Wow, nice! My father had one of those in the early 80s, I remember him telling me that it cost him $1100 and it was the cheapest one he could find! He taught me how to fix and adjust it.
...and if you ever broke it, he'd cut your balls off right? haha I hope to find one of these some day, but it's too late now to get them at thrift stores and yard sales, as they don't exist in homes anymore. These are about $100+ on eBay.
My childhood VCR was one of these beasts. My dad was in the air force and he and mom were stationed in Okinawa when the first VCRs were released and this is the one they got.
Oh man, that thing looks beautiful. I mean unlike today's tech where everything is streamlined and what not. 70s, 80s and 90s tech had a lot of character to them with the many buttons, switches and knobs.
We had one of these when I was a kid (actually the identical looking PV-1200 6hr version). Back when the VCRs were almost as big as the televisions. I remember it lasted until around 1987 when the "Dew" light came on and could never get it to work again. Nice to see one of these in good working order.
Cool! This was one of Panasonic’s first VHS VCR’s, it was made in 1978, the year I was born. This was the same VCR used in a TV commercial. It has a 2-speed unit, by the early 1980’s, it has a 3-speed unit where you can record up to 6 hours in EP/SLP mode, this early VCR records up to 4 hours in LP mode. BTW, the Viacom “Wigga Wigga” logo was at 9:17 shown at the end of “Perry Mason”. I remember when “Perry Mason” was on Superstation WTBS in the 1980’s, it had the “V of Doom”.
I had a PV-1100 back in the '70s. Ten of us where I worked bought ten PV-1100s from Crazy Eddy in NYC, West 4th. ST in Greenwich Village. I seem to recall we got a "deal", $600 each. The machine was a work horse, and heavy! I still have a few off air TV shows that I recorded on it. I recorded all MASH episodes (250+), some first run some re-runs. Finally got rid of the tapes a few years ago when I bought the series on DVD. Bought it right around the time my first daughter was born, 1977. Also purchased a Panasonic camera, don't recall the model, but it was a quality camera, even had a Canon lens. It came with a 25' cable, and I bought a 25' extension. Can't remember what it cost, both the camera and extension came to about the same price as the VCR. Whenever we visited the in-laws (a 2 hour drive) I would schlep the VCR and camera in two American Tourister suit cases. (Really helped develop my biceps.) The family made fun of me, but I have about 25 tapes of all nieces and nephews. Starting to archive the tapes to DVD.
For appliances, yes, I definitely agree. If someone buys a washing machine or a fridge and it doesn't last at least 50 years, then they got completely ripped off. I don't think it really matters for electronics because they are obsolete within 10 or 20 years anyway.
These machines are so beautiful and well built. I want to own them all!!!! New technology has its place too, I think that's amazing, but it doesn't give me a warm feeling or anything I want to collect like these vhs's or betamax do. :-)
I still remember how impressed I was the first time I saw a VCR in action. It was in 1977 and I was 19 at the time. I remember asking my brother "You mean this thing ACTUALLY records what's on TV so you can watch it whenever you want!!?? That's SO cool! " Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to afford one until the summer of 1984 when the prices ranged from $500 to $700. My first VCR was a Panasonic beta.
This was the first VCR I bought. It was the Panasonic PV-1200 and it had three speeds SP, LP, and SLP. I paid $730 for it in August 1980. It was heavy but seemingly indestructible and it worked great for years. When stereo TV came in 1985, I sold it to a friend and bought one of the new Panasonic Hi-Fi Stereo VHS recorders. Sure wish I knew what happened to that old mono VHS recorder now though as it was really solidly built and would still work today. I still have some VHS tapes of archive material from long ago that I would rather play on that old Panasonic PV 1200 instead of the lightly built DVD/VHS player combo units made in Singapore that seems to be the only kind you can get nowadays. The modern stuff seems to break down and eat tapes more often than not, and some of the tapes I have are irreplaceable.
I'm so jealous! the picture quality is fantastic! our first VCR was similar and I love that smell of the electronics when it got too hot after playing hours and hours of movies
That´s PCB and is Toxic. A polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is an organic chlorine compound with the formula C12H10−xClx. Polychlorinated biphenyls were once widely deployed as dielectric and coolant fluids in electrical apparatus, carbonless copy paper and in heat transfer fluids.[2]
I bought one of these in the Quasar version in 1978 for $1200.00[about 8-9 thousand in today's dollars]. It was a really big deal back then. But they were crap. Both mine and my buddy's broke down constantly because of broken belts. There were no replacement parts available so we had to super glue them together every few days of use. No built in timer either. I loved the damn thing.
