the U.S., that's just stupid. |
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Bronze Member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 11 Registered: Feb-06 | I have been having trouble getting this to post, so i will try again. i talked to Mitsubishi in eastern canada and went to their former warranty depot shop. talked to the tech re head replacement. he confirmed the cost as $400 including the head assembly, the way mitsubishi sells it and the cost of install, realign, assembly part cost and taxes. he showed me a mitsubishi that he installed a generic head in and that the customer returned and that the Tech is going to use for parts. the unit badly distorted with the new generic head even though he tried to realign it. he said for some reason generic heads will work on many other models but not mitsubishi and that they sell the whole unit with the head and assembly and that is the only way and that is why it is so costly. I went to Japan A/V, one of the best shops here in the city and got the same story from them. Advice not to put in a Generic head. I went to 5 other shops and only 1 was willing to try the generic head and 1 shop had a mitsubishi 5000 vcr for sale at $95 cdn and no manual, however i don't know what work has been done on it and the tech didn't say how old it was. all shops said other parts could go on mine; belt, pincher etc. and said that it could end up costing a ridiculous amount. i would appreciate comments on all of the above and i will access your Link above and see what that brings me. Whether they ship to canada? and is it only the head or will i have to get a whole assembly like here in canada? as i mentioned the mitsubishi is HS-U57. Again I look forward to comments. Do you know anything about the Mitsubishi 5000? Thankyou for your time. |
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Bronze Member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 12 Registered: Feb-06 | I searched the link both within "search within results" and as well "advanced search" and came up with a request for the part number in all the areas and of course I don't know what it is. Merely the model number hs-u57 and i put that info in and it came up with (0). However I don't know if the search engine searches by model number or whether it just gave that result as it didn't recognize it. I guess i could give mitsubishi electric a call and see if they will give me the part #. or I could recall the warranty depot shop and see if they would give the number. Or maybe you know how to search this site better and advise me what I should do, compared to what I have done as per the above. Thanking you in advance. Cheers. |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2320 Registered: Jul-04 | I thought I had a catalog of theirs around here, but I can't find it. You can call them with the model number and they will tell you which one you need. If you haven't worked on electronics before, I don't know if you'd want to try to replace the heads. For the price of a new VCR, you can get a DVD recorder on ebay, they are far, far better than a VCR, once you use one, you'll scrap the VCR and never look back. |
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Bronze Member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 14 Registered: Feb-06 | Thx for taking the time to look around. No I wouldn't be the one doing the electronic work. I would take it to the fellow that does my annual cleaning of the machine who is a Tech. When you describe it, it sounds like only the head however Mitsubishi's warranty depot indicated that the head comes with attachments that need to be aligned? The reason that we want to get a new head on the unit is because we have a large music video collection, being baby boomers. We already have a good dvd burner, but don't want to spend hours and hours copying and besides that we prefer vhs. Do you know anything about the vintage and/or quality of the mitsubishi model 5000 vcr that this one shop has for $500. Thx again. Cheers! |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2322 Registered: Jul-04 | I don't recognize 5000. Mitsubishi probably wants to sell you the whole video head assembly, motor and all, when all you need is the drum. |
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Bronze Member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 16 Registered: Feb-06 | What part of the head is the drum? The vcr when i have it on the ch 3/vcr setting instead of struggling with the tv remote tapes reasonably well in "sp", however in trying to get as much as we can of the olympics using "ep" is very poor. Not crisp and somewhat jittery picture. I don't understand this head, drum and then this assembly that Mitsubishi wants to sell for over $250 cdn and then the labour for alignment and taxes brings it up to $400. I erred in saying the shop wanted $500 for the Mitsubishi 5000 model, there were too many "5's" for these fumbling fingers here, the price was $95. But that is neither here nor there as you have not heard of it and we are more comfortable with our own Mits. I hope that you can advise on the differences between all of the aforementioned parts and what it is that we need to get a decent "ep" picture. Thankyou for your interest and assistance to date. |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2324 Registered: Jul-04 | If you click that link and click on Mitsubishi video heads (3) at the top of the page, it will show you what needs replaced. Mitsubishi probably wants to sell you the whole motor assembly that the head assembly mounts on. That 5000 has to have some letters in there too. If you've used EP mostly, then those heads will wear out first, they are smaller than the SP heads and tend to go first anyway. When heads go bad, there is usually sparklies and ghosting in the picture. Did the shop use a head checker on the heads? |
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Bronze Member Username: EllisCanada Post Number: 17 Registered: Feb-06 | I still can't see what it is that you say that I should click onto. I am dim!!! I should say that the vcr now does not playback well either. At least before i took it to the tech it would playback very well. now he alleges he cleaned it and greased it as it was making a grinding noise when it rewound and then it just quit. it rewinds fast and very quietly but the playback in normal mode is horrible, it skips and looks like the tracking light on the fron of the vcr is lighting up as it struggles to play the vhs movie. Now is this part of the same drum on playback and again i would appreciate knowing what that part is. I apologize for my ignorance. the shops that i have talked to, all say that the head needs replacing and then an alignment. This is a 4 head hi fi vcr, what do all of the heads do. are they all part of the common drum? the one shop said that the generic heads simply will not work without a lot of problems and to forget that route and another shop says that they will work fine??? i would appreciate a response, thankyou. BTW, the vcr will not work in the Video 1 mode on the toshiba tv. we paid a tech to come out and check it and our settings are all fine. as i mentioned i did amateur video and know a little about in/out hookups on the vcr. the only way we can view the video is via the ch. 3 and record that way only as well. does this mean that there is something wrong with the tv. we did not want to keep the repair tech here long as it cost 75 dollars to tell us my hookup that i did was fine and he tried new cables himself and there was no change. i again look forward to comments, thankyou |
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Gold Member Username: SamijubalPost Number: 2401 Registered: Jul-04 | The video and audio heads are on the same head assembly. I've never had problems with heads from MCM before. It shouldn't get worse after a head cleaning, period, unless they damaged a head or didn't do a very good job. The heads should have been checked before anything was done to see if it was even worth fixing. On the top of the page link there it has recent searches, the second one is Mitsubishi video heads (3), click that and you'll see what needs replaced, if the heads are even bad. If it was fine before, I'd suspect the shop damaged a head myself. You don't have an s-video hooked into video 1 on the TV? If so it overrides the composite connection. |