VCR

The last ever Video Cassette Recorder, not our esteemed friend here on LP will be leaving us soon.

 

Hope I didn't scare anyone.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology...6/the-last-vcr/

 

 

Even after they're obsolete, technologies can take a long time to fully die out. It was only in 2011, after all, that the last typewriter factory shutdown. And now, at long last, it appears the videocassette recorder is suffering the same fate: Funai Electric, the last company known to make VCRs, is ceasing production.

 

Funai has a long history with the VHS format and VCRs. In 1980, it launched the CVC Player, the first ever compact cassette recorder, which attempted to compete with the more popular VHS and Betamax formats. Funai's website notes that the CVC "attracted a great deal of interest when Japanese television broadcasters used these for a program on climbing Mt. Everest," but they were no match for the more popular formats. In 1983 Funai started making VCRs of their own, applying technology used in the CVC, and haven't stopped until the end of this month.

 

The VCR changed the way media operated, giving viewers a chance to watch programming whenever they wanted to. The 1983 Supreme Court case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. tackled the issue of making individual copies of a recording for personal use on a VCR. The Court, in a 5-4 ruling, cited the " millions of owners" of VCRs in allowing their continued use. The VCR's ability to "time-shift" a viewing, as the Court referred to it, can be seen as the beginning of a line which leads directly to Netflix's current streaming options.

 

The reasons for Funai's halting VCR production aren't surprising: they've cited declining sales and difficulty finding parts, which translates to "nobody's buying them anymore." Just because nobody's buying doesn't mean that nobody's using them, of course. VCRs and VHS tapes have garnered a cult fan base, with people coming to appreciate the lack of sharpness in quality as a type of warmth, or nostalgia. This has inspired a trend of appreciation towards older formats. Indeed, as the VCR ends its initial run, Kodak is looking to revitalize the Super 8 under the tagline "Analog Renaissance." So if you're going to miss the VCR, just wait 20 years.

I remember having a Funai VCR back in the day. Seem to remember it was very cheap compared with the other brands.

We were clearing out some storage space the other day and came across an old Sony Walkman and a telephone answering machine with a full size cassette tape in it, Going to check the answering machine tape in private as it was from when I was single. Not yet found any of my old 8 track tapes though.

I think I'll go buy one... (semi-serious)

 

No worries, Sony & Panasonic still make and stock plenty of parts for their pro models so VCR's will still be around for quite a while yet. Betamax was a technically-superior design but lost out due to its lack of popularity. The best consumer-grade analogue video tape recorder was the Extended Definition Betamax. And I bet not too many people here have heard of W-VHS, the first HD format in analogue video tape.

I think I'll go buy one... (semi-serious)

 

No worries, Sony & Panasonic still make and stock plenty of parts for their pro models so VCR's will still be around for quite a while yet. Betamax was a technically-superior design but lost out due to its lack of popularity. The best consumer-grade analogue video tape recorder was the Extended Definition Betamax. And I bet not too many people here have heard of W-VHS, the first HD format in analogue video tape.

 

I was in a store in a mall a few weeks ago and they had Poloroid cameras and Kodac point and shoot film cameras along with the vinyl records.

My living room has an Egg chair that I purchased from a modern furniture store, thing is it was designed and was popular in either the late 50s or early 60s.

Old is cool again thank god as I am old!

 

Thought this thread was going to be about VCR himself.

Old is cool again thank god as I am old!

 

And in other news, and I can not wait!

Thought this thread was going to be about VCR himself.

 

So I got you, at least.

 

I remember someone made a thread title "Wheels" about rims, and people thought the same thing!

I think I'll go buy one... (semi-serious)

 

No worries, Sony & Panasonic still make and stock plenty of parts for their pro models so VCR's will still be around for quite a while yet. Betamax was a technically-superior design but lost out due to its lack of popularity. The best consumer-grade analogue video tape recorder was the Extended Definition Betamax. And I bet not too many people here have heard of W-VHS, the first HD format in analogue video tape.

 

From what I've heard beta max was superior in video quality but only was good for one hour of taping, so that was too much a compromise on the consumer level.

 

Also heard about JVC having a more proactive relationship with studios than Sony did.

