techmoan / Video 2000 - The European video format

I just looked her up. Good grief, what a beauty 😍

norliss

2020-04-19 17:32:17 +0000 UTC

Unfortunately I've had to put my digitisation dreams on hold for the moment - but if I can get back to it, I'll upload them in a new playlist on the normal channel.

Techmoan

2018-09-27 11:20:13 +0000 UTC

Could you please start a new YouTube channel just to upload all those adverts! :D

Rob Fisher

2018-09-27 11:07:06 +0000 UTC

I’m glad you liked it. This is one of those videos that far fewer people watched than I anticipated, so it’s good to see it’s still getting some views.

Techmoan

2018-09-22 16:03:17 +0000 UTC

This is so incredibly fascinating (and I had never heard of V2000). Huge thanks for the amount of time and effort you poured into this one! :D

Justin T Lee

2018-09-22 15:59:21 +0000 UTC

Really interesting, and those memory lane clips... Oh, boy. I recall a mate boasting he could get the whole Live Aid concert on one V2000 tape, where everyone else needed 3 or 4!

Phil Collins

2018-09-17 14:45:34 +0000 UTC

A bit late to the show, but thanks for making this. I like the regional historic ads. In a time where everything needs to be global it’s kind of refreshing. Nice touch of adding VCR to this. Never heard of it before! Also: funny some people call it Beta and others, myself included, Betamax. Any idea why this is?

Doeke Zanstra

2018-09-14 18:52:48 +0000 UTC

Another belter, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you were doing this a few years (I guess really, at least ten, before ITV and to almost the same degree the BBC began to be really broken up) back IMHO you would have almost certainly got the call and been on 'proper telly' by now, in fact you probably could be now, it's just that you'd have to make the first move and they'd expect you to do it for free ("You're getting EXPOSURE!"). Funny to see HTV in the video, yet another long forgotten ITV franchise for which the massive studio complex lives on as an office block for general rent, with only the newsroom, literally, one room, left.

Lord Brannigan-7

2018-09-13 16:26:02 +0000 UTC

Very cool!! My only knowledge of the VCR and Video 2000 formats was seeing some boxes (and I believe a deck) at one of the museums in London while on vacation in 2016. So it was great to learn a lot more about the format, the technical details, and the history behind it all. Very entertaining (and educational!) :)

Mac84

2018-09-12 03:41:06 +0000 UTC

It really was a massive effort - you'll see that to get enough time to make this the preceding videos were a bit simpler than normal so I could accrue the time needed to tackle this one. Two years in the making (give or take). Unfortunately it seems that it's doing pretty badly considered on youtube and it's looking that it is unlikely to recoup its costs - that's even without allowing anything for my time spent on it (at minimum wage). So perhaps youtube isn't really geared up for these kind of things just yet.

Techmoan

2018-09-11 22:49:01 +0000 UTC

This is probably one of the best videos you have made. Truly awesome stuff

stuckforever

2018-09-11 22:36:03 +0000 UTC

The more I thought about this, the more I think they should have created a “high-speed” mode that gave you an hour per side (enough to fit most movies on one tape), possibly more if they could have carried over the technology used for the 2:40 VHS tapes. At that speed, they probably could have matched the quality of Beta 1 (perhaps have even bested it), but had the maximum recording time of VHS. You would need to flip the tape, but not rewind it, I assume. They still might well have lost out, but it might have fared a bit better commercially.

Steven Reich

2018-09-11 02:57:59 +0000 UTC

Hi Mat, Very good video, well done. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew someone who had a V2000 deck but never saw the format working or played with a deck myself. I remember an old Philips VCR format deck in my primary school at least thinking back that's what I believe it must have been. I might be wrong but I think JVC introduced some sort of dynamic head adjustment in a one of it's late VHS decks as I vaguely remember seeing something about it in a JVC brochure in the 90s. Like you my family had VHS as we got our first VCR around 1986 but I got given a free Beta deck in 1989 and, still being at school and unable to afford another deck of my own for my bedroom, I happily used it a lot, mainly Star Trek and Quantum Leap timeshifting if memory serves. By the way the VHS / Beta duration thing that has been mentioned many times I think relates to the original NTSC version of both when Beta was only one hour and VHS two hours or longer. By the time both formats came to PAL, Beta ran at a slower speed in all markets (although most if not all NTSC decks retained the shorter duration Beta speed as a option I think). This original higher tape speed of Beta is why it gave noticably better pictures than orginal VHS, but this meant nothing in PAL countires where the higher tape speed never existed and therefore the difference between the formats was slight and indeed equally in NTSC when folks used the slower Beta tape speed of subsequent decks to get decent recording times. On another topic It quite amused me that the broadcast tape formats based on the same tape design lasted much longer than the consumer originals. Until quite recent years when everything became file based. The broadcast Beta format started in the early 80s as an analogue format using the same tapes as the consumer format (but recorded differently) and was developed all the way to digital HD (as HDCAM and HDCAMSR). The broadcast format that used tapes similar to VHS tapes never got as far as digital let alone HD and was called M then MII for an upgraded version, although of the two I only used Beta at work never M.

Gideon Jones-Davies

2018-09-10 21:30:41 +0000 UTC

Thanks! I had never heard of this, probably because I'm based in the USA. I hope you are able to get Chewie working. I know the frustration of trying to get some of this old equipment to cooperate.

