Hi all:

You may remember that some time ago (over a year) the VHS in my Avant died. I went to London and took a spare one out of a scrap Avant. Didn't get round to installing it. Was going to do it this week.

Anyway the Avant is in the lounge and I don't use it too much or pay attention to it. When the VHS died a tape got stuck in it and  I couldn't eject it. I thought the PSU had died. However, I looked down at the tape slot yesterday evening and the tape had ejected.

Thoughts?

Graham,

Whilst I do not recall the history of your AVANT issue, there were issues with tapes not ejecting correctly.

You did not say exactly how far the tape had got in the ejection process, but there were intermittent jamming of cassettes during eject for which B&O produced a fix.

The problem was the jamming of certain types of cassettes in the tape mechanism during eject and it was caused by an edge of the cassette or a misfitted label, which could catch on the lower part of the cassette lid and prevent the cassette from being ejected.

B&O produced a new cassette lid, which is fitted with two small round knobs on the lower part of the lid.

Hi Kieth:

It might be the problem you describe. However, it seemed like it was playing dead. The tape was fully in the mechanism I think (the flap had closed) and I assume that it was in the right place to be manipulated by the tape heads. However, when using the Beo4 or buttons on the top of the Avant to eject/play/turn the video on absolutely nothing happened.

Fast forward six months (no pun intended) and the tape comes out as if by magic!

Hi Graham

Does the Avant now play VHS cassettes correctly? I had a problem with a jammed cassette in my Avant - which my dealer remedied by replacing the entire Video recorder mechanism (and charging me for). So a benign gremlin that helpfully ejects the tape for you is a gremlin to capture and keep in reserve for other mal-functioning equiment!

Cheers

Neil

The point I was trying to make in my first response, but I did it rather badly was if a tape becomes jammed it does often appear that the VCR is dead as if the power supply was not working, hence why I made the comment I did. It really depends at what point it jams, if indeed that is what happened.

Other possible causes include loose connections with the small wires (not the SCART cable) which go between the VCR and the main TV

Hi Kieth:

Thanks it probably was that, unless I can get such a cassette door from a donor set or make my own I guess I will just have to be careful with regards to what tapes I put in there - i.e. ones with labels that are firmly stuck down etc.

Thanks

Graham