First Video recorder?

[Zincubus]

First Video recorder?

Ferguson Videostars were rebadged JVC VCRs. JVC were the market leaders in VHS and couldn't supply enough VCRs to European markets due to import restrictions. A joint venture called J2T (JVC, Thorn, Telefunken) was set up to assemble JVC machines by Ferguson (part of Thorn EMI) in the UK and Telefunken in Germany. Thomson in France were later involved as well. VHS won the format battle because Thorn EMI also controlled most of the home TV/VCR rental market (e.g. DER) so, surprise surprise, used VHS machines built by J2T. At the end of their rental lives most VCRs were refurbished and sold on the used market, so by the mid-1980s there was limited demand for anything else. If you had a Ferguson Videostar it could have been made in the UK, Germany or Japan (depending on the model), but the components used would be 90% JVC.

Weren't there THREE units on the shelves with all the same insides ??

Baird or Thorn or some other I seem to recall ... Ferguson / JVC / ?
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[CrystalBall]

Re: First Video recorder?

Ferguson Videostars were rebadged JVC VCRs. JVC were the market leaders in VHS and couldn't supply enough VCRs to European markets due to import restrictions. A joint venture called J2T (JVC, Thorn, Telefunken) was set up to assemble JVC machines by Ferguson (part of Thorn EMI) in the UK and Telefunken in Germany. Thomson in France were later involved as well. VHS won the format battle because Thorn EMI also controlled most of the home TV/VCR rental market (e.g. DER) so, surprise surprise, used VHS machines built by J2T. At the end of their rental lives most VCRs were refurbished and sold on the used market, so by the mid-1980s there was limited demand for anything else. If you had a Ferguson Videostar it could have been made in the UK, Germany or Japan (depending on the model), but the components used would be 90% JVC.

[Chris-T]

Re: First Video recorder?

This is what we had.Think the first thing I watched was ET!

tulip

Same one my Nan had - with the corded remote!

[Zincubus]

Re: First Video recorder?

I recall choosing between THREE completely different makes of VHS video players .... the guy was getting impatient and said that ' if it helps at all ...... all three are exactly the same machine inside . I think they were a Ferguson plus TOSHIBA plus another one ... Panasonic ??


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[zabadak]

Re: First Video recorder?

big chunky buttons.

Yeah - I remember you had to press play & record together, like a cassette recorder!

[darren]

Re: First Video recorder?

i remember my uncle having a top loader this was in the very early eighties big chunky buttons.
Quite possibly the first time id seen a top loader and it may have been rented out.

gosh old top loaders i remember trying close it quietly so mum and dad thought i was asleep on school nights but i was watching anything i recorded lol.

[Twocky61]

Re: First Video recorder?

Not my video recorder but the school's. This would have been mid 70's pre VHS/BETA. We had a reel to reel video recorder which was used to record schools programmes so they could be watched later and in other classes. It must have been studio equipment not commercially available; that's my guess

[xmark1234]

Re: First Video recorder?

Gosh old top loaders I remember trying close it quietly so mum and dad thought I was asleep on school nights but I was watching anything I recorded lol.

[akb48fan]

Re: First Video recorder?

This beast was the first video recorder in my household. My dad bought it just before my 10th birthday in 1982. It came in very handy for recording Star Fleet on Saturday mornings!

[jamesa]

Re: First Video recorder?

I remember watching a Philips N1500 at school and then N1700 machines replaced them - the first one I bought was a JVC which looks identical to the piano key Ferguson Videostar - cost around £500 in 1981/2 - I recorded Dr. Who on it - Tom Baker but cant remember which one

[Richard1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

One of the oddest VCR I remember was owned by my next door neighbours. The most of the controls were on a panel that would hinge out by 20 degrees at the push of the button, & the remote sat in a recess in this panel.

This was useful for keeping the remote safe, one of their sons once managed to push it into the tape slot & get it stuck!.

[Nik_Barbour]

Re: First Video recorder?

Mum & Dads 1st was a Sony SL-C7 apparently (having scrolled through the models till I figured it out).
It was a Betamax, and I remember being amazed it had an Infrared remote.


My own was a Sony SLV I bought in the early 90s. Can't find the model no now. I remember it cost me a fortune. Had a fold down front door with buttons on it, and the remote was huge with its own lcd panel which you could set recording timings more easily on, and a massive knob that turned for fast forward/reverse.

[Richard1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

we had a amstrad 4600. great vcr bitd. last vcr i bought was a toshiba.

My parents also had an Amstrad 4600, which was mostly OK apart from the remote control falling apart after a few years & needing a drive belt replaced.

The main selling point was it's ability to fit double the amount of programmes on a tape, at a loss of picture quality.

Re: First Video recorder?

we had a amstrad 4600. great vcr bitd. last vcr i bought was a toshiba.

[Finnthedude]

Re: First Video recorder?

First vcr was a Ferguson Videostar like a lot of people here. Toploader VHS in silver. First film we watched was "The Exterminator" which is a terrible B movie form the 80's but I have it on DVD now anyway. I also remember watching "The Evil Dead" a week before it was banned in the UK.

Finnthedude.