Videorecorders that weren't VHS or Beta

[TexasTom]

Looking at another thread where folks are discussing when they (or their families) bought their first color TV/VCR/etc, has me wondering about something that is sort of related...

Prior to Beta (and then VHS) becoming successful home video recording formats, there were other attempts at bringing video recording to the public at large. The most famous is probably the Cartrivision (sold through Sears) disaster in the early seventies. At a lower profile, the 3/4" U-matic video cassette system introduced by Sony (and also sold by JVC and Panasonic) was initially intended for home use, but ended up being a very successful industrial and low-end professional format, instead. And then there were the open reel videotape systems -- 1/2" EIAJ-1 and EIAJ-2 VTRs sold by Sony, Panasonic, JVC, and several others, as well as the unique VTRs that recorded onto 1/4" tape from Akai.

As a kid (around 1974), I read about the open reel systems and was fascinated by the idea of being able to record video at home. If my allowance had been about 100x what it actually was, I would surely have bought one of these for myself. And I do remember seeing the U-matic cassette machines in school.

So my question is this: did anyone here actually own (or have someone in your family who owned) one of the pre-Beta/VHS VTRs or VCRs? If so, the stories would be interesting to hear.

 

[Oldiesaholic]

In 1979 I bought a Quasar "great time machine"
It was a close-out, but it was only $300 (in-expensive for that time).
I found out I had to buy the timer device and wired remote pause separately.
The tapes were about the size of a phone book and came in 1 or 2 hour lengths.
They were around $30.00 each. The picture quality was OK, (when it worked)
It spent more time in the repair shop (kinda like our first color TV!) than in the
house. The picture would "scramble" as if the horizontal hold was out like on
older TVs and was could not be corrected. No one seemed to be able to fix it.
I would get it back "fixed", and it would work fine for one, maybe two weeks,
then out would go the picture again. I guess there weren't many VCR repairmen
around then. After 2 years I got a Panasonic VHS unit for about the same price.
It had built-in timer, remote pause, scan, 6 hour capability, everything! It lasted
me 12 years! The best VCR I ever had!

 

[CrankyYankee]

Not me but around 1975-76 a guy I was in the Army with bought an open reel VTR through the PX or BX. He used to record every "Star Trek' episode that he could with it.

 

[SixtiesGuy]

I first saw one of the Sony portable open-reel VTR's in the electronics section of a department store in the mid-1960's, and was fascinated with the idea of being able to record TV shows & movies. As a kid who loved tape recorders in general, I wanted one badly. The unit was about the size of a large suitcase, and included a TV monitor that flipped up 90 degrees. It used 1/2" magnetic tape on 7" reels. I don't recall the tape speed (7.5 ips?) but I recall that it rendered a decent black and white picture. A video camera was available as an extra-cost option. Any household that bought one of these must have been very, very well-off: the price of one of these units was over $1,000 at a time when a new compact car could be had for about $2,200. A few years later I did see one of these in operation at a public school I attended. Our teacher showed my class the movie To Kill a Mockingbird taped from an NBC Saturday Night at the Movies broadcast. As with most everything Sony made back then, the unit was very well made.

 

[TexasTom]

I first saw one of the Sony portable open-reel VTR's in the electronics section of a department store in the mid-1960's, and was fascinated with the idea of being able to record TV shows & movies. As a kid who loved tape recorders in general, I wanted one badly. The unit was about the size of a large suitcase, and included a TV monitor that flipped up 90 degrees. It used 1/2" magnetic tape on 7" reels. I don't recall the tape speed (7.5 ips?) but I recall that it rendered a decent black and white picture. A video camera was available as an extra-cost option. Any household that bought one of these must have been very, very well-off: the price of one of these units was over $1,000 at a time when a new compact car could be had for about $2,200. A few years later I did see one of these in operation at a public school I attended. Our teacher showed my class the movie To Kill a Mockingbird taped from an NBC Saturday Night at the Movies broadcast. As with most everything Sony made back then, the unit was very well made.

Those would likely be the pre-EIAJ compatible units. In the early days, when the first 1/2" open reel decks for "home" use appeared, everyone apparently had their own (incompatible) formats.

I can certainly understand your fascination with these early VTRs, though -- when I first heard about them, it had the same effect on me. I was finally able to get my own video recorder in the summer of 1980, just out of high school -- but that was a VHS deck available on close out for a somewhat reasonable (for the time) price.