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Video to Go (part 2):
One day, while relaxing in my Siberian gulag in the USSR — where I have been confined since 1984 (see Part 1 )—my portable JVC camera and video recorder tucked carefully by my side and my marketing skills sharpened by endless hours of solitude, a brilliant idea came to mind:
"Free Videotape Developing"
A fabulous idea, I thought; "free videotape developing" would certainly catch on with the folks back home in the good old USA and video recorder sales would boom as a result.
Until the 1960s, 8mm film had been the predominant method for capturing mobile personal videos. But film was expensive, of short duration and needed developing. Video was inexpensive, immediate, reusable, required no special equipment or darkened rooms, and videotape, "I discovered," could be "developed" for free.
You see, from 1956 until the mid-1960s, video recording was confined to very selective studio operations only. Portable video was available, but only with the use of extremely expensive professional units, which were manufactured mainly by the Ampex Corporation and sold primarily to the major television networks, or to those with big budgets. In 1956 Ampex first introduced a portable 2" tape "Quad" porta-pack, fashioned from its Quadruplex deck, which launched the video revolution (click here).
In the mid-1960s, this was followed by a 1" tape helical scan deck. But recorders were so large and heavy that you needed to be a skilled cameraman and technician to operate it, and also an Olympic weight lifter to transport it. Porta-packs, up until that time, were about as large as "porta-potties", designed for outdoor use only, difficult to use while standing up, and they made rather [expletive deleted] recordings!
The cameras were monsters as well. In those days, cameras required tubes; this meant that if you moved the camera too fast, the video images would streak or smear. If the camera was pointed at the sun or bright lights, you risked burning a permanent hole in the tube and damaging the camera. Batteries were primitive, very large and didn't last very long, either.
In about 1967, Sony introduced what is often regarded as the first practical mobile portable video system. Called the "Video Rover," it was also a two-piece system consisting of a large camera and a separate recording deck, and it was the very first portable videotape recorder available to the general public. As mentioned earlier, the tandem was quite large and it often required two people to operate: one to shoot with the camera, the other to carry the recorder.
So engineers needed to reduced the weight and extend the battery life by removing as many nonessential components as possible. Many of these early porta-packs came without built-in power supplies or playback circuits, in order to reduce the weight and extend battery life. Even the tape-rewind feature was disabled. If you absolutely had to rewind the tape, a small hand crank was usually included, so you could rewind the 4 1/2" reel of tape manually.
But the cameras and recorders steadily improved, and other manufacturers, like Ampex, Panasonic and JVC, began making porta-packs that were smaller, lighter, more durable and offered color-recording capabilities.
In 1971, Sony made a major breakthrough in video recording when it introduced the first videocassette for both studio and, eventually, portable recording. Called the Umatic (sometimes KCA or 3/4") and still used quite successfully to this day, it derived its name from the "U" pattern that the tape path made inside the video deck. With no more reel-to-reel tapes to thread and at 60 minutes in length, the Umatic was the cornerstone of video recording for decades. With the invention of the Umatic, the abbreviation for most video recorders changed from VTR (Videotape Recorder) to VCR (Videocassette Recorder), an abbreviation used to this very day.
Around 1974, Sony scaled down the Umatic VCR and created a highly successful portable videocassette deck. The Sony VO-3800 was the first professional mini Umatic porta-pack, debuting at a svelte 30 pounds in weight. It was a mere "pup" compared to the other professional porta-packs that preceded it, which weighed as much as 100 lbs.
The cassette was shrunk down as well, miniaturized to accommodate 20 minutes of portable recording time. The Umatic was the technology that eventually spawned the Betamax, and both contributed to the development of VHS, which remains the dominant home video format today.
Like the Umatic, both the Betamax and VHS also started out as stationary units, but quickly emerged as smaller, lighter porta-pack mobile video systems.
JVC eventually stole a page from Sony's playbook: in 1982 it launched VHS-C which, like the Mini Umatic, became a scaled-down version of the popular VHS system and was compatible with at-home stationary VCRs with the use of an adapter.
The VHS-C porta-pack was the one I was accused of "smuggling" into the Soviet Union in 1984 (part 1), which got me into this mess.
On that note, if you have any "undeveloped" videotapes in your library please mail to Comrade Ghinelli, Block 3, Cell 6, Siberia, Russia, along with $29.95 for, you know, "handling fees" (no rubles, please), and I'll be sure they get "developed." Please allow 3-6 years for shipping (FedEx hasn't arrived here yet).
