US Model VHD player JVC HD-5500US

Grabbed this from an Ebay seller, who had gotten it from an estate sale of someone who worked for the American company that was going to market this format in the US. They ultimately decided not to sell the format here, but prototype players and discs had already been made. It was only sold in Japan with moderate success. Playing a Japanese disc of “From Russia With Love“ here. Player was sold as non-working, but turned out it had no stylus cartridge inside. Victor cartridges will work with it. I still could not get it to play so took the cover off, first discovered you have to hold a switch down to make it work with the cover off, then found an odd wheel and pulley system that moved the pickup, which just needed a push by hand to get going after sitting idle for over 35 years. The stylus still doesn’t produce a very good picture so have a new one coming from Japan that will hopefully work better.