The 8-Bit Guy

2018-09-10 20:40:31 +0000 UTC

I think every country had their own reason - I just wanted to dispel the 'porn' argument because it doesn't hold any water - it's untrue, but it gets repeated every time as being 'the reason why VHS won'. The UK reason why VHS won is that early adopters rented VHS. I believe the Betamax tapes recorded for longer in the UK than the US because of our 50fps TV - so perhaps play time wasn't as much of an issue here (although VHS still played longer) . It's funny though that whatever the reason in each country - VHS still won.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:27:41 +0000 UTC

Well I'm glad I could pass on a tiny bit of history before it's completely forgotten by everyone.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:19:29 +0000 UTC

I don't think I knew anyone who had a video recorder until around 1982 and even then it was just one person. I do remember though the stigma that came from having a 'top loader' it was almost an insult. Looking back now it just shows that those were early adopters, but so few people had one by the mid 80s it was seen as a sign of being 'out of date'.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:18:13 +0000 UTC

I ended up giving all my pre-recorded VHS tapes away to a charity in the early 2000s. It seemed a shame given that they had cost me a fortune over the years, all these special editions and box sets, but realistically I knew I'd never play them again. I don't regret it - I can't enjoy watching anything that isn't at least HD nowadays.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:15:18 +0000 UTC

I always feel if I'm going to cover a format like this, it's not really possible to go back and re-do anything, so I try to get as much of it covered as possible first time. Of course there's no doubt a lot of things I don't know about.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:11:55 +0000 UTC

I'm glad you've joined us over here on Patreon - it's much easier to have a decent conversation here away from all the noise and confusion of youtube. You'll find a few exclusive videos here as well - including last week's video about the outro music - Cuba Baion.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:10:19 +0000 UTC

That's not a bad idea - I'll look into it - thanks.

Techmoan

2018-09-10 11:08:35 +0000 UTC

Longer and slower than typical but still great. // How about taking a spare shell and moving a vhs cleaning tape into it so the heads can be cleaned between each capture? Seems like the rarity of the ad capture justifies the work to get a clean digitization. // keep up the great work!

www.TapeArchives.com

2018-09-10 01:24:15 +0000 UTC

Excellent video that finally pushed me into Patreon. Long overdue, I'm sorry. We had somewhat of our own format war back in the day -- my dad had a Beta, my best friend had a V2000 and I kept renting VHS machines from the movie rental shop. It was absolutely like you described it; the rental store had like 98% VHS tapes so whenever I had the funds to buy my own machine the choice wasn't really a choice at all. Thanks, and keep up the great job mate. Cheers from Sweden!

Osgorth

2018-09-10 00:42:46 +0000 UTC

Great video Mat - those broadcast clips take me back for sure. Thanks for being so detailed on V2000 - learned a lot.

David Roberts

2018-09-09 23:25:04 +0000 UTC

The most recent still missing episode is from 1969, so it seems unlikely.

David Glover-Aoki

2018-09-09 19:13:44 +0000 UTC

This was a very special video for Me too. Im from Denmark and remember the Video 2000 from very early in My life, when I got to watch some cartoons at a neighbors house and I remember that You were able to turn the cassette over. The BETA I saw at a school friends house, where he recorded Tom & Jerry cartoons from a german channel. I remember they sang something like, "Feeling dank für die blumen" and I never understood why there was a narrator that talked while the cartoon was running. Tom Jerry did´nt speak. :-D Okay a couple of times they did. :-) And the of course VHS. I got My first VHS when I was 12 (1992) and still have My entire VHS collection. I don´t have the Heart to discard them and sometimes its just fun to watch an old movie on the format that meant so much to you when You were a child. Thanks Matt.

Peter Jensen

2018-09-09 18:49:31 +0000 UTC

Very nice video Mat. Video 2000 was considered here in Italy the best domestic recording system in the early 80's. I remeber that I came very close to buy one of these recorders because at some point, I think in 1988 more or less, the price of Philips machines fell sharply. It became clear quite immediately that the standard was about to be discontinued so I eventually decidded to save my money and gave up... However thanks for the ggod memeories!

Mauro Butte'

2018-09-09 14:26:13 +0000 UTC

I think I read something that indicated if it had been a barnstormer in Europe they’d have then moved into the US and elsewhere.

Techmoan

2018-09-09 11:35:44 +0000 UTC

Wonderful! This type of content is exactly why I'm a patron. Being a US citizen I would have never have learned about this format.

Jon Christensen

2018-09-09 01:37:27 +0000 UTC

To quote the Grateful Dead, what a long strange trip. Here in the states, I was a semi-early adaptor, going the VHS route in 1979. I thought I had saw it all at the time, including Beta, Cartrivision, even U-Matic. Thanks for showing this unusual format. One question: In your research, did you ever see any indication that the US market was ever even considered for Video 2000?

Bob Combs

2018-09-08 22:13:55 +0000 UTC

At 13:40, note the Michael Jackson lookalike in the print ad. Thanks, Mat, for all the detailed information on two video formats previously unknown to this Yank. You've done a grand marketing study here ... you might show this video to the business profs at your local junior college.

