VHS Canon and Magnavox VCR & Camera Portables from 1984 

That ad at the start is legitimately amazing.It's 34 year old technology, but the music and the way its shot managed to make me really excited about it.

Got an 80's overdose with the opening Panasonic ad!

Better ads than today. Made me want to have these high tech features.

This brought back so many memories of when I first became a videographer, it doesn't seen that long ago. Where has all the time gone? I wish I could just rewind it do it all over again. 😞

The "audio cassette" audio you are referring to is called "Linear Audio". Linear stereo did exist, but most Hi-Fi stereo VCRs could only record and playback Linear Audio in mono. The record part is usually for compatibility with other Linear Audio VCRs, but if the tape was worn, switching over to Linear Audio usually improved the sound. Linear Stereo was in part phased out because of the Dolby B Noise Reduction license. Hi-Fi gave superior audio that didn't need noise reduction because the heads were mounted on the video drum taking full advantage of the bandwidth the fast, spinning drum provided. That's why it is called Hi-Fi. Audiophiles even used it for their music. Monural Linear Audio remained part of the standard until VCR production was discontinued, and most VCRs were Linear Mono only because they were cheaper. Hi-Fi mono VCRs did exist, but they are rare.

I'm loving the compact design of that white Canon. Not to mention HIFI sound and 4 heads. We didn't get that on our home VCR in our house till 1989.

1984: the year that the JVC GR-C1 camcorder hit the market. A tube-based, rather than CCD, device that didn't need 1.21 gigawatts to run :-)

Brings back memories. My father and I had the Panasonic system just like the one featured here. I can remember spending time setting up titles on it.

This is a beautiful set in fantastic condition, I'm piecing together a GE VCR set with only the camera, VCR and AC adapter component so far.

That Canon unit looks so nice!

On the power adapter, the 12 volts is for the VCR. The 15 volts is necessary to make current keep flowing into the battery when the battery reaches its terminal voltage of roughly 13.5 volts. On the Canon VHS look for an actual physical camera/line input selector switch. It might be set to line, hence no camera. Other VCRs use a keyed switch built into the line input jacks to switch to line when an RCA plug is inserted and default to camera when not.

Would've been really hilarious if you'd taken the Canon, to a beach, and reenacted the Panasonic advert! :D

That test footage was very vaporwave.

God I miss the 80's...

As far as I know, Magnavox, Panasonic, and Canon uses the same mechanism. Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) used to Philips' associate company (35% JV until 1993) and Magnavox is a full subsidiary.

I was really expecting you to break out ye olde soldering iron and start recapping. Now I am slightly dissapointed. :/

in case anyone hasn't stated it yet. both these vcrs are manufactured by panasonic i had the same vcr as the cannon one. it wouldnt record from the camera unless the side switches were set up in a very specific way and the unit was out of the base iirc.

That ad at the start is heaven! Also I can smell the inside of that case now! I had two shoulder all in one magnavox cameras that went in those. That shock foam!

had the magnivox version hi fi stereo with docking tuner that was mono.I recorded a lot of mtv back in the day,used stereo imputs on vcr to record stereo auto fed from fm stereo that had mtv in stereo and video from cable.combo was expensive around 1800 dollars.so I bought a cheap mono video camera around 300 dollars and used it and bought a stereo mic from radio shack and fed it into the imput of vcr,worked great best vcr I ever had miss it

These were definitely at the tail end of the separate camera/VCR units, which would explain the extensive feature set, at least on the Canon unit. People would be more inclined to buy one of these units if they didn't have a VCR already, since the first camcorder (the JVC of Back to the Future fame) was already on the market in '84. So these were pretty much intended for the more high-end user or the enthousiast who is more into editing his own short films and the like. The connectors to the cameras were AFAIK standardized across manufacturers to some degree -- they're miniature EIAJ. BTW, the heads on that Canon look like they've only had a few hours on it. That playback quality was almost brand new.

After watching that intro, I feel the need, the need to watch Flashdance

These old vhs are so cool. I mean these toploaded ones! Now I even learned why there is a sticker on the tapes in these toploaded you can read title while it is loaded in the machine 😂 Always wanted to have toploaded, but all goodwill stores etc sell these frontloading machines from end of 80s and newer machines. Nowadays very hard to even find a vhs. Sad also that super vhs never reached to an standard. And the digital vhs never reached home users. Today people whine how bad vhs was, but these people never saw super vhs or even know that D-vhs can give as good picture as blueray. Remember when I did a joke to my friends that it is normal tv transmission when the program actual was an recording they never saw the difference from live tv or the recording, as in standard vhs you directly see the difference 😂 The "funny" thing is also that my almost 30 year old tapes still works when some of my dvd-r that are about 10-15 years old are totally dead.