 

And of course there's the urban legend that porn decided the format.

 

As far as hi fidelity video, it's surprising they weren't at the level they should have been since film is excellent, and the tape width and speeds should have been enough to be good just like audio tape.

 

I guess W-VHS was at that level, but nobody knew.

I was in a store in a mall a few weeks ago and they had Poloroid cameras and Kodac point and shoot film cameras along with the vinyl records.

 

Vinyl is popular again somewhat due to a hipster fad but make no mistake about it, it never should have went away in the first place.

 

CDs displaced vinyl in the first place because of the convenience factor and the market for vinyl eventually died.

 

The audiophile market brought it back strong about 15 years ago or so. If the format sucked they wouldn't have.

 

You don't see anyone doing super high end cassette players these days, and that's because they cannot surpass digital formats. Those old Nakamichi tape decks are about as good as it gets and isn't enough.

 

Probably won't stop me from getting one of those old decks, eventually.

From what I've heard beta max was superior in video quality but only was good for one hour of taping, so that was too much a compromise on the consumer level.

 

Also heard about JVC having a more proactive relationship with studios than Sony did.

 

And of course there's the urban legend that porn decided the format.

 

As far as hi fidelity video, it's surprising they weren't at the level they should have been since film is excellent, and the tape width and speeds should have been enough to be good just like audio tape.

 

I guess W-VHS was at that level, but nobody knew.

 

I would say in SP mode, 90mins is as good as it can get and that applies to VHS or even S-VHS. Anything beyond that boils down to convenience. Keep in mind that TV broadcast back in those day was nothing to speak of when compared to film at that time so it really didn't matter.

 

JVC had a much earlier start and stronger relationship with the studios than Sony at that time. Sony was also acting like "listen to Big Brother; it's my way or the highway". So it was primarily politics and a bit of personal vendetta.

 

LOL on the urban legend about porn. That joke would never ever go away.

 

The thing with W-VHS, it was more like a proto-digital. No one anywhere outside of Japan or pro-studio knew about it (sort of like DAT in the hi-fi world but DAT was all digital). The problem was W-VHS wasn't fully digital so it was a bit of a neither-nor with full digital format just around the corner.

 

 

 

A bit of trivia for our members here: the "VHS" moniker was grammatically incorrect in the English-speaking world. It stands for Video Home System which was coined by JVC. It made sense in Japanese but got lost in translation as it should have been HVS.

Vinyl is popular again somewhat due to a hipster fad but make no mistake about it, it never should have went away in the first place.

 

CDs displaced vinyl in the first place because of the convenience factor and the market for vinyl eventually died.

 

The audiophile market brought it back strong about 15 years ago or so. If the format sucked they wouldn't have.

 

You don't see anyone doing super high end cassette players these days, and that's because they cannot surpass digital formats. Those old Nakamichi tape decks are about as good as it gets and isn't enough.

 

Probably won't stop me from getting one of those old decks, eventually.

 

Well, vinyl never really went away...at least not like 8-track tape or Mini Disc. While I concede that the hipster crowd gave the LP renaissance a big hand, it also goes to proof that people are not deaf and there is a noticeable difference between vinyl & the digital format.

 

It's somewhat ironic that with streaming gaining momentum, CD will inevitably be replaced while vinyl lives on and surges. The same for DVD as it was the most successful format in software storage.

 

Agreed on the Compact Cassette. But I confess that I still have a pristine looking Nakamichi Dragon cassette recorder in full working order. Now, the one thing that really puzzles me was why the DAT never gained popularity. I guess in a way I know the answer which is copyright issues. The industry put a chip in the machine that prevented duplication which was so widely exploited during the compact cassette days (FYI to our members outside of the hi-fi world: technically, unlike analogue which degrades from each subsequent generation of recording, a digital copy of whichever generation would sound as good as the original version). So, money & politics (again) killed it.

 

We both know very well that sooner or later, each of us would likely pick up a reel to reel open tape machine just for the hell of it. I would love to have a half-inch master Studer/Revox that does master tape. But there is absolutely no software whatsoever and recording from it would be a huge undertaking

 

 

So I got you, at least.

 

I remember someone made a thread title "Wheels" about rims, and people thought the same thing!