Special bonus offer: "free air" and a 10% discount off the price of a bridge in Brooklyn with every order.
"Free Videotape Developing"
A fabulous idea, I thought; "free videotape developing" would certainly catch on with the folks back home in the good old USA and video recorder sales would boom as a result.
Until the 1960s, 8mm film had been the predominant method for capturing mobile personal videos. But film was expensive, of short duration and needed developing. Video was inexpensive, immediate, reusable, required no special equipment or darkened rooms, and videotape, "I discovered," could be "developed" for free.
You see, from 1956 until the mid-1960s, video recording was confined to very selective studio operations only. Portable video was available, but only with the use of extremely expensive professional units, which were manufactured mainly by the Ampex Corporation and sold primarily to the major television networks, or to those with big budgets. In 1956 Ampex first introduced a portable 2" tape "Quad" porta-pack, fashioned from its Quadruplex deck, which launched the video revolution (click here).
In the mid-1960s, this was followed by a 1" tape helical scan deck. But recorders were so large and heavy that you needed to be a skilled cameraman and technician to operate it, and also an Olympic weight lifter to transport it. Porta-packs, up until that time, were about as large as "porta-potties", designed for outdoor use only, difficult to use while standing up, and they made rather [expletive deleted] recordings!
The cameras were monsters as well. In those days, cameras required tubes; this meant that if you moved the camera too fast, the video images would streak or smear. If the camera was pointed at the sun or bright lights, you risked burning a permanent hole in the tube and damaging the camera. Batteries were primitive, very large and didn't last very long, either.
In about 1967, Sony introduced what is often regarded as the first practical mobile portable video system. Called the "Video Rover," it was also a two-piece system consisting of a large camera and a separate recording deck, and it was the very first portable videotape recorder available to the general public. As mentioned earlier, the tandem was quite large and it often required two people to operate: one to shoot with the camera, the other to carry the recorder.
So engineers needed to reduced the weight and extend the battery life by removing as many nonessential components as possible. Many of these early porta-packs came without built-in power supplies or playback circuits, in order to reduce the weight and extend battery life. Even the tape-rewind feature was disabled. If you absolutely had to rewind the tape, a small hand crank was usually included, so you could rewind the 4 1/2" reel of tape manually.
But the cameras and recorders steadily improved, and other manufacturers, like Ampex, Panasonic and JVC, began making porta-packs that were smaller, lighter, more durable and offered color-recording capabilities.
In 1971, Sony made a major breakthrough in video recording when it introduced the first videocassette for both studio and, eventually, portable recording. Called the Umatic (sometimes KCA or 3/4") and still used quite successfully to this day, it derived its name from the "U" pattern that the tape path made inside the video deck. With no more reel-to-reel tapes to thread and at 60 minutes in length, the Umatic was the cornerstone of video recording for decades. With the invention of the Umatic, the abbreviation for most video recorders changed from VTR (Videotape Recorder) to VCR (Videocassette Recorder), an abbreviation used to this very day.
Around 1974, Sony scaled down the Umatic VCR and created a highly successful portable videocassette deck. The Sony VO-3800 was the first professional mini Umatic porta-pack, debuting at a svelte 30 pounds in weight. It was a mere "pup" compared to the other professional porta-packs that preceded it, which weighed as much as 100 lbs.
The cassette was shrunk down as well, miniaturized to accommodate 20 minutes of portable recording time. The Umatic was the technology that eventually spawned the Betamax, and both contributed to the development of VHS, which remains the dominant home video format today.
Like the Umatic, both the Betamax and VHS also started out as stationary units, but quickly emerged as smaller, lighter porta-pack mobile video systems.
JVC eventually stole a page from Sony's playbook: in 1982 it launched VHS-C which, like the Mini Umatic, became a scaled-down version of the popular VHS system and was compatible with at-home stationary VCRs with the use of an adapter.
The VHS-C porta-pack was the one I was accused of "smuggling" into the Soviet Union in 1984 (part 1), which got me into this mess.
On that note, if you have any "undeveloped" videotapes in your library please mail to Comrade Ghinelli, Block 3, Cell 6, Siberia, Russia, along with $29.95 for, you know, "handling fees" (no rubles, please), and I'll be sure they get "developed." Please allow 3-6 years for shipping (FedEx hasn't arrived here yet).
Special bonus offer: "free air" and a 10% discount off the price of a bridge in Brooklyn with every order.
