Broadcast Writer

By Vicki W. Kipp
May 1, 2004
Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) Chapter 24 Newsletter

Long after most electronics repair shops have closed their doors, Madison Video Repair on Madison’s South side still manages to earn a living.

From 1976 – 1980, Lynne Smith worked in the Madison office for Avonix, a Milwaukee based video sales company. Challenged by inflation and a recession, Avonix decided to close its Madison branch. Smith and a technician co-worker negotiated a deal with Avonix to open their own business, Madison Video Repair, in the existing Avonix building. Avonix maintained a salesperson in Madison and eventually re-opened a Madison office. Avonix was eventually sold to Video Images/ MCSI.

The very same week that Madison Video Repair opened for business, a consumer home video rental store called The Video Station came to town. The Video Station rented and sold videotapes and VCRs. Sony introduced consumer Betamax in 1976. When home video rental was pioneered in the early 1980s, it was common for customers to rent both a video and a VCR from the video store. The owner of the Video Station contacted Madison Video Repair because he needed someone to repair his rental equipment. Madison Video got off to a great start because they had their existing clients plus a big new account: The Video Station.

After five years in business, the workload at Madison Video Repair was growing so fast that Smith was having difficulty keeping up. Her husband, Frank Smith, quit his job as a carpenter at the University of Wisconsin to become Lynne’s business partner at Madison Video Repair. Frank and Lynne liked the idea of being their own boss. The Smiths bought out the technician’s share of the business, and have enjoyed being in business together for 23 years now.

Figure 1. Madison Video Repair has been at their Greenway an advantage to be an independent Cross shop for decades.

Figure 2. Owners Frank and Lynne Smith greet customers.

When Madison Video Repair (Figure 1, 2) opened in 1981, they fixed ½-inch format video reel-to-reel machines and Betamax VCRs. The ½-inch reel-to-reel videotape machines —which followed the EIAJ standard— were manufactured by several Japanese companies beginning in 1969. Manufacture of ½-inch format gear ended soon after ¾-inch cassettes were introduced. After a few years, Madison Videos’ clients began bringing in VHS VCRs and 8-mm video cameras. Next, there was CCTV and later digital surveillance installations and repairs. Now, they repair DVCPRO, DV format equipment, LCD projectors, and DVD players.

Although the technicians would like to repair every piece of broken equipment that is brought to Madison Video Repair, it isn’t always financially feasible. Frank Smith notes, “We’ve never had a decent technician that can accept that a broken item is not worth fixing. They can’t just walk away from a broken item. That’s not the way that they think.” Lynne adds, “Not only do the technicians want to fix the broken item, but they want to understand how it is engineered. Meanwhile, I have figure out how to pay the rent. I may have to encourage them to install the replacement component and move along.”

An independent commercial video repair shop such as Madison Video Repair is a rarity. The next closest independent video repair shop is in Chicago. Most repair shops are part of a sales company and almost all of these only service the products that they sell. Their primary goal is sales, not repair work. Madison Video Repair, on the other hand, exists to repair video equipment whenever possible to the extent that repairs are cost effective for the client and supported by the product manufacturer. Some manufacturers find it is not workable for them to do component level repair and redirect clients to Madison Video Repair for service.

Madison Video Repair considers it an advantage to be an independent shop not tied to just one manufacturer. Manufacturers repair facilities that constantly repair the same equipment can get in a rut. Since Madison Video Repair sees a diverse selection of equipment and problems, they are open-minded when troubleshooting the cause of a problem.

STAFF

Madison Video Repair offers a wide range of services with a staff of eight people. They have an easier time recruiting people to be equipment installers than they do recruiting people to be video repair technicians. Frank Smith does most security installations himself. Installers run in to many challenges on the job because they run into many obstacles while installing cable and equipment. Knowledge of building construction is an important asset for installers.

When hiring electronic technicians, Madison Video Repair seeks people with electronic knowledge, who have mechanical skills, and have the hand coordination to work on very small mechanical assemblies. One of their maintenance technicians does jewelry repair on the side. Computer skills are valuable for repair technicians because some equipment needs to be connected to a computer in order to perform testing and alignment.

Finding an electronic technician who is able to repair video equipment to the component level is difficult. Most technical schools don’t train students in component level electronics repair. When Madison Video finds people with the desired skill set, many of these applicants lose interest in the position once they learn that they would be working with video equipment instead of computers. Having an existing technician train less experienced new hires is not a workable solution for Madison Video Repair. Madison Video Repair’s customers demand fast and accurate service and techs do not have time to teach a new tech and still meet the customer demands.

