The wonderful Philips VR6560

[Studio263]

Here are some notes on the Philips VR6560, one of my favourite video recorders.

By the mid 1980s it was becoming clear that the V2000’s days were numbered, so the format’s biggest backers, Philips and Grundig, both started to market VHS machines. Interestingly, both produced “hybrid” models, VHS decks that clearly shared cabinet parts and internally blocks of circuitry too with the last generation of V2000 recorders. Grundig had the VS-180 and VS-220, both very reminiscent of the last of the 2x4 series, whilst Philips had the VR6560.

I first saw a VR6560 in the early 1990s at the warehouse where we used to buy ex-rental sets for the shop from. The usual choices were boat anchor 3V23s and gawky 3V29s, both of which had not aged well even by this stage. A tired, battered 3V29 was still £45 and you practically had to fight to get a good one, yet the Philips machines were largely ignored and only cost £30 a go. These were mostly VR6462s and VR6362s, the latter still looking very slim and modern. There were also a few VR6367s, the 3 head version of the VR6362, which really was a super machine. The only real downside of all of these was that the heads were expensive and no pattern alternatives were available, but that aside most of them had trivial faults and cleaned up well. I was keen to try a VR6560 when they first appeared on the racks, after the disappointment that they weren’t the V2000 version. Notably compact and distinctively European, they sold well to a certain kind of customer.

The most unusual feature of the VR6560 is the powered top loading tape mechanism, something which is unique as far as I know. The deck is shared with the far more conventional looking VR6462 so all they’ve really done is to take a front loader and allow part of the mechanism to extend outside the cabinet but it still looks impressive. In case one leaves the cassette partly sticking out or gets ones fingers caught in the lid there is a pressure sensitive bar just above the tape transport keys; this reverses action of the lid if anything gets trapped inside. Pressing the eject key makes the lid slowly rise, any other tape transport function makes it automatically close and start to execute the instruction.

There are other technological refinements too. Automatic assemble editing means that recordings are perfectly stitched together when made sequentially; one can go from still picture to recording to that the new material starts from the exact position chosen. Like the VR202x series pressing stop once in playback stops the tape and releases the tension but leaves the arms in the threaded position, a second press is needed to unload fully. Quick recording starts can be made with the tape still threaded; the machine plays a few frames first to lock the servos and then switches over to record. The capstan servo can do other tricks too. There are only 2 video heads so a perfect still picture isn’t possible, but the capstan nudges the tape forward automatically until the best vertical stability and the minimum of noise bars have been obtained. After this, pressing the still key again advances the picture frame by frame. Reverse play with both servos locked at normal speed is also possible, as is forward play at three times speed. Tracking is automatic too, no big deal now but a feature unique to Philips at the time.

The timer, a point of confusion with many video recorders, was a model of clarity. Similar to that of the VR202x series, start and stop times were entered directly on a numerical keypad. Simple keys and LED indicators to guide the user through the sequence made it practically foolproof; I don’t remember our customers have any trouble with these models (unlike the 3V23s…).

Most of the faults that one encounters are mechanical in nature. Electronic problems tend to be confined to the memory battery failing and the odd electrolytic capacitor going short circuit. The troublesome ones are the light blue anodised looking sort that Philips made themselves, they go short circuit for no apparent reason. The 330uF ones seem to be the most problematic, running the meter over all the light blue capacitors in a faulty section often yields results. The same problem used to affect the VR6462; no sound being a common symptom.

Here are some common mechanical faults. The mechanism is built on a die-cast block and is very sturdy (unlike the later ring-loading ones…). There are no belts; four motors are used with the head and capstan being directly driven. The head and capstan motors are multi-pole DC brush types so the driving circuitry is simple, no hall-effect commutation to worry about. The motors are of excellent quality and seldom give trouble. There is no mode switch either; a magnetic sensor is used instead.

Tape stiff, sluggish / noisy rewind: Seized up grease on the spool carrier spindles, clean it all away and re-lubricate with Castrol LM. Be careful when re-fitting the friction brake pad under the take up spool on re-assembly.

Banging noise in rewind: Idler wheel tyre hardened or has a divot where it has been resting on the reel motor pulley. When removing the idler, take care not to snap the little pegs off the chassis that hold the guide spring in place.

Screeching noise when loading: The worm drive on the end of the loading motor needs lubricating where it is supported by the chassis by a metal pin inside. This is easy with the VR6462 where the bottom plate comes off but in the VR6560 you have to take the deck out and remove the PCBs underneath first. It isn’t as hard as it sounds; there aren’t too many plugs to disconnect to remove the deck assembly from the cabinet completely.

Loading sequence can’t be completed: Teeth broken off the mode came (the big white plastic gear underneath) or debris caught in its spiral tracks. Sometimes this can be bits of the cassette lid, which snap off if the cover is removed carelessly.

Tracking problems: Check the pinch roller for going hard and shiny. Check that the video head has been fitted correctly.

