WORLD'S FIRST: VHS Video Cassette Recorder Made in 1976

[fuocotaniato]

I am from Italy. My grandfather bought a VHS Recorder (a JVC) at Christmas 1977 and recorded every day a film, or a program with some rare things like news or advertisiments on TV. In 1988 he bought a second recorder (a SONY) and had also two tv sets and recorded with 2 tv sets. In 1995 he bought a third recorder (an AIWA), because the JVC broke down after 18 years. Now we had only the AIWA, my grandfather dies in 2009 and 4000 VHS cassettes.

[themachman19691]

haha i have this vhs recorder,made in japan,JVC.and it still works!!!!!

[TheGlasgowKiss]

enjoyed the movie very much,thanks (i love vhs, dont know why....)

[mkkiani]

@TheGlasgowKiss You're welcome. Do you mean you prefer VHS over Betamax and others. Or do you mean as in a fettish?

The VHS system did last for over a generation.

[Morahman7vnNo2]

A MIC JACK!?

Damn! I wish you still could hook up a video camera to a VCR.

[ElvisRocksVinyl]

LOL I think the secret door was where the coal went, this was so old even when I had it lol, the only down side these is they have billions of belts and tyres every where, even the head drum is belt driven.

[mkkiani]

@ElvisRocksVinyl Yep, it generated it's own electric power from coal. Like it! best regards.

[ElvisRocksVinyl]

oh man this was my first ever video recorder, I owned this exact model JVC, I bought it in 1992 from a yard sale for £10 when i was 12 years old lol much to my surprise it worked, noisy little bugger but never the less it recorded and played many programs for me back in the day. I also bought another model a year later which looked exactly the same as this but it was all grey even the sides but it was made by Ferguson.

[ObiTrev]

DVHS VCRs had 1080i video. They could record up to 50GB max data or 40 Hours Extended Play. CRAZY, but not as cool as the Original VHS Machine!

[butiamthedoctor]

JVC invented VHS, then to ensure the success of it, they opened up the patent so that any manufacturer could make VHS machines. Betamax on the otherhand, which Sony invented, was tied up in patents and licenses, it put potential manufacturers off the system, that they went over to VHS.

Original VHS recorded the audio on the edge of the tape (edge track recording). When stereo NICAM TV broadcasts were in development, Hi-Fi recording took over, the audio is recorded across the entire tape width.

[AidanLunn]

It didn't use the Philips VCR system at all. VHS was a totally new format, but adapted from Betamax.

If you've actually seen a Philips VCR N1500 cassette, you'll see why no other video cassette format anywhere in the world was based on the first Philips VCR system at all.

[mkkiani]

@AidanLunn No JVC could not infringe copyright. They designed their own ' larger VHS cassette' and created their own mechanism for this, and invented the VHS recording & playback system. Philips invented the concept of using cassettes and a mechanical method of recording & playing audio and video from these cassettes hence the VCR, when previously all machines were a VTR. Regards

[AidanLunn]

@mkkiani They didn't infringe copyright if they copied it and then made changes to it. I suggest you read up on copyright law of Japan at the time. I know they created their mechanism, by taking the Betamax mechanism and adapting it so that the drum is smaller and the tape only has a 186 degrees wrap around the drum.

I know that re: the Philips VCR system, but it was an entirely different mech, due to the cassette having the reels on top of each other instead of side by side. One spool is used

[AidanLunn]

@mkkiani PS, don't get the Philips VCR system and the Philips Video2000 video systems mixed up. They're entirely different formats.

[Watcher3223]

@mkkiani

"Philips invented the concept of using cassettes and a mechanical method of recording & playing audio and video from these cassettes hence the VCR"

Sony invented that. Ever hear of U-Matic? That came out a couple of years before the Philips VCR system.

The difference, however, is that U-Matic ended up catering to the professional market whereas VCR was for the home market.

But, your claim was over who invented the video cassette regardless if it's for the home or not.

[Watcher3223]

@mkkiani

As for VHS, it was rumored that Sony had sold certain technologies to JVC that would be instrumental towards the development of VHS, specifically the M-loading pattern.

The sale was made possible over JVC's status as a licensee to Sony for manufacturing U-Matic equipment.

[Watcher3223]

@mkkiani

Allegedly, Sony had attempted to develop M-loading during their development of a 1/2" home video cassette format, but they couldn't figure out how to make it work without putting too much stress on the tape.

Whereas U-load pulls at one point of the tape, M-load pulls on two, so stress would be greater.

Sony ended up going with the U-load pattern for Betamax while selling their M-load technology to JVC, where they figured out the problems and successfully used it on VHS.

[Watcher3223]

@AidanLunn

As for the success of VHS, that can be summed up in two words: economy and simplicity.

VHS equipment was simpler to design and cheaper to manufacture compared to other formats. For comparison, Video 2000 is a technical and engineering marvel and highly advanced compared to VHS and even Beta. But VHS was simple whereas Video 2000 was quite complex.

VHS was more open and more easily accessible to potential licensees, both at the hardware side and software side.

[Watcher3223]

@AidanLunn

Of course, people may cite porn as a big reason for the success of VHS. But, that's more symptomatic than anything else.

For Beta, you could release anything you wanted, even the hardest of hardcore porn. The problem was that duplicating Beta by a Sony-licensed duplicator was more expensive because of tighter technical conformity and quality standards.

VHS was cheaper and easier in that area, so content from smaller home video companies opted for VHS.

[joseantricristo666]

who is the background music?

[mkkiani]

@joseantricristo666 Hi! The music is the theme tune from a very old tv series I watched as a child. Let's see if anyone out there can name that tune! (let's hop we can get an answer by christmas).

[RetroPCDOS]

@mkkiani

"Department S", was a great spy series form the 60's.

[RetroPCDOS]

@RetroPCDOS Several other shows frm ITC, were great, to bad they don't make any good series like these anymore. Peter Wyngarde's career was ended because he was discovered doing some naughty stuff to guys and him to be gay at that time.