 

Ya sneaky bastids!

Well, vinyl never really went away...at least not like 8-track tape or Mini Disc. While I concede that the hipster crowd gave the LP renaissance a big hand, it also goes to proof that people are not deaf and there is a noticeable difference between vinyl & the digital format.

 

It's somewhat ironic that with streaming gaining momentum, CD will inevitably be replaced while vinyl lives on and surges. The same for DVD as it was the most successful format in software storage.

 

Agreed on the Compact Cassette. But I confess that I still have a pristine looking Nakamichi Dragon cassette recorder in full working order. Now, the one thing that really puzzles me was why the DAT never gained popularity. I guess in a way I know the answer which is copyright issues. The industry put a chip in the machine that prevented duplication which was so widely exploited during the compact cassette days (FYI to our members outside of the hi-fi world: technically, unlike analogue which degrades from each subsequent generation of recording, a digital copy of whichever generation would sound as good as the original version). So, money & politics (again) killed it.

 

We both know very well that sooner or later, each of us would likely pick up a reel to reel open tape machine just for the hell of it. I would love to have a half-inch master Studer/Revox that does master tape. But there is absolutely no software whatsoever and recording from it would be a huge undertaking

 

I understood some of those words.

VCR is my friend.....I like VCR

We both know very well that sooner or later, each of us would likely pick up a reel to reel open tape machine just for the hell of it. I would love to have a half-inch master Studer/Revox that does master tape. But there is absolutely no software whatsoever and recording from it would be a huge undertaking

 

I've had the TEAC X10 reel to reel for a few year now. 1/4", 4 track up to 7.5 IPS only but the few good recordings I've heard on it sounded really nice (not pre-recorded stuff, but stuff someone made off vinyl or CD).

 

The Technics RS1500 can play up to 15 IPS. Not sure about 1/2" or 2 track. It also sounds great.

 

Don't think the studio stuff is necessary at all. I'm curious about it naturally, but the results so far leave me satisfied -- recording off LP/digital and improving the sound 5-10%.

 

Now the big headache is learning how to make the tapes and be consistently good at it. Vu made me a mixtape years ago that had some unbelievable sound on some songs and then some others the results weren't good, knowing the source material. Pre-recorded is often underwhelming and lacking in content.

 

As for the convenience of playing with the tapes, it makes loading an LP feel like pressing play on a CD player, LOL. Not a big deal to spend 90-120 seconds loading a tape if it's worth it (and that's a 7" reel, not the 10" reel with the extra hubs....not sure what that's like to load). So you put it all together and if you don't have the good tapes or willing to make them, the deck won't get much usage.

 

But still, you consider the price for a good refurbished deck at around $1000-1500 and it's basically free if you have everything else. Remember there is no phono amplifier involved or a DAC, so a lot of money saved in that regard.

VCR is my friend.....I like VCR

 

Wow, thank you sir! I guess I'll be invited to the house-warming party.

I've had the TEAC X10 reel to reel for a few year now. 1/4", 4 track up to 7.5 IPS only but the few good recordings I've heard on it sounded really nice (not pre-recorded stuff, but stuff someone made off vinyl or CD).

 

The Technics RS1500 can play up to 15 IPS. Not sure about 1/2" or 2 track. It also sounds great.

 

Don't think the studio stuff is necessary at all. I'm curious about it naturally, but the results so far leave me satisfied -- recording off LP/digital and improving the sound 5-10%.

 

Now the big headache is learning how to make the tapes and be consistently good at it. Vu made me a mixtape years ago that had some unbelievable sound on some songs and then some others the results weren't good, knowing the source material. Pre-recorded is often underwhelming and lacking in content.

 

As for the convenience of playing with the tapes, it makes loading an LP feel like pressing play on a CD player, LOL. Not a big deal to spend 90-120 seconds loading a tape if it's worth it (and that's a 7" reel, not the 10" reel with the extra hubs....not sure what that's like to load). So you put it all together and if you don't have the good tapes or willing to make them, the deck won't get much usage.

 

But still, you consider the price for a good refurbished deck at around $1000-1500 and it's basically free if you have everything else. Remember there is no phono amplifier involved or a DAC, so a lot of money saved in that regard.