You are lucky to find something probably quite rare.

Love seeing this! My mom had an older rebadged JCPenney portable VCR and video camera she did our videos with.

Always loved the matte light grey color and overall design of older Canon video cameras, much more appealing to me than just cheap looking satin blaaaaaack that everyone else used. Though I don't like how those ext mic jacks are pointed upwards, they look like they would get easily damaged instead of just pulling out if yanked on which is fairly common.

I remember we had the Panasonic one which you used to slide and lock in on the tuner section under the TV so it worked as a home VCR

I still use a power supply out of one of these portable vcr's to run a security camera I have in the house...lol... the camera was out of an old bank and the volts matched...seemed like something weird like 23 volt?

I had the Canon VC 10 camera tied to a JVC recorder. Sadly I burned the tube and it cost me £150 to have it sorted. That was over 30 years ago when £150 was a load more than today!! 😎😎😎

Wow, they had "HD" even back then! Very cool and unexpected! :-D

I have a version of the Magnavox ! Mine is the 4head stereo with Dolby NR. Great vid !

Love the background music used in this video. 👍

Nice vid. Techmoan would have fixed that lol

AF and AE were still cutting edge on still cameras then. On a video camera? Good stuff, Panasonic!

I LOL'ed when it said "TV Pictures Simulated" :D

Do you know what the name of that connector is coming from the camera? Hard to find info on these. I’m looking at a Minolta one.

Panasonic products from the 80s were ahead of its time.

I'll bet that one unit's Hifi audio isn't the same as later model VCR HiFi. Will we see a follow up video of these units being repaired?

What I like is how comedian tim clue said about his parents HIFI giant speakers audio quality of a walkie talkie. Lol im sure it was unless you paid more

How did you get ahold of these in such good condition?

12:58 I actually have this 3M test video - it's just all about their projectors from the late 90s, which at the time go to 1000 ANSI lumens of brightness - enough as it says in the video "to leave the room lights on".

The first ad was the OG tictok

Awesome devices! Please make a follow-up video for the Canon system, I hope that you could fix the issue, amazing stuff.

Could you upload the whole 3M The Power To Shine tape?

What model was the Canon?

Great camera here! Jealous you got it!

@databits Hey, I watched your video! Very informative but I need your help. I have recently picked up a Canon VC-30 with accompanying VR-30. With it came the CA-30 which means I can power it through mains but I really need to get my hands on a replacement battery (BP-31/32) and I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction? I believe the battery in this video would be the one required (12V 2.3ah) but I'm not sure. Any help? I can send pics over to you if that helps?

Call the support number on the manual...I'm sure they can walk you through some fix... :-/

Nice

Are you going to try to make them work?

You should try to get audio and video straight off the camera. Maybe make a connector that adapts the connector to RCA connectors. Then get one of those mini composite video recording boxes.

I have that exact battery, but not the power supply or connector. Is there any hope to charge the battery safely without those?

I want a portable vcr but it’s so expensive

I think DV8 is actually better but susceptible to damage if the unplugged from charger when camcorder is powered on

I'd like to have a full version of the Canon/3M demo cassette (12:25)

niceeeee

They were both great machines for their time! But todays CCD cameras and smart phones take better videos than those dinosaurs... However they were well built compared to todays electronics!

I was expecting to see the insides of the VCRs. :(

10:28 song?

Why would they pair a stereo camera with a mono VCR?

Canon display looks front lit not back lit surely?

The issue with the VCR sounds like shorted Tantalum caps.

I'm at minute 4 but I going to do a guess: This thing cost back then more than my house

懐かしポータブルビデオとカメラは、Canon製ですが、ビデオやカメラパーツは、松下電器製で当時は、大変軽量で、カメラは、高画質、ハイファイポータブルは、海外仕様です。後に家庭用も、8㍉ビデオ一体型の文化に変わりました。

"Auto-zoom"? Haha, I've never seen any camera with that.

I have a Quasar unit much like the Panasonic in the commercial and the canon unit because it docks although it doesn’t include a camera it still works fine I am going to sell it on eBay because I heard these are worth some money please watch my video about it if you want to buy it

They both appear to have the same mechanism as the Panasonic NV-100 PAL portable VCR from 1983. They are very hard to take apart. Hope you can fix them.

In case the Russian nuked us we the survivors could film the after math.

IMO JVC were far better

First