Roger Beal

2018-09-08 15:22:51 +0000 UTC

Thanks for showing another format I had known nothing about! As to why VHS ultimately won out, it has to be a number of factors. I've heard an argument that here in the States, VHS was a more popular format for its ability for long recording (American football broadcasts go on for 3 hours, for example). By having to switch sides with the V2000, that's defeating the purpose of being able to set record times and have the recorder unattended. I think once it's clear which format is going to have the most market penetration, movie studios will start putting out more of their back catalog on that format (and it would have been the format for video rentals). I also think that by putting 2000 in the name, they were already limiting themselves (2024 would have been good) :-)

David Rosenberg

2018-09-08 14:00:25 +0000 UTC

It might take a while before I can get around to looking through those tapes again - I've fallen a bit behind recently.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 13:36:06 +0000 UTC

Thanks - hopefully that will be reflected in the views when it goes live. Quite a few of my recent videos despite being well received by those who saw them haven't done so well.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 12:28:45 +0000 UTC

It used narrower track spacing due to DTF and that enabled it to fit the same quality into half the space.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 12:26:34 +0000 UTC

This is one of your best videos Matt, I learnt a lot from it. Great job!

Mark Elliott

2018-09-08 12:24:24 +0000 UTC

Weird, VHS and betamax used the entire tape width for 1-sided operation. Apparently V2000 was half the pixel resolution to cram the data into a 1/2 width track space?

Dale Mahalko / Plawerth

2018-09-08 12:12:06 +0000 UTC

Thanks for that, although If I ever do feature domestic open reel video (dependant on it working) - it won't really be a full 'history of' video - more just a quick demo.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 11:58:00 +0000 UTC

Great video! I know it would take you an age to do and is dependent on "Chewy" working - but would love to see more of the adverts and stings from the old videos :-)

Tripodski

2018-09-08 11:25:01 +0000 UTC

I remember reading about video recorders in an early 1980s kids ‘how it works’ book. At the time I thought the book’s illustrations showing video cassettes that looked like an audio cassette was just an artistic misrepresentation. Quite surreal to see that Video 2000 cassettes looked exactly as those illustrations showed. If you are intending to do a future video about ‘domestic’ open reel video recorders, as you implied earlier, I’d highly recommend a book called “Independent Video” by Ken Marsh. It was written in 1974 and has great descriptions of how video works and how to use it from an early 1970s perspective. But best of all the book is filled with quirky hippy-style illustrations of how video heads, tape duplication, cathode ray tubes etc work. There’s a scan of a few pages at this link so you can get an idea of this treasure: <a href="http://thewatchingpatch.blogspot.com/2012/04/independent-video-by-ken-marsh-1974.html?m=1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://thewatchingpatch.blogspot.com/2012/04/independent-video-by-ken-marsh-1974.html?m=1</a>

Dt91c

2018-09-08 11:18:19 +0000 UTC

We could pick up HTV as well where I lived growing up, but it was a Granada area. We put it on the Channel 5 preset. I was always amused by the name of a programme 'Busty Bethna' - or at least that's what it sounded like to a non-Welsh speaker.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 10:46:47 +0000 UTC

At 29:53 I had to pause for a moment. I transmitted that ident several times a day in the 80s when I was a studio engineer at HTV Wales. Good memories.

Neil Harris

2018-09-08 10:37:46 +0000 UTC

I always find your comments more interesting than my video. That's the first time I've seen the Shibaden SV-550 and while I do have a reel to reel video recorder and camera in storage, I very much doubt any of it works. I like the look of the Video Rover too - that's also a new one on me. I'd like to cover more of these things - but you know how old video equipment is.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 10:22:47 +0000 UTC

Good Show !!!

Steve Young

2018-09-08 10:20:51 +0000 UTC

That was an epic, Mat. Congratulations! At risk of getting all historical, in 1970 I joined the Kent Police TV Unit as their first civilian technician. When I got there they were shooting on a portable Shibaden SV-550 EIAJ Record Only Portapack VTR. [ <a href="http://www.labguysworld.com/SV-550_018.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.labguysworld.com/SV-550_018.jpg</a>] You didn't know if you had had a head clog until you got back and tried playing it on a mains VTR. But they were also editing onto Philips VTR format using Philips N1520 machines - the editing version of the N1500 VTR. The N1500 had an analog clock with which you could do timed recordings and a six channel UHF tuner. The N1520 did not have the clock and the tuner, but it had Assemble and Insert editing controls along with (if my memory serves me) audio track replacement. [ <a href="http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/av1520.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/av1520.jpg</a> ] I moved them onto the Sony DV-2400 Video Rover and editing on 1" Ampex reel to reel machines - all still in black and white of course. Eventually we advanced to U-Matic colour and so on, but your video was a blast from the past. If you ever wanted to look at old reel to reel video formats, the Sony DV-2400 Video Rover, launched in 1967 I think, totally changed the game for portable video capture. It was a huge advance in technology and tape at the same time.