 

 

Congrats on the TEAC! They make reliable machines so you should get many years of use out of it.

 

A friend in Asia once invited me to a local studio where they were recording a quartet ensemble using 1/2" master tape. I was floored by how good it was although I am sure the 2 Neumann tube mics helped a lot.

 

Yes, it's a PITA to load a reel to reel deck and to tinker with things to get it "right". But as audiophile, we both knew that tinkering and tweeking is the "fun" of it. I guess it's one of those things on my bucket list... So long as one has the time to use it, which could be a very challenging thing, spending $1-1.5k on a refurbished deck is a huge bargain.

And in other news, and I can not wait!

 

Yes, Nintendo is betting on retro and will be re-introducing the original NES, the Super NES/Super Famicom, and the Gameboy Micro. This should be interesting...

I understood some of those words.

 

 

Now, the one thing that really puzzles me was why the DAT never gained popularity. I guess in a way I know the answer which is copyright issues. The industry put a chip in the machine that prevented duplication which was so widely exploited during the compact cassette days (FYI to our members outside of the hi-fi world: technically, unlike analogue which degrades from each subsequent generation of recording, a digital copy of whichever generation would sound as good as the original version). So, money & politics (again) killed it.

 

The SCMS chip in DAT (also MiniDisc, DCC and consumer audio CD recorders) did allow duplication, but it did not allow copies of copies. There was nothing (other than time and money) to prevent you from making a thousand copies directly from the original recording. The real problems for DAT were that it cost much more than CD or Casette at the time, didn't perform substantially better than CD (16/48 vs 16/44.1), was less convenient (fast forward and rewind vs nearly instant track skips), and there were almost no commercial recordings available. There was no point in copying your CDs onto DAT, since you didn't have a DAT walkman or DAT player in your car, and your friends probably couldn't play them either. Of course, it did find its niche in the professional recording industry, but once affordable computer CD burners were available, there was little reason for the consumer to consider DAT.

The SCMS chip in DAT (also MiniDisc, DCC and consumer audio CD recorders) did allow duplication, but it did not allow copies of copies. There was nothing (other than time and money) to prevent you from making a thousand copies directly from the original recording. The real problems for DAT were that it cost much more than CD or Casette at the time, didn't perform substantially better than CD (16/48 vs 16/44.1), was less convenient (fast forward and rewind vs nearly instant track skips), and there were almost no commercial recordings available. There was no point in copying your CDs onto DAT, since you didn't have a DAT walkman or DAT player in your car, and your friends probably couldn't play them either. Of course, it did find its niche in the professional recording industry, but once affordable computer CD burners were available, there was little reason for the consumer to consider DAT.

 

You are correct. But when you want to share your recordings with someone by duplicating it and you can only do so by digging up the original "master" from your library or archive, that's just a PITA.

 

I had the Nakamichi 1000 / 1000p DAT set up. It came with Serial Copy Management chip installed but I was offered the option to have it removed. That was one of the most beautifully made hi-fi equipment ever. Nearly every knob, switch and dial was machined out of metal or at least metal plated. The remote itself was a statement. And the circuit boards were of modular design and easily removable like the Cello Suite for quick upgrades. I actually had a DAT Walkman! It was a Sony TCD-D7. I still have a Pioneer D-C88 with 96KHz high sampling rate converter and the sound improvement was quite apparent from the standard DAT.

 

Sorry Assman...

Does DVD surpass VHS in terms of video quality, or rather was it just adopted for convenience?

Yes, Nintendo is betting on retro and will be re-introducing the original NES, the Super NES/Super Famicom, and the Gameboy Micro. This should be interesting...

I think at least the classic will sell a shit ton. I am one of those that that was the first game system I had. Im buying the Classic Mini without a doubt, Probably wont be in the first wave but I will. All the others I dont care about.

Does DVD surpass VHS in terms of video quality, or rather was it just adopted for convenience?

 

Wheels, you can't be serious! This one is safe to "trust the info. from the Internet". Google the video resolution of VHS and that of DVD's. You might be confused by the technical values of VHS' resolution capabilities but in reality it is quite far off from DVD's.

I have 3 vcrs that I am saving to playback some old school 'collection' if u get my drift