Cassette lift doesn’t work properly: Check the two metal arms under the lift have been engaged in the slots in which they operate in the lift correctly. I always bend these arms slightly outward whenever the lift is removed to avoid problems.

Parts supply: Getting tricky now but the VR6462 (and its many clones) use basically the same deck – only the cassette lift is substantially different. Although none of the PCBs interchange the circuitry is similar, although I don’t think that the VR6462 had a comb filter and the VR6560 does.

Head issues:

Philips VHS heads of this era are long lasting but since they are of unusual construction and include part of the rotary transformer as an integral part they were never offered as pattern parts. To remove, first take off the PG opto-switch above the drum, loosen the offset screw by a couple of turns and lift the drum away – no soldering required! A plastic flag on the top sets the switching point; remember to transfer this to the new head in the correct position if you are fitting a replacement. There is no need to lock the drum motor in a particular position as one has to do with the VR6362 (etc) as the plastic flag on the top takes care of all that. New drums from Philips came with thin plastic spacers fitted underneath which set the gap between the top of the lower drum and the bottom of the head drum. They are shaped to fit into the pegs which support the rotary transformer (drum side) and could be pulled out once the head was fitted. I always used to keep them as they are handy for interchanging heads between machines for diagnostic purposes. If you do this, ensure that you fit the spacers away from the head chips or the latter may be damaged during removal. The shims are 0.15mm thick, you can make your own from plastic shimstock sheet if you can’t get a set of originals (PM me, I’ve got a few spare sets left over!). The thickness is critical for good compatibility between machines. Like many Philips head drums, the alloy will corrode if the machine is stored badly. With nothing to loose at this stage, I take off the drum (see above) and polish the worst of it out with “Duraglit” wadding. Avoid the area close to the head chips; heavy fouling in this area is best dealt with using a wooden cocktail stick soaked in IPA (steady hands essential!). Once as much corrosion as possible is removed, run the machine in playback mode with no tape loaded (the logic allows this since this is how the RF test signal is selected, as with most Philips machines) and carefully clean the spinning drum with a lint-free rag soaked in IPA. Hold the rag so that the head chips are stroked clean and don’t meet a solid abrupt obstruction of any kind.

Remote control:

The VR6560 offers full remote control but the handset was optional so you don’t always get one. The RC5 system is used so the machine works well with the standard Philips TV/video handset of the era, push the little white button at the side to access the video recorder functions.

SCART socket:

The VR6560 was one of the first VHS machines to cone with a SCART socket. Select channel 0 on the keypad to make recordings from this source.

RF modulator:

A varicap-tuned RF modulator was used in these machines with covers the range ch30 to ch40. A multi-turn potentiometer is used to set this; it takes quite a bit of twiddling to scan the full range. You can’t really use a VR6560 at a modulator to run old TV sets with as like with most early Philips video recorders the logic returns to standby after 8 minutes if the tape is isn’t running and no keys are pressed. This function is integral to the microcontroller software and can’t be disabled (as you can with the Hitachi-based B&O models by messing about with the programming diode matrix).

In summary, an excellent VHS recorder and probably the last of the classic Philips VCR series, starting with the N1500 ten years previously. The one in the picture was recently given to me with various faults but it is now working beautifully again.

[Vauxfan2k]

I saw a machine like this on one of the auction sites recently, the look of it alone got me interested. I was put off purely by how hard parts are to get hold of, and the fact it looks so busy inside. I'm more into mechanical repairs and servicing, but lately I have had no choice but to start getting into the electronics side. Capacitors, diodes and complete pcb replacement of late.

I hope to one day get a nice machine like this to either restore or use.

A very interesting read. Thanks for posting it

Steve

[FERNSEH]

An earlier version of this machine was designed for the Philips V2000 system.

DFWB.

[Maarten]

@FERNSEH: Yes and no, that was not exactly 'an earlier version of this machine' since it had few (but at least some) components in common, but the looks were indeed directly taken from the last generation of V2000 recorders.

@Studio263: It was as far as I can tell (I'm still researching and looking for serial numbers - could I have yours, including the full model number?) the other way around. This is actually the basic model behind the whole echo deck series, so the lift wasn't so much an extension that was fitted to front loaders, but the front loaders had a modified lift to allow for front loading.

The whole VR6460/VR6560 history is quite interesting as are the last years of VCC. From what I have found in my serial number and example research up to now, I have come to the preliminary conclusion that VCC manufacturing had already stopped by early 1985 (so roughly a year before Philips officially announced they would stop manufacturing) and that the VR6460 and VR6560 were developed in 1984 as the first VHS models.

The VR6460 was designed and made in Krefeld as a successor to the VR2414 model line and the VR6560 designed and made in Vienna as a successor to the VR2340 model line (the Krefeld VR2350 model line was only later -1985 or maybe 1986- succeeded by the VR6660 and VR6860 VHS models). Since Krefeld didn't manufacture decks (they got their VCC decks from Vienna), they used a Panasonic deck in their VR6460. In later models they used VHS decks from Vienna.