Stephen Bell

2018-09-08 10:12:14 +0000 UTC

A year or two back I saw a massive lot of home recorded VCR tapes for sale on ebay for about £100 or so. So I looked around for a working machine and saw none. I checked all the previous auctions and any that had been advertised were 'in need of repair' - so it seemed like buying the tapes might not be wise. Ultimately the tapes sold to someone else. Ever since then I've kept my eye open to see if I was just unlucky at the time - but all the VCR machines advertised since have also been 'in need of repair'. However I suspect that means that they are totally broken as almost all of them have been sold by people who specialise in repairing video recorders and selling them - proper TV repair guys. So if they can't fix them - then there's no hope. Even so I still wonder about what goodies were on those old tapes.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 09:54:30 +0000 UTC

Mat, when I was at school in Scotland, I worked for a shop repairing TVs, hifi and band equipment. I brought a Philips N1500 video recorder (the earlier of the VCR machines) home one time and amazed my parents at the ability to record TV shows - my mother's eyes lit up as she imagined not missing her favourite soaps which "those cheeky beggars at BBC & ITV" aired at the same time

Gordo

2018-09-08 09:29:00 +0000 UTC

Germany was home turf for Grundig.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 09:08:07 +0000 UTC

It's fortunate that google scanned those old magazines, because without being able to search through those I really couldn't have done the format justice. Instead the video would have just been a few vague memories and a lot of supposition.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 09:07:47 +0000 UTC

One other thing I didn't mention about the porn myth is that those reports from the early '80s estimated that almost all titles in circulation in some of the countries listed were pirated (e.g. 85%). Video pirates adhere to no moral code as to what they put on their tapes - probably the dodgier the better as far as they are concerned - so that makes the lack of porn theory hold even less water.

Techmoan

2018-09-08 09:04:06 +0000 UTC

My uncle and grandfather were both repair engineers for big department stores in Liverpool (and beyond) in the 70's and early 80's. Because of that i was exposed to all manner of consumer tech that has faded into obscurity - V2000 was one of those technologies. My uncle had several V2000 units on his healing bench, and the only other viable format at the time was Betamax, and that is what the whole family went for, based on V2000 machines being so temperamental. Both the Betamax machines and the V2000 machines were huge imposing top loading hulks. Turns out the Sanyo Betamax machine also had a "known fault", it would blow its 5v power regulator on a fairly regular basis, i became quite adept at changing that. So perhaps the demise of V2000 was more to do with the quality of the machines and less about the features of the format. No doubt someone will chime in with the porn fallacy.

stuart taylor

2018-09-08 08:42:46 +0000 UTC

Wonderful, Mat - an erudite tour de force! The only V2000 machine I ever saw was in my school in 1977/8. I think one of the sales drivers for early machines in the UK was to record Open University broadcasts which usually went out overnight. I recall Eric Idle also made some of those (now) cringey Firrips adverts. I remember all of those old tv ads you showed - they brought to mind the ad for the Fiat Strada (‘designed with a computer, silenced with a laser, built by a robot) which was mercilessly parodied by Not The 9 o’clock News with a clip of a car crashing ‘designed by computer, built by robots, driven by Italians’) Great work as always, Mat - Thank You!

Roland Bogush

2018-09-08 08:42:07 +0000 UTC

THIS. Videos like this are why I’m a Techmoan Patreon subscriber. Nobody gives us these well-researched, well-produced documentaries on esoteric old media formats like this!! I’d read a bit about Video 2000 over the years, but could never find all that much information. Actually seeing the system in use like this is more than I could’ve ever dreamed of. Beautiful work!

Justin Sevakis

2018-09-08 08:21:29 +0000 UTC

I'm about halfway the video now, but I love it already! One remark: Germany wasn't home turf for V2000, that was The Netherlands. (Dutch.. Deutch.. I understand the confusion ;))

Martijn Valk

2018-09-08 08:01:32 +0000 UTC

We also backed the wrong video horse back in the 80s, when my dad went out to buy a video recorder and came back with a Betamax. I think the salesman at Comet really pushed the 'better quality, smaller and longer tapes' spiel. My friend had a Video 2000 and I remember he recorded all of Live Aid on one cassette. We also had a Chrysler Alpine. What an absolute pup! I have so many memories sat on the edge of a B-Road somewhere waiting for the AA to show up as it had broken down. Again.

Mark Paterson

2018-09-08 07:11:26 +0000 UTC

I never actually saw a V2000 cassette back in the day; I just remember having pre-recorded film boxes that had markings for them inside (along with VHS).

Chris Crowther

2018-09-08 06:55:53 +0000 UTC

That was a very solid video and a great history lesson for something I didn't even know existed. Thanks so much. I do have something to add however - the German bloke that held on to his V2000 reminded me of a little quirk of the format war: in Venezuela, Beta won. Until 1994, the most common format was Betamax, to the point that my dad who worked in a TV station constantly ran into trouble for years when they got tapes for demos of programs from the US because they were VHS and no one back home had a VCR, they all had Betamax. Sony was also deeply entrenched in Venezuela in terms of distribution, which was unusual since most electronics in the country are just imported by independent import shops and, well, still was up until the horrid crisis I'm sure you've heard of. So whenever you say Beta lost out, that always comes with an asterisk.

Vinushika

2018-09-08 06:43:13 +0000 UTC

My girlfriend of the time's parents had a V2000 machine I thought it was amazing because we didn't have any video recording equipment at home for another couple of years (and that was rented circa 1985). That connector on the back of Chewy - It's not a standard DIN for audio but is possibly for a wired remote control. Regards, Kelv

Kelvin Park

2018-09-08 05:49:44 +0000 UTC

The V2000 footage (at least the off-tv part) has a high-pitched tone over it. Not sure if you meant to leave that in.