I stumbled on your video while doing research to find a good quality VHS VCR (as opposed to just about anything built after DVDs had taken over the market). This brings back memories. The first VCR my family had was the version of this that had an "SLP" (aka EP) mode, but it was otherwise identical. We used it well into the 90s, because the thing was built like a tank and incredibly reliable. It ate the occaisional tape over the years, but even when it did, it was almost always easier to get the tape out than it was on the front loaders. The remote was really only useful to edit out comercials when recording while watching a show, but in some ways it was better for that purpose than later infrared remote VCRs because of the instant response of the mechanical switch. A fun fact about that VCR: when Macrovision copy protection became common, we could always get a clean copy using it as the source. You lost the stereo soundtrack, but the picture was always clear.
That machine looks, sounds, and works remarkably similar to my RCA Select-A-Vision from the same year. It seems the only difference was a badge change.
Right, because of the vacuum tubes. TV cameras used to be that way too. The reason why the first news bulletins of the JFK assassination were audio-only, is because the studios needed 20 minutes to warm up their cameras. After President Kennedy’s assassination the networks changed their policies so there was always at least one TV camera warmed up and ready to go at all times, in case the networks had to break in with an important news bulletin.
In those days, not many could afford VCRs. As I remember, they were far from being an instant hit and took over a decade to decline to a price most people could afford.
Now that's what i call AWESOME the tournement recording feature of this panasonic vcr deck, it's sooo cool how the manual shows how to connecr a atari or philips console to a vcr deck, now that's what i call FORWARD THINKING in 1987,concidering not mamy peoples dit had a vcr deck or game console,and those few ones wich dit had one or both systems must have been rich . I really hardly can imagine that in 1978 some gamers ever wanted to record games on vcr tapes,because vcr tapes were damm expensive aswell. Anyway,just amezing!!!
One of my last memories with my grandpa driving to pick up Chinese.....stop! Is that an ancient VCR on the curb?! Dirty as hell! After a good cleaning he picture was losing sync constantly. Had to clean a sensor on the drum itself...now it works great!
Next time it would be a good idea to close the window shade behind you, lol! Anyway, great videos. Very retro. Reminds me of the first Panasonic VCR I owned. The PV 1225. :-)
nice video presentation. I had an RCA Selectavision from 1980 that also had audio dub.made many tapes with it and still have some of them. VCRs still RULE IMO.
I remember my first buying VHS recorder around 1985 but by then they were not as large or as heavy as the one shown here. Before that I owned a Betamax which was large and heavy. Just like the demonstrations here I also used to record shows like Columbo, Rockford Files, Perry Mason and Ironside etc to VHS tape.
There's something wonderful about these huge early VCRs. Modern DVRs do a lot more, and better, but they don't give you the interaction with the programming and the recorder like these do. Once you connect them to your television you may never touch them again. The early ones had style, soul maybe.
I think it was very clever of Panasonic to shut down the picture of the VCR when being put in pause. That way no burn-in could happen to the TV. Pretty smart thinking! :-)
I have a VCR that's 35 years old and one that's 32, they both still works... When it comes to VCR, the older they are, the longer they last... But when they break, you're fucked.... Unless you're really good at fixing stuff...
I have a Panasonic NV-8600 which is basically almost the same as the PV-1100 and it too blanks the screen when you press pause. I found a trick where shorting a transistor in the luminance process board enables still frame in pause mode but it isn't great. :)
Did you have to tune up or repair this unit? My RCA versions dont have nearly as many working features. Took forever just to find somebody that had the belts still in stock.
Yeah...the lights on both my VCT 200 and VDT 501 are out on the vhf side. Do you know what type of bulbs are underneath there? I want to find some...but the last time I tried to take that section of the vcr apart...I made a real mess. (This next time, Im going to take it to an old tv repairman who I know to fix that stuff.) I have been looking for parts though and have found some good suppliers...if you need some spare belts, idler tires, fuses, etc.
@@supermasterPIK sorry I just saw this. I've never found one of those wired remotes. My vct200 was supposed to have one but it got lost long before I got it. If you find someone who has more than one for sale...let me know. I think those remotes were a pause/unpause button only werent they?
All the remote does is pause and re-start the tape playback which I demonstrate in the video. It doesn't control any other functions. Not much of a remote control really, and it's even wired. But in 1978 it would have have been considered a convenient gadget to have.
2:29 yes. tohse machines always warned you of NEVER operate with dew light on (latter models didn´t warn but had the protection circuit built in). If the wet tape tuched the head, could ruin it.
It's NOT the tape that's "wet," the "dew" sensor detects condensation on the VIDEO HEAD DRUM, which causes the videotape to adhere to the drum, which is undesirable! When moisture is detected inside the VCR, a special heating circuit is activated, and the VCR transport controls are locked out until the moisture has evaporated. However, "dew" wasn't much of a problem with home VCRs used INDOORS (at a constant temperature). Moisture condensation was more likely to occur on a portable VCR used OUTDOORS with a camera in COLD WEATHER. When the VCR was brought indoors into the WARM, moisture would condense on the COLD VIDEO HEAD DRUM, and the machine's DEW SENSOR warning would alert the user!
