I’ve put together an a/v rack with DVD, CD, and cassette players. This is to be for use at the building I manage at a University for classes, film presentations, meetings, whatever. We have finally gotten the projector mounted in the ceiling and the cart is assembled so that one may simply wheel out the cart, plug it in to the port on the panel on the wall and enjoy, or teach, or learn, or whatever.
But I’m having a helluva time finding a VHS player to fit into the rack. WTF? The a/v expert who ordered all the stuff and assembled everything did mention that a rack mountable VCR, which falls under the rubric of professional video equipment would be $100’s more than a simple freestanding VCR that you’d buy for home use. I can’t understand why. But I tried to verify it by just doing some research online on my own and I can’t even find a single one. Not ONE!!! Not a single VCR made to be mounted into a rack.
Is there a reason for this? Are there particular key words I should include in my search?
I would imagine it’s more a question of why should anyone make a low cost VHS VCR? I doubt if there is much demand. Your best bet may be to adapt rack mount ears to an existing one or see if you can get a rack mount shelf as is often done in computer racks. Sounds like nothing that can’t be fixed with a pair of vise grips and a roll of gaffer’s tape. The only rack mountable VHS I’ve seen was a fairly expensive Sony and that was some years ago.
** Ilsa** your link didn’t work for me but my first thought too was to check out bhphotovideo. I found some rack mount adder kits there by searching “rack mount vcr”.
Have you considered purchasing a cheap VCR and some adjustable rack ears? I’ve seen tem marketed for rack-mounting musical equipment that’s not rack-mountable in its natural state.
Apparently there isn’t much demand, which I don’t get at all. I can’t imagine that there aren’t thousands of people at various educational institutions that wouldn’t be looking for the same thing. I wouldn’t think VHS was exactly obsolete yet, especially since I would guess most things you’d want to show for pedagogy (old documentaries, archival news footage, etc.) would likely be only available on VHS.
As far as the other responses, yeah our plan is to go with the cheap VCR and a rack shelf. Incidentally, I was surprised that the price of the rack shelf was $45. I was expecting $6 for some reason. The thing is, most of the cheap ones you see are larger than one rack space, and (along with our mixing board) there really is not that much space left, unless we just let it sit on top in which case it’ll undoubtedly get separated at some point, which I’d like to avoid.
I’m just surprised I can’t find one major electronics company that makes one.
The profit margin on rack shelves, blank panels, etc, for the manufacturer has got to be through the roof. They’re ridiculously expensive for being a slab of anodized sheetmetal with six bends and 4 holes. Not a real high volume item, though, so there’s not a lot of competition in making them.
I used to have to set up racks of video equipment for an old job. When it came to the VCRs, we ended up just getting generic shelves and strapping the VCRs down so they wouldn’t move around.
From what I’ve seen, the people who want a rack-mount VCR are usually looking for commercial/industrial quality video equipment. Stuff that’s maintainable and will last for more than a few years. They also want features that are not available on consumer grade machines, little things like BNC connectors instead of RCA connectors.
I work for a network ( and have been inside of literatlly dozens of high-end broadcast network rack rooms and remote trucks ).
They all have VHS machines, even if they are rarely touched. Finding one with rack-mount holes is tricky, but as mentioned, they are easy to jury-rig. One good thing to keep in mind- unless you are using it in an edit/slave mode and have to have remode edit control over it ( industrial/professional grade VHS machine ), you can get a machine that does not WEIGH anything. I have one here, I got it for- I shit you not- $ 29.00 at the Sony Factory outlet store near me.
I just lifted it. If it’s 7 lbs that’s pushing it.
Want me to swing by and pick one up for ya?
Cartooniverse
( seriously - email me . Great machine. Dirt cheap. )
Thanks a bunch for the offer Cartooniverse!! That’s OK though. I’m having the person who actually man’s (woman’s?) our expense budget pick one up locally today. (Though I may take you up on your offer in the future for personal VHS needs. $29, wow! )
My biggest concern wasn’t the weight so much as the height. I’m actually kicking myself that I didn’t do some research before I bought the DVD player since I’ve seen many DVD/VHS combos that would’ve saved space. ::shrugg::
Space? Lawdy, I was in the Sony Factory Outlet this afternoon. They have a DVD/VHS combo player that is just wicked thin top to bottom. However, it sure looked wider side to side than the norm, and that would make it a trick to rack-mount…