Steven Reich

2018-09-08 03:23:33 +0000 UTC

OH BOI! HERE COMES THE VHS STUFF! :)

ccateni

2018-09-08 02:30:57 +0000 UTC

This might be my favorite video so far this year. Great depth of information. Being from the US I hadn't heard of this format before. Too bad it didn't work out in its favor.

Donald Reynolds

2018-09-08 01:59:10 +0000 UTC

This video is so, so good.

Marcin Wichary

2018-09-08 00:59:17 +0000 UTC

I hope you can capture more of those commercials and put them on your second channel, I'd love to compare them to older Canadian commercials!

JF Caron

2018-09-08 00:43:08 +0000 UTC

Thank you for yet another great video. If anyone is interested in a broadcast from Swedish National television about video violence from 1980. Someone has made English subtitles and uploaded it here <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--a8QvOeICs" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--a8QvOeICs</a> That one program started a moral panic that made all youngsters curious and most parents reluctant to adopt any of the video technologies. So when me and my friends wanted to rent some movies, we also needed to rent a Moviebox, that was readily available at the rental stores. It looked like this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaOiMDzxxz8" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaOiMDzxxz8</a> Fun times!

springbay

2018-09-08 00:22:54 +0000 UTC

These are some of my favorites as well. I had not heard of this format.

Lance Boudreaux

2018-09-07 23:25:37 +0000 UTC

Great watching some of the old idents like HTV. I grew up with Tyne Tees.

Jeremy Mankin

2018-09-07 23:19:26 +0000 UTC

I’m sure one day you’ll come across a tape full of Dr Who episodes that BBC deleted.

evilution

2018-09-07 22:36:46 +0000 UTC

No reason other than it was an early UK advert from the tapes I had and it mentioned a year in it.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 22:23:31 +0000 UTC

2000 was such a magical number up until, well, 2000. And then, nothing happened. Still waiting for my flying car etc. etc.

Steffen Barabasch

2018-09-07 22:19:34 +0000 UTC

It's been on my to-do list for years, but I never like to rush things as once I've done a video that's it, it's not really feasible to go back and re-do it properly.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 22:15:38 +0000 UTC

Our first video recorder was V2000 system. Was great that you could record on both sides and the recorder supported recording from Nicam Digital Stereo from the air.

Ralph Little

2018-09-07 22:14:32 +0000 UTC

Oh yes, Video 2000, probably the only not-totally-obscure format you hadn't covered yet. Only time I ever a V2000 machine in the wild was in our school where they used it for educational videos. Other than that, nada zero, zilch. And that was in Germany, in one of the core markets.

Steffen Barabasch

2018-09-07 22:13:55 +0000 UTC

Great video, very interesting for someone like me born in a VHS world just after the format wars. Online there's lot of content about Beta, but V2000 is often overlooked, probably because of the small userbase and regional footprint that you mention. I also liked the FIAT Uno ad at the end! Any particular reason why you chose it, did you have one?

Riccardo Sacchetto

2018-09-07 22:12:44 +0000 UTC

Very interesting video, thanks! The only time I ever came in contact with a V2000 tape was in 1983 or 1984 after my family and I had been extras in a mini TV series of which one scene was shot in our home village. Because we didn't have a video recorder, my parents asked friends to tape the show and they had V2000. Back then I was amazed at how the whole series could fit on just one cassette. That single tape stayed untouched on the book shelf for years and when we finally got our first VCR in the late 80s it was of course a VHS recorder...

Mirko Horstmann

2018-09-07 22:10:20 +0000 UTC

My father bought a Video 2000 machine in the beginning of the 80s (in Germany). It was the device you can see in the video from 9:02 to 9:23 in the bottom right. It was available from Grundig and Philips, same machine, just different logo. It's too bad you couldn't get one of the more advanced machines for your video but I guess it's very hard to find one in working order. We used that machine till the beginning of the 90s. My father had it repaired several times because all VHS recorders available just seemed like a bad replacement. That machine was very heavy and full of components. Your machine looks very empty in comparison. Lots of the features V2000 could do VHS couldn't. In fact, some features aren't even available in VHS recorders from the late 90s. The biggest advantage was the timecode that always was accurate as soon as you inserted the tape. You could easily write down that a movie started at 1h 36mins and no matter at what position you inserted the tape you could just wind to that timecode. In fact you could enter that timecode, the machine winded the tape to that position and started playing. Most later VHS recorders just reset the counter to 0:00 when inserting a tape. Cueing and freeze frame was nearly perfect. Programming a broadcast was very easy. Yes, HiFi Stereo on VHS was better but the normal audio track on V2000 was stereo while VHS was only mono. I remember a local rental place had all three formats. All tapes were color coded so you wouldn't take the wrong format home. In fact, most rental movies on V2000 were split across both sides to safe tape. Of course it was a little annoying to turn over the tape in the middle of the movie. But yes, I always hated VHS after using that V2000 machine for 10 years. OK, almost ten years, at the beginning of the 80s I was too young.

