First Video recorder?

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

Video recorders were so fascinating in the mid 1980s - I only saw one in the room at school where we watched schools programmes on. I used to assume as a seven year old back in the mid 1980s that VCRs could only play tapes and that they were all pre-recorded, and so it was a bit of a surprise watching a cartoon film at the end of term recorded from an ITV region, and an ad break came up!

Looking back, they are great time capsules as we can see on YouTube - who cares about the James Bond film recorded in 1985 when the adverts are a lot more interesting these days? Damn anyone who pressed pause on the remote control back then - I know that videotape was expensive back then, but pausing it was so unforgiveable.

[Hexham_keith]

Re: First Video recorder?

First Video the family hired was a Sharp VC381H in 1983. The first thing I recorded was 'The Final Countdown' starring Kirk Douglas. The tape lasted until I finally disposed of my VHS collection two years ago.
I then purchased a Ferguson Videostar 3V48 in 1986 which provided sterling service until about 2006 when the drivebelts finally gave up.
I finally purchased a JVC HRD960EK Editing deck in 1992. I still have it but it was nowhere near as reliable, having been repaired twice.

Do you have the User guide/manual for the JVC and if yes could you scan it for me?

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

My parents were so old fashioned that we didn't get a VCR until 1989 (the same year that we first got a landline telephone). The first thing they recorded on it was the omnibus edition of EastEnders that Sunday as they went on a day trip on that day. They only had one tape at the time and they always recorded over it every time. Years later, I accumulated a couple of hundred tapes, but we had to get rid of them in a house move.

[staffslad]

Re: First Video recorder?

lol Quick thinking

Not seen pay on return, but one shop I used c1980 made you pay a £20 deposit and used it up at £1 per night, so you could hire 20 films for your £20 as long as you only kept them for one night each.

I remember Global had this bizarre pay when you return them rather than pay when you take them out. My mate drove us to the shop one day and asked me to pop in and return 4 tapes. I walked in, dumped them on the counter and headed for the door, The guy serving says "hey, you pay for these on return". I'm like "eh? They're not my tapes". He asked me where I got them and I said I found them and brought them here because of the name on the cases. I'm pretty sure they can find out who had rented them through their database.

[trip2themoon]

Re: First Video recorder?

Video rentals & pirating were common in the early 1980s due to the high cost of pre-recorded tapes, though they quickly came down so by the end of the decade you could get most stuff for around £10. Most shops had the original boxes on display, but gave you the tape with a generic video shop box so you wouldn't be tempted to steal it!

I remember Global had this bizarre pay when you return them rather than pay when you take them out. My mate drove us to the shop one day and asked me to pop in and return 4 tapes. I walked in, dumped them on the counter and headed for the door, The guy serving says "hey, you pay for these on return". I'm like "eh? They're not my tapes". He asked me where I got them and I said I found them and brought them here because of the name on the cases. I'm pretty sure they can find out who had rented them through their database.

[staffslad]

Re: First Video recorder?

In the mid-80s I frequented a corner shop that had an upstairs section for video rentals and I got into the habit of renting 2 videos for £1.50 on friday afternoons. There were just shelves of empty video boxes and you picked out what you wanted and took the boxes downstairs to get your videos in generic boxes. There was no-one upstairs apart from people wanting to rent, and occasionally the covers of the original boxes would be stolen. I remember the shop owner telling me how brassed off he was about it.

[Richard1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

We didn't get our first video until 1987. No one round here called it a Vee See Are, it was just a video. Our video was a Panasonic which my dad bought second hand from someone in work. Not sure how old it was but some of the writing for the buttons on the front of it were wearing away and we got about 9 years out of it.

I remember in the video shops where they had the real boxes for the films out on display some still had their original price tags on them of about £60 to £70. I often wondered how many rentals you would need to do before you would see a profit on your investment?

Video rentals & pirating were common in the early 1980s due to the high cost of pre-recorded tapes, though they quickly came down so by the end of the decade you could get most stuff for around £10. Most shops had the original boxes on display, but gave you the tape with a generic video shop box so you wouldn't be tempted to steal it!

[trip2themoon]

Re: First Video recorder?

We didn't get our first video until 1987. No one round here called it a Vee See Are, it was just a video. Our video was a Panasonic which my dad bought second hand from someone in work. Not sure how old it was but some of the writing for the buttons on the front of it were wearing away and we got about 9 years out of it.

I remember in the video shops where they had the real boxes for the films out on display some still had their original price tags on them of about £60 to £70. I often wondered how many rentals you would need to do before you would see a profit on your investment?

[spuggybridge]

Re: First Video recorder?

Ferguson Videostar front loader, had to buy second hand recon though

Just been reminded by the missus that it was a top loader that I had first (must be either the alcohol or old age playing tricks again)

[MiniMort]

Re: First Video recorder?

My family first got a Sony SL-C9UB Betamax system back in 1982. It cost the earth back then and so for years to come we were to believe Beta was the superior product... Thus we used it until the late 90s. It still works now, complete with the episodes of Tomorrow's World and just about anything airing in the nineties, few 80s tapes, too. Amazing how those tapes have lasted, over 30 years...

[darren]

Re: First Video recorder?

LOOK AT THE PRICE OF THESE.
From the Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue - a Sharp VC9700 format de-luxe video cassette player and a Toshiba V87008 Beta format de-luxe video cassette recorder - £699.99 and £535.00

There was a Granada and Radio Rentals in a town close to me, but to be honest it never occured to me to rent a VCR as my parents never rented anything like that. Consequently, we were always a few years behind when it came to technology . I have been trying to recall how much the VHS machines cost at the time and I keep getting a figure of £549 for a Ferguson, but can't be sure how accurate that is. The VHS machines were, however, a fair bit more than that Sanyo VTC9300P.

[CrystalBall]

Re: First Video recorder?

They were, but Hacker production had already ended and no new Hacker radios were made under Roberts. All they effectively did was buy the defunct brand name to prevent it falling into a foreign competitor's hands as they wanted the posh radio market to themselves. Roberts is part of a larger group and all their radios are made by Sangean in China and have been for the last 10+ years, depending upon the model. Just like Hornby model railways, the UK arm of the company is basically just R&D, marketing and distribution.

[Richard1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

I looking at the site of a collector the other day, who has some Hacker & Roberts radios.

Hacker were bought out by Roberts in the 1970s.

http://www.dustygizmos.com/

[CrystalBall]

Re: First Video recorder?

I have quite a few Grundig items including an excellent Party Boy radio from the late 1970s, a professional quality stereo cassette recorder and Music Boy radio from the mid-1980s and a Beat Boy personal stereo from around 1990. All are good but the earlier stuff is better. Grundig made fine radios, better than Roberts in terms of sound quality and the standard of the electronics but the cases were not as solid. Hacker was always the best of the lot but I would put Grundig second, ahead of Roberts.

[staffslad]

Re: First Video recorder?

Looking at Ebay, those older Grundig products still seem to command quite a price.

My 1997 Grundig VCR was still working the last time I tried it but is now in storage as I have several other machines that get used whenever I play a video cassette. When they give up the ghost my trusty Grundig will become my main VCR