Panasonic SV-3800 thoughts?

[vinyldavid]

Thoughts on this? I now have one, but haven't tested it yet.

[Warped Bezel]

The power cord is a start?

[vinyldavid]

I mean tested it with a tape. it poweres up and the drawer functions. I'm gonna check if it registers audio in a bit.

[Skywavebe]

Hi David,
Those were nice machines in their day. I actually had one for a while but unlike many of the competition, these machines are heavy in maintenance costs. The last time I had one restored to working condition when parts were available it cost Sporting News where I was Chief Engineer for a while in the area of $700. It did work good after that but I must warn you that any used DAT machine is likely going to need at least some maintenance and don't clean the heads with cotton swabs- the rotating heads can only be cleaned using a lintless cloth like Texwipes or Chamois. In my last conversation with Richard Hess, he stated that getting material that is important should be foremost in the process even before 40 year old reels. That begs the question, why would someone put material on DAT at this time when the last one made by Sony was in 1997.

[Warped Bezel]

I always wondered why we tend to do it that way.

Maybe it's to avoid hearing a tape die possibly.

It's human nature to look for the meters first.

However that goes, I look forward to hearing about your hearing it.

[vinyldavid]

Hi David,
Those were nice machines in their day. I actually had one for a while but unlike many of the competition, these machines are heavy in maintenance costs. The last time I had one restored to working condition when parts were available it cost Sporting News where I was Chief Engineer for a while in the area of $700. It did work good after that but I must warn you that any used DAT machine is likely going to need at least some maintenance and don't clean the heads with cotton swabs- the rotating heads can only be cleaned using a lintless cloth like Texwipes or Chamois. In my last conversation with Richard Hess, he stated that getting material that is important should be foremost in the process even before 40 year old reels. That begs the question, why would someone put material on DAT at this time when the last one made by Sony was in 1997.

I have always cleaned helical scanning heads with a light touch, decent alcohol, and paper towels. Before I do this one I'll get a nice Chamois. The reason I bought this one is because I have been asked to do quite a few DAT transfers, but did not have the capability. Also it was about $40.

Functionality update: Every function you can test without a tape works fine.