Robert

2018-09-07 22:03:34 +0000 UTC

I hope I didn't say Holland at any point in the video - if I did please let me know and I'll re-edit it.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 22:01:29 +0000 UTC

Yes I very purposely avoided passing any judgement - but I suspect you're right...there would be online campaigns nowadays.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 21:59:04 +0000 UTC

I've seen the VCR system in use once, which was in my primary school. So this must have been some 40 years ago. V2000 was heavily pushed in Philips' native Netherlands (NOT "Holland"!), and you'd see it in shops, at fairs, and people would have it in their homes. But the first video recorder that my parents bought was a Philips VHS (the VR6560 from what I gather from your brochure), which was a bit of a problematic machine, and had to be sent back twice in its one year warrantee period.

Peter Korsten

2018-09-07 21:58:06 +0000 UTC

Wow, I doubt that "Firips" ad would fly today! Great video, very comprehensive, thanks!

Colin Bartlett

2018-09-07 21:57:31 +0000 UTC

Finally, I am glad someone uploaded a look at it and glad it was one of my favourite youtubers! With this and MUSE you are spoiling me

Dvdmike

2018-09-07 21:57:21 +0000 UTC

I also had a Barratt Homes ad with Paul Daniels that instantly transported me back to the early 80s - I knew every word of it despite not having seen it for 35 years - unfortunately chewy had a good go at it before I could capture it clearly.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 21:34:42 +0000 UTC

Nice video. I remember seeing Video 2000 heavily advertised around the time of the royal wedding in 1981 but never saw a player or cassette. Funny how I can remember every single ad in the short selection you showed (my Dad had two Talbot Alpines) but if couldn't remember a single one I've seen In the past week.

Stephen Cairns

2018-09-07 21:30:25 +0000 UTC

You get a well deserved mention at the end too.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 21:15:54 +0000 UTC

Fantastic video, I do love your History Of’s...! The bonus TV ads and idents were a nice treat too.

Jimmy Barnes

2018-09-07 20:55:06 +0000 UTC

I'm not really sure what to do with any others I find yet. However at the moment unfortunately I just don't have the time to go looking through the tapes - with all the stuff going on at home that project is going to have to wait a bit.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 20:49:22 +0000 UTC

Great Video Matt, I knew nothing of V2000 before this video so this was fascinating. On the adverts and old continuity, are you going to upload any of them to the other channel?

Matthew Hyndman

2018-09-07 20:38:42 +0000 UTC

100% of the tapes I tried in it - which was just two, although it ate one of them twice.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 20:28:26 +0000 UTC

Great video, I had completely forgotten this format. How many cassettes did “chewy” actually eat? I hope you can repair it otherwise you could show a footage of the feeding process, maybe with the puppets involved.

Laurent

2018-09-07 20:23:51 +0000 UTC

Enigma

Techmoan

2018-09-07 20:13:33 +0000 UTC

Oh and BtW, what is the name of the movie with Martin Sheen that you played a bit of?

Mikkel Graugaard Hansen

2018-09-07 20:07:03 +0000 UTC

I'll go over there and enable the comments now if you want. Also I was very careful to say home video cassette format - as I've got a reel to reel video recorder myself in storage.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 19:58:56 +0000 UTC

That's my old projector screen that's hung up in the garage. Decided it looked better than the breeze blocks.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 19:57:27 +0000 UTC

I've waited for years for someone to give V2000 the treatment it deserves, and I wasn't disappointed! Once the comments are enabled, I'll watch it again and put some extra information that you (no doubt) had, but didn't have time for because it was already getting quite long. By the way, "Chewy" is the "black sheep" of the V2000 recorders: I had one for a little while but it gave me nothing but trouble. The early ones were extremely robust but they were heavy (20+kg) and it took Philips 2 generations to come up with recorders that had the special features that DTF was so good for. The later models have some cool features like GO-TO with time codes, stereo reception (german system, not Nicam of course) and long play. Your 2220 is somewhat limited because it had the separate tuner and the electronics to record from a camera, and that already made it more expensive than other recorders. Oh and that thing where it doesn't mute the sound on fast-forward with picture, that's either broken or modified, I think. I've seen or owned pretty much all VCR and V2000 recorders and I never saw any of them do that. Speaking of the VCR system: I think you mentioned that that was the first home video format (I think we can discard U-Matic because it was always for semi-professional use), but did you know Philips also made reel-to-reel recorders for black-and-white video for home use in the 1960s. Obviously that never took off either. Philips couldn't market themselves out of a paper bag. Thanks for posting!

Jac Goudsmit

2018-09-07 19:49:23 +0000 UTC

Being a Yank, I was indeed a V2000 virgin.... which had a Cherry 2000, Death Race 2000 feel to it.

Kevin Frenzel

2018-09-07 19:49:21 +0000 UTC

All very interesting, have you painted your garage wall white then, nice crisp white background behind you now 🤔👍🏼

Graham Eida

2018-09-07 19:49:16 +0000 UTC

Another great looong informative experience with a few tie-ins 👍

Mark Heslop

2018-09-07 19:47:57 +0000 UTC

I am fine with male weathermen, but that poor dork at 29:30 compared to Yanet Garcia shows how much expectations have increased.