Frank and Lynne gratefully acknowledge their staff’s role in the success of Madison Video Repair. “Having good people work here is why we’re still in business after 23 years,” credits Lynne. “We’re not a real structured shop. We know what we have to do. The staff is pretty independent. We trust their equipment evaluations,” says Frank. Lynne concludes, “Nobody is paid on commission. Honesty and quality are essential. Our technicians know that they can’t shotgun an estimate; they have to be accurate.”

DISPOSABLE ELECTRONICS

Servicing new consumer electronics items is much more difficult than it was with older analog electronics. Besides which, retail costs for consumer electronics have dropped to the point where it isn’t feasible to repair them. Although consumer equipment repair only makes up about 5% of their business, Madison Video Repair still services consumer VCRs, DVD players, and camcorders.

Given the choice of spending $75 to buy a new VCR or DVD player or spending almost as much to repair it, most consumers will choose to buy a replacement item that will have a long life ahead of it and may have new features that the broken electronic item lacked. Lynne Smith notes that the failure rate on newer consumer electronics is lower than what we’ve been accustomed to in the past.

There are a few customers who are sentimental about their older consumer electronics devices who still bring their aged VCRs in for repair. Madison Video Repair can fix older consumer devices as long as the manufacturer still supports that product by selling replacement parts. If the customer insists on repairing an unsupported device, Madison Video Repair can try to get generic parts for that device.

With VCRs, there is a logical threshold, which can be used to determine if it makes sense to repair a device. Most VCRs manufactured since 1996 are direct drive. A direct drive VCR uses a motor and circuits to drive the gears instead of using rubber belts and idlers to move gears. Motor-driven VCRs are very reliable. Belt- and idler- driven VCRs inevitably require periodic maintenance because the rubber parts stretch and wear out.

With camcorders, it is easier to justify the cost of repair versus the cost of buying a replacement. Lynne Smith notes that many Madison consumers bought Sony camcorders. She explains that Sony offers phenomenal support for their equipment. Madison Video Repair can still get replacement parts for Sony 8-mm cameras. 8-mm cameras are generally worth repairing if the repair cost stays below the roughly $400 cost of a new 8-mm camcorder. Unfortunately, some manufacturers charge so much for replacement parts for 8-mm cameras that it becomes cost prohibitive to fix them. Madison Video Repair still receives a few 8-mm cameras each week to repair.

Consumer DVD players are difficult to repair in a cost-effective manner. Madison Video Repair has done a little business repairing JVC and Panasonic DVD players. The DVD player has gotten so inexpensive that it is difficult to rationalize the expense of repair unless it is still under warranty.

Consumer electronics repair makes up 5% of their business, industrial repair is 20% of their business, and DVCPRO broadcast equipment repair comprises the remaining 75% of business for Madison Video Repair.

INDUSTRIAL

Madison Video Repair sells, installs, and services time-lapse security video recorders, duplication recorders, editors, and cameras to hospitals and stores. Hospitals and many universities use high-end S-VHS recorders. In particular, Madison Video Repair gets a lot of camera repair business from community access television stations that loan out video cameras to community members.

Repairing DV videotape machines can be an expensive proposition. When a component or board in a DV machine fails, it usually ends up being a $300 repair. Even if the cause of failure in a DV deck is simple to repair, Madison Video Repair may have to buy $300 worth of break-out cables to even be able to work on it. They need to have the opportunity to work on ten or fifteen of that brand of deck before they can break even on the cost of buying breakout cables.

Madison Video Repair repairs overhead LCD projectors from Sharp, Panasonic, and JVC. Often, the projector LCD panel needs to be replaced. If a repair can be performed under the three-year parts and labor warranty that most projectors come with, then it makes sense to do so. However, if a projector malfunctions outside of its warranty period, often it isn’t cost effective to repair that projector. The projector parts are so expensive that it is usually more logical to replace the projector.

SECURITY INSTALLATION

Security equipment sales and installation for businesses make up a healthy chunk of business for Madison Video Repair. The Smiths note that they face a lot more competition in the security business than they do in the repair business. “The competition ranges from your trunk slammers to your viable security professionals who invest in a shop, overhead, and insurance,” summarizes Lynne Smith.

Some of their biggest projects have been installing security cameras in casinos. For example, a typical casino installation would include 300- 1200 cameras. Madison Video Repair has installed security cameras in the Pottawatomie, Mole Lake, Majestic Pines, Ho-Chunk, Rainbow, and De Jope Casinos.

If the client provides an AutoCAD drawing of their facility, Madison Video Repair can create an AutoCAD drawing of where equipment will be installed.

