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NEC DS8000U VCR

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:54 am
by n8nagel
Good morning

I found this NEC S-VHS VCR in Goodwill (keeping with the gear theme, on my way back from having my big Adcom amp checked out) for the princely sum of $12.50 and I couldn't say no even though it was nonfunctional. The lady at the cash register made sure that I understood that I could bring it back within a week if it didn't work and I assured her that even though I already knew it didn't work, I wasn't bringing it back (would have been an hour drive each way if nothing else). Well, all it really needed was a main drive belt and some cleaning, although purchasing the owner's manual (I couldn't find a scan, and I wanted to get the part number for the original remote) and remote control significantly increased my investment in this unit.

I actually have this up and running and connected in my living room and it's working fine although I am using a composite video connection as apparently neither my current TV nor AVR have a S-Video connection.

What I'm looking for is if there are any discrete power codes for this unit, or is it likely that it is too old to have same? I am in the process of making an upgrade for this with learns from the original remote; the Harmony program for it is pretty sparse and doesn't have discretes. Or, being that this unit dates from 1988 is it likely that discrete codes weren't a thing yet? It does have an electronic power switch is why I'm asking, but the power button on the remote is a toggle.

Yes, I am trying to get a 35 year old VCR working with my living room stuff. Humor me, I just like doing weird stuff like this :)

Here is what I have so far.

https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=26714

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 11:24 am
by The Robman
I think the only way to find out is to test them all. Do you know how to do that efficiently?

Also, I notice that you entered the device codes as dev=25,sub=230. You should notice that 25+230=255, so this is really just dev=25 with no sub-device (ie, the sub-device is the complement of the device).

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 12:31 pm
by n8nagel
The Robman wrote:I think the only way to find out is to test them all. Do you know how to do that efficiently?

Also, I notice that you entered the device codes as dev=25,sub=230. You should notice that 25+230=255, so this is really just dev=25 with no sub-device (ie, the sub-device is the complement of the device).
Sure I can, I was just curious if that was a worthwhile exercise or likely pointless. As for the device and sub device, that's what came up when I looked at my learns.

Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2023 1:30 pm
by The Robman
Right, the decoder must not be programmed to recognize when the sub is the complement of the dev. It doesn't make a difference, except someone who doesn't know about this stuff would assume that device 25 is different from dev 25.230