Kevin Frenzel

2018-09-07 19:46:26 +0000 UTC

Great video as always.

Holger P Kleinert

2018-09-07 19:41:42 +0000 UTC

They sold V2000 machines until 1988. The ‘refurb’ was supposedly done by the eBay seller.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 19:41:05 +0000 UTC

Whilst I've never seen a V2000 tape, I've got a lot of video cases that mention the format. There is normally an acompanying arrow instructing you to put the cassette in the case one way if it's a betamax tape and the other if it's a VHS or V2000

Dominic Ashman

2018-09-07 19:40:22 +0000 UTC

I wonder if the date written inside the case was actually the refurb date and not the manufacture date? 1984 makes more sense if that's the case.

Peter Laws

2018-09-07 19:39:50 +0000 UTC

This is actually the first time I've heard about it, thanks a lot for making the excellent video :)

Jørgen Aaserud

2018-09-07 19:39:05 +0000 UTC

Yep. That wasn’t a unique feature. Elcaset and RCA Soundtape have it too. I was just showing the cassette.

Techmoan

2018-09-07 19:38:33 +0000 UTC

Yay! Long video!

Clemente d'Angelo

2018-09-07 19:38:13 +0000 UTC

VHS cassettes do also have a wheel brake mechanism similar to the one in the V2000 cassettes

Staffan Ahlstrom

2018-09-07 19:35:24 +0000 UTC

And I remember my fathers brother, who was really a first mover when the video market was new, and he had a Philipe VCR player, where he recorded cartoons from the TV for me. I loved the strange bulky cassettes.

Mikkel Graugaard Hansen

2018-09-07 19:24:33 +0000 UTC

I have wanted sooooo long for annonce to review this now that im an adult’ish. I remember reading about it in a hifi magazine here in Denmark when I was younger, finding the double sided thing fascinating. Didn’t see a player or a cassette until I was in a short work experience internship for a week at a large Danish video distributor. And never saw it again... so nice to see it again. Finally

Mikkel Graugaard Hansen

2018-09-07 19:17:46 +0000 UTC

Well I'm excited!

Technology Connections

2018-09-07 19:07:21 +0000 UTC

Video 2000 - The European video format

Comments

I just looked her up. Good grief, what a beauty 😍

Unfortunately I've had to put my digitisation dreams on hold for the moment - but if I can get back to it, I'll upload them in a new playlist on the normal channel.

Could you please start a new YouTube channel just to upload all those adverts! :D

I’m glad you liked it. This is one of those videos that far fewer people watched than I anticipated, so it’s good to see it’s still getting some views.

This is so incredibly fascinating (and I had never heard of V2000). Huge thanks for the amount of time and effort you poured into this one! :D

Really interesting, and those memory lane clips... Oh, boy. I recall a mate boasting he could get the whole Live Aid concert on one V2000 tape, where everyone else needed 3 or 4!

This is probably one of the best videos you have made. Truly awesome stuff

Thanks! I had never heard of this, probably because I'm based in the USA. I hope you are able to get Chewie working. I know the frustration of trying to get some of this old equipment to cooperate.

Well I'm glad I could pass on a tiny bit of history before it's completely forgotten by everyone.

I always feel if I'm going to cover a format like this, it's not really possible to go back and re-do anything, so I try to get as much of it covered as possible first time. Of course there's no doubt a lot of things I don't know about.

I'm glad you've joined us over here on Patreon - it's much easier to have a decent conversation here away from all the noise and confusion of youtube. You'll find a few exclusive videos here as well - including last week's video about the outro music - Cuba Baion.

That's not a bad idea - I'll look into it - thanks.

Longer and slower than typical but still great. // How about taking a spare shell and moving a vhs cleaning tape into it so the heads can be cleaned between each capture? Seems like the rarity of the ad capture justifies the work to get a clean digitization. // keep up the great work!

Great video Mat - those broadcast clips take me back for sure. Thanks for being so detailed on V2000 - learned a lot.

The most recent still missing episode is from 1969, so it seems unlikely.

I think I read something that indicated if it had been a barnstormer in Europe they’d have then moved into the US and elsewhere.

Wonderful! This type of content is exactly why I'm a patron. Being a US citizen I would have never have learned about this format.

At 13:40, note the Michael Jackson lookalike in the print ad. Thanks, Mat, for all the detailed information on two video formats previously unknown to this Yank. You've done a grand marketing study here ... you might show this video to the business profs at your local junior college.

It might take a while before I can get around to looking through those tapes again - I've fallen a bit behind recently.

Thanks - hopefully that will be reflected in the views when it goes live. Quite a few of my recent videos despite being well received by those who saw them haven't done so well.

It used narrower track spacing due to DTF and that enabled it to fit the same quality into half the space.

This is one of your best videos Matt, I learnt a lot from it. Great job!

Weird, VHS and betamax used the entire tape width for 1-sided operation. Apparently V2000 was half the pixel resolution to cram the data into a 1/2 width track space?

Thanks for that, although If I ever do feature domestic open reel video (dependant on it working) - it won't really be a full 'history of' video - more just a quick demo.

Great video! I know it would take you an age to do and is dependent on "Chewy" working - but would love to see more of the adverts and stings from the old videos :-)

We could pick up HTV as well where I lived growing up, but it was a Granada area. We put it on the Channel 5 preset. I was always amused by the name of a programme 'Busty Bethna' - or at least that's what it sounded like to a non-Welsh speaker.