Interesting side note on the transition from VCC to VHS and the whole 'having a few components in common' thing: In the early 1980's, apparently Philips and Thomson were talking about building a video factory together that could produce videorecorders of any system alongside eachother using a modular concept. As far as I know, those plans were shelved but the research behind it may have helped in the development of those early VHS models. I am now suddenly wondering whether the Echo deck (the VHS deck used in the VR6560) would be suitable as a cost-down VCC deck if some different components were fitted.

[ben]

Had to do a double take - this looks almost identical to my V2000 model VR2030!
Great write up, thanks for posting. Never seen one of them despite spending almost 2 decades in various parts of Europe, so they must be quite scarce. Had a few VR 6462s pass through my hands though.

[Studio263]

Hello Maarten,

No problem, Type VR 6560/05, serial WD 08 503 16 1007982

I always liked the VR 6460, although it was odd that it had that HUGE heat sink on the right hand side! They used the Matsushita D1 deck which was excellent, cheaper heads than Philips too. Philips always did chroma processing in video recorders very well and their dropout compensators were superb, a perfect match for a fine Japanese transport. Odd that it wasn't remote controlled though.

In the UK, Philips also marketed a rebadged version of Matsushita's Panasonic NV-370, which I took to be their entry to VHS. I can't remember the model number though. In fact, the only combination you couldn't get was Philips mechanics with Matsushita electronics - probably just as well!

[stevehertz]

It looks just like a VR2334, the preceding V2000 format model.

[Nickthedentist]

Very interesting and comprehensive, Tim, thanks for sharing this with us.

As has been said, I would have overlooked this as a V2000 machine if I'd stumbled across it in a junk shop or whatever.

Nick.

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi
I think the reworked NV370 was sold as the VR6520. Always a relief to see a good old Panasonic deck in a machine as opposed to the Charlie decks. My video engineer at the time would look at any machine except the Charlie mechanism which he left for me to do. And, yes, his name was Charlie...
Glyn

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by Studio263

No problem, Type VR 6560/05, serial WD 08 503 16 1007982

Thank you. The production date is 1985, week 3. Already had 8 revisions. 7982'th machine and produced at production line 16 (I don't know how many of those lines were used for VHS at the time and whether the count was per line or as a total).

[dj_fivos_sak]

Nice deck! Looks like their V2000 models from 1983-84. I have a Grundig VS 310 from 1985 which looks similar to the Grundig V2000 VCRs and uses a U-loading mechanism, much like the Philips Charlie deck.

[Studio263]

Here are a few pictures of some of the machines mentioned in this thread. First the VR 6460, which was always an unusual sight in our shop. This picture shows it with the 16” version of the familiar CTX-E TV set but don’t let the remote control fool you – it will only work the TV despite the video recorder controls visible at the bottom. A nice machine though, I saw one at the car boot a few years ago but forgot to go back and buy it. Big mistake!

The second picture shows the insides of a VR 6462. Note the similarities to the VR 6560 shown earlier. This one is actually the B&O version, a VHS 63. They are much the same, aside from the clever remote control transcoder board visible just behind the mains transformer. This converts the signal from the IR sensor on the front so that the machine can be operated using the Beovision Video Terminal remote control unit that comes with the 30AX series Beovision models and the MX2000. In addition, a data pin has been added to the SCART connector so that remote control data can be transferred directly from a Beovision LX2800 / LX2802 (and related models). The front panel is similar to that used for all the Philips “customer” models, except it has little doors over most of the keys. I’ve seen Decca and GEC ‘New Century’ versions of this machine, the Decca was silver and looked a bit so-so, the GEC was very dark brown with neat red lettering and looked really special. They did a New Century TV set as well, but that was made by Hitachi.

[dj_fivos_sak]

Ah! I remember that Philips mechanism from a VR 6080 that I had years ago! Everything was direct driven, like most Philips decks.

[Studio263]

Here are the video recorder pages from the 1985 Philips television catalogue. This was the "changeover" year, 3 VHS models and 3 V2000 ones to choose from.

The VR6560 and VR6460 have already gone by this stage. The VHS machines on show are all variations on the same basic theme, see the VR6462 interior view in my previous post.

Simply Years Ahead...

[Welsh Anorak]

I quite liked the VR6462 shown above, though the method of carriage removal ("bend the two support arms inwards") worried me! The main faults were mechanical due to the carriage lift lever arm's 'pip' breaking off. Usually you could find the travelling pivot lurking in the Molykote grease. Otherwise the idler with the horseshoe spring caused problems - even with a new Philips supplied part, plus solenoid failure. Besides that, batteries and those odd little blue electrolytics aside, it was quite a reliable machine.
Glyn