BROADCAST

Madison Video Repair repairs many Panasonic DVCPRO, JVC, and Sony DVCAM videotape machines. When the DV format was introduced in 1995, no one foresaw the extent to which capacitors would need to be replaced on the DV machines. Now, replacing capacitors on DV machines is a major part of the shop workload. In recent years, the failure of surface mounted electrolytic capacitors due to deterioration from age and heat has become increasingly common. New miniature capacitors don’t last nearly as long as traditional full-size capacitors. In the late 1980s, manufacturers switched to miniaturized capacitors with smaller and thinner housings, wire leads, insulation, and can be cleaned and repaired, some leaks are bad enough where it becomes cheaper to replace the entire board rather than repair it. The cost of refurbishing an aging board with a total recap[acitorization] as preventative maintenance is usually less than the cost of board replacement after a capacitor has leaked.

Broadcasters often prefer to outsource capacitor replacement on their DV gear since there are typically 7 to 100 capacitors on a (PCB) to be replaced. Although some engineers prefer to replace dried out or defective capacitors selectively, Madison Video Repair prefers to replace all of the capacitors simultaneously. (Figure 3) Frank Smith acknowledges that it is possible to repair a failed VT by only replacing two capacitors, but that same VT will be much more likely to require additional caps very soon. Replacing all of the capacitors practically guarantees that the VT won’t require additional service for a while.

Based on their great track record with repairs, Madison Video Repair gives a 6-month warranty on their repairs. If a repaired item requires service within 6 months of the repair, Madison Video Repair will pay for shipping and fix the item at no cost. “This warranty is unheard of in the industry,” explains Lynne Smith, “We’re very confident. We can only do that because our technicians are good. They put a lot of effort into looking at the boards.”

Figure 3. When Madison Video Repair replaces capacitors on DV gear, they provide clients with a photo of the capacitors replaced.

MONITORS

Madison Video Repair occasionally repairs video monitors but finds that industrial monitors don’t often fail and that most companies don’t want to pay to ship old monitors out for repair. Although Madison Video Repair has done consumer television repair in the past, they now redirect this business to a local independent TV repair shop specializing in consumer TV sets.

TURNAROUND

Madison Video Repair evaluates equipment within 24 hours of receiving it. They strive to respond to any technical questions or part requests within two days. Delivering on their pledge to work on a machine the day that they receive it has required Madison Video Repair to devote resources to scheduling logistics.

Spending the money to keep an inventory of commonly needed parts in stock and having a good relationship with a part supplier helps Madison Video Repair to meet their fast turnaround pledge. Since the store is committed to getting jobs done quickly, they don’t have many machines waiting for repair when staff finishes their existing jobs. “It’s a juggling act,” acknowledges Lynne, “There are times when we don’t have anything in the shop and the next day, we have fifteen machines that all need to be fixed promptly.”

The repair industry is changing. In the past, manufacturers typically had numerous different service centers scattered across the country. Now, almost all have consolidated those service centers into just a few on the coasts and Midwest. The manufacturers have just as hard a time finding qualified repair technicians as smaller shops and broadcast stations do.

PARTS

Madison Video Repair gets few requests to sell parts to clients who do their own maintenance but can usually supply parts if requested. Madison Video Repair encourages clients to order parts directly from the manufacturer to get the best rates, but will supply parts as a customer courtesy if the client prefers to order from Madison Video Repair. Madison Video Repair offers financing terms that some clients prefer over the manufacturer’s terms.

ADAPTATION

It is only through adaptation, from Beta to S-VHS to 8-mm to DV formats, that Madison Video Repair has been able to stay in business these past 23 years. When asked what the future holds for the video repair business, Lynne Smith responded, “You just never know. I think that if it needs to be fixed, and we’re still alive and healthy, we’ll fix it. But I don’t have a clue what format it’s going to be.”

VIDEO FORMATS

Introduced           Format
1956                       2” Quadraplex
1969                       ½” EIAJ Reel-to-Reel videotape
1969                       ¾” Umatic
1971                       1” B
1972                       1” C
1976                       Sony Consumer Betamax
1977                       Matsushita Consumer VHS
1985                       Betacam
1987                       MII
1987                       Digital D1
1988                       S-VHS
1988                       Digital D2
1989                       Hi8 & Video 8
1989                       Betacam SP
1990                       Digital D3
1992                       CD-ROM
1992                       DCT
1993                       Digital D5
1993                       1” High Density HDVS/ HDD 1000
1994                       Digital Betacam
1995                       DV Digital Video
1997                       DVD-Video (DVD Book B)
1998                       DIVX (Support ended on 6/30/2001)