At 29:53 I had to pause for a moment. I transmitted that ident several times a day in the 80s when I was a studio engineer at HTV Wales. Good memories.

Good Show !!!

Germany was home turf for Grundig.

It's fortunate that google scanned those old magazines, because without being able to search through those I really couldn't have done the format justice. Instead the video would have just been a few vague memories and a lot of supposition.

I'm about halfway the video now, but I love it already! One remark: Germany wasn't home turf for V2000, that was The Netherlands. (Dutch.. Deutch.. I understand the confusion ;))

I never actually saw a V2000 cassette back in the day; I just remember having pre-recorded film boxes that had markings for them inside (along with VHS).

The V2000 footage (at least the off-tv part) has a high-pitched tone over it. Not sure if you meant to leave that in.

OH BOI! HERE COMES THE VHS STUFF! :)

This might be my favorite video so far this year. Great depth of information. Being from the US I hadn't heard of this format before. Too bad it didn't work out in its favor.

This video is so, so good.

I hope you can capture more of those commercials and put them on your second channel, I'd love to compare them to older Canadian commercials!

These are some of my favorites as well. I had not heard of this format.

Great watching some of the old idents like HTV. I grew up with Tyne Tees.

I’m sure one day you’ll come across a tape full of Dr Who episodes that BBC deleted.

No reason other than it was an early UK advert from the tapes I had and it mentioned a year in it.

2000 was such a magical number up until, well, 2000. And then, nothing happened. Still waiting for my flying car etc. etc.

It's been on my to-do list for years, but I never like to rush things as once I've done a video that's it, it's not really feasible to go back and re-do it properly.

Our first video recorder was V2000 system. Was great that you could record on both sides and the recorder supported recording from Nicam Digital Stereo from the air.

Oh yes, Video 2000, probably the only not-totally-obscure format you hadn't covered yet. Only time I ever a V2000 machine in the wild was in our school where they used it for educational videos. Other than that, nada zero, zilch. And that was in Germany, in one of the core markets.

I hope I didn't say Holland at any point in the video - if I did please let me know and I'll re-edit it.

Yes I very purposely avoided passing any judgement - but I suspect you're right...there would be online campaigns nowadays.

Wow, I doubt that "Firips" ad would fly today! Great video, very comprehensive, thanks!

Finally, I am glad someone uploaded a look at it and glad it was one of my favourite youtubers! With this and MUSE you are spoiling me

I also had a Barratt Homes ad with Paul Daniels that instantly transported me back to the early 80s - I knew every word of it despite not having seen it for 35 years - unfortunately chewy had a good go at it before I could capture it clearly.

You get a well deserved mention at the end too.

Fantastic video, I do love your History Of’s...! The bonus TV ads and idents were a nice treat too.

I'm not really sure what to do with any others I find yet. However at the moment unfortunately I just don't have the time to go looking through the tapes - with all the stuff going on at home that project is going to have to wait a bit.

Great Video Matt, I knew nothing of V2000 before this video so this was fascinating. On the adverts and old continuity, are you going to upload any of them to the other channel?

100% of the tapes I tried in it - which was just two, although it ate one of them twice.

Great video, I had completely forgotten this format. How many cassettes did “chewy” actually eat? I hope you can repair it otherwise you could show a footage of the feeding process, maybe with the puppets involved.

Enigma

Oh and BtW, what is the name of the movie with Martin Sheen that you played a bit of?

I'll go over there and enable the comments now if you want. Also I was very careful to say home video *cassette* format - as I've got a reel to reel video recorder myself in storage.

That's my old projector screen that's hung up in the garage. Decided it looked better than the breeze blocks.

Being a Yank, I was indeed a V2000 virgin.... which had a Cherry 2000, Death Race 2000 feel to it.

All very interesting, have you painted your garage wall white then, nice crisp white background behind you now 🤔👍🏼

Another great looong informative experience with a few tie-ins 👍

I am fine with male weathermen, but that poor dork at 29:30 compared to Yanet Garcia shows how much expectations have increased.

Great video as always.

They sold V2000 machines until 1988. The ‘refurb’ was supposedly done by the eBay seller.

Whilst I've never seen a V2000 tape, I've got a lot of video cases that mention the format. There is normally an acompanying arrow instructing you to put the cassette in the case one way if it's a betamax tape and the other if it's a VHS or V2000

I wonder if the date written inside the case was actually the refurb date and not the manufacture date? 1984 makes more sense if that's the case.

This is actually the first time I've heard about it, thanks a lot for making the excellent video :)

Yep. That wasn’t a unique feature. Elcaset and RCA Soundtape have it too. I was just showing the cassette.

Yay! Long video!

VHS cassettes do also have a wheel brake mechanism similar to the one in the V2000 cassettes

And I remember my fathers brother, who was really a first mover when the video market was new, and he had a Philipe VCR player, where he recorded cartoons from the TV for me. I loved the strange bulky cassettes.

Well I'm excited!

More Creators

I'll go over there and enable the comments now if you want. Also I was very careful to say home video cassette format - as I've got a reel to reel video recorder myself in storage.