![]() ![]() We had a variety of Sharp decks – a four-head mid-drive, and a two-headed “regular” one, and a four-head multisystem. It wasn’t that hard – and yet, many people had their VCRs blinking 12:00! I mastered the use of the VCR at an early age, and could actually program the clock and timer recording. It was also fascinating to watch the blinking VFD (later, LEDs) on the front of the VCR and listen to the clicks and whirrs of the VCR changing between operating modes. I remember it fondly as a child, being mesmerized by the spinning drum, and the constantly turning reels. I never had access to a Umatic deck though. I did manage to salvage a few Umatic cassettes at one stage, but disposed of them. ![]() ![]() It was the earliest video format I became a user of. The same thing could be said of some of the later cassettes as well. As a result, flimsy light mechanisms and non-modular designs became common, and spare parts almost impossible to obtain. Production of VHS decks declined in quality significantly in the last decade, mostly focusing on offering low-cost, rather than high durability and quality. Towards the end of the 2000’s, VHS decks became scarce and many retailers stopped selling them. The picture quality was always below broadcast quality, but was generally acceptable to most people (as we didn’t have any better). VHS tapes were easily re-used and re-recorded, and LP modes were available to double the recording time at expense of quality. Recordings were made by a spinning drum in a helical scan technique to increase tape-to-head speed and bandwidth. Recordings on VHS were easily transferred between machines, and later in its life, Hi-Fi audio recording on 6-head VCRs increased audio quality markedly. VHS cassettes became inexpensive and was commonly available in various lengths (commonly E-120, E-150, E-180, E-240 and E-300 in Australia). It was also used to copy (dub) recordings for back-up purposes. VHS offered users an affordable way to time-shift television programming, and a way of preserving home video memories. It won out over the visually technically superior Betamax format and offered longer run-times. Video Home System, more commonly known as VHS, was the dominant home video recording format through the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 00’s. There will be a few more to be made as time goes by … good things all take time! Introduction, with added Nostalgia Continuing in the tradition of this site in covering obsolete technology, this is the long overdue post about the VHS and the VCR. ![]()
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