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.

[Zincubus]

Re: First Video recorder?

I’ve probably mentioned this already as I’ve such a bad memory but I recall going into our local tv shop for our very first video recorder..
I was looking at a few at the time .. a silver one , a blackish one and the other was a very plain looking machine ..

I kinda recall there maybe being a Ferguson and a Hitachi in the options .


Anyways I gif it down to two and asked which was the ‘best quality’ recorder and he shocked me by saying all THREE were the same ‘inside’ !??!


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[Homewood]

Re: First Video recorder?

Our first video recorder was a preowned Sanyo VTC 5000 (Beta toploader) which we bought in 1985. The first programme I recorded was Carry on Laughing, a half hour compilation of clips from the Carry On film series, broadcast in September that same year on ITV. Shortly afterwards, we bought a VHS frontloader which had an audio dub feature and I remember plugging a microphone into it and having hours of fun with my brother and sister, dubbing over stuff we'd recorded.

[Zincubus]

Re: First Video recorder?

Our first video recorder was a preowned Sanyo VTC 5000 (Beta toploader) which we bought in 1985. The first programme I recorded was Carry on Laughing, a half hour compilation of clips from the Carry On film series, broadcast in September that same year on ITV. Shortly afterwards, we bought a VHS frontloader which had an audio dub feature and I remember plugging a microphone into it and having hours of fun with my brother and sister, dubbing over stuff we'd recorded.

Yeah I recall all the arguing about VHS and Betamax ...

I seem to recall Betamax was better quality ??

Soooo we chose VHS oddly and I can’t remember why !!


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[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

Even in 1989 I was aware of the difference between VHS and Betamax, and when I went to a neighbour's house to play a tape that I had recorded, I was concerned as to whether they had a VHS model or not - even back then, I assumed that half of all video households were VHS and half were Betamax.

Was it Betamax or Video 2000 that had double sided tapes? - Probably Video 2000?

[Richard1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

It was Video 2000 that had double sided tapes.

Betamax suffered in the long run from having a shorer recording time due to the tape size being smaller, along with Sony not licencing the technology as well as JVC did with VHS.

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

It was Video 2000 that had double sided tapes.

Thought so - I assume that very few companies dealt with them. Grundig was one that sprung to mind.

[80sChav]

Re: First Video recorder?

It would definitley be a VHS no dounts at all on that level/score ..... but which/what Model/Make , I'm unsure what kind :cry: - though it sure was like a slim (for the late 80s) modern-oish Grey thing - circa 1986 to 1988 - but my Mum's partner of Today - used to own Beatamaxes for years before VHS won through and even owned them until the mid to early 90s - circa 93/94 - if though we'd known how Popular Car Boots would be - he could easily of bought tons of Tapes no doubts I am unsure and just carried on taping like people choose to do (like me) with VHS in gavour of DVD or another friend who for years used a tape every Sunday Night for "Sounds of the Sixties"!!

80sChav

[absinthe_boy]

Re: First Video recorder?

In the very late 70s I remember a friend had a reel to reel video recorder, probably EIAJ standard. I think it was either Sony or JVC, and couldn't handle scenes with lots of white very well. I remember watching the Buck Rogers film at his house, with the picture distorting in certain scenes. I would have been six years old...and started asking my dad for a video recorder for the family. I could see instantly how useful they would be. But dad wanted to wait until the format war was over. He'd figured out that VCRs would kill VTRs but the whole Beta/VHS/V2000 war was just beginning.

Finally in April 1984, and in part for my mum's 40th birthday, he bought a Ferguson Videostar 3V35 with some input from now 11 year old me...from Rumbelows of all places. I still have the receipt, it cost Ł450! Lovely, if rather basic machine. I remember changing the video head in 1988 as we wore it out. It was given to me around then and I used it another decade.

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

May 1989 my family had a VCR for the first time via mail order catalogue - only had two or three tapes with which we recorded, watched and taped over again ad infinitum. It was a Sharp one with a huge brick-sized remote control.

On the Sunday of the first week we went on a day trip to a theme park, and that was when we did the first timer recordings on it - EastEnders omnibus (not me of course) and probably something like Bullseye as well.

[Danniella]

Re: First Video recorder?

May 1989 my family had a VCR for the first time via mail order catalogue - only had two or three tapes with which we recorded, watched and taped over again ad infinitum. It was a Sharp one with a huge brick-sized remote control.

On the Sunday of the first week we went on a day trip to a theme park, and that was when we did the first timer recordings on it - EastEnders omnibus (not me of course) and probably something like Bullseye as well.

Was that a Top Loader machine?
I remember we had a Front Loader machine but it kept playing up, and the Record button was set in a corner on the Play button, i presume it was to make it easy to record.

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

It was a front loader - does anyone remember Sharp's Talking Handset model which was around in 1989?

The remote control was massive, and it would talk to you in a female Stephen Hawking-alike voice - saw an advert for it on YouTube as part of an ad break someone downloaded. It was very "Tomorrow's World" from a technology perspective.

From 1991 onwards I started to record programmes on at Christmas, and I use to hog the VCR as a result, recording that year's showing of The Snowman to compliment the premiere of Father Christmas.

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

Was that a Top Loader machine?
I remember we had a Front Loader machine but it kept playing up, and the Record button was set in a corner on the Play button, i presume it was to make it easy to record.

We never had a top loader, but I always thought that top loaders were like cassette tape recorders placed on their side.

[staffslad]

Re: First Video recorder?

I don't remember the Sharp talking remote, but I had an Orion VCR that had one in the late 80s or possibly as late as 1990.

[George 1978]

Re: First Video recorder?

Index (the Argos-alike catalogue shop owned by Littlewoods) used to sell Orion VCRs in the early to mid 1990s - they were alright but quite often vulnerable to having tapes jammed inside them now and again. We had to get a repairman out on more than one occasion (probably sent out by the shop themselves) to sort it out, and sometimes he had to take it away to have a good look at it.

I saw the repairman use a screwdriver with it while it was still plugged in and I thought that he was going to electrocute himself in the process.