The Forgotten History of Home Video
November 5, 2020 8:27 PM Subscribe
Really cool! Great on filling in the gaps. I always am curious when people talk about groundbreaking technology then mention the invention to casual use was a large gap. Some of it is recency bias, but a lot of it occurred in the enthusiast market. People were generally probably only continuously exposed to new technology via television and the movies, themselves only showing a small subsection of what is out there. I remember television shows in the 80s only showed cell phones as a symbol of wealth and I don't think they actually really resurfaced on television until the 2000s. It would seem 90s were a gap but in reality they were evolving the entire time.
I wonder what other technologies have such a direct lineage to the professional market? This went pretty directly from large studios using it with the barrier to entry literally being whatever costs less than shooting a television show twice all the way to incremental improvements until it became also an incidental device. I know I don't purchase phones for the cameras, it just happens to have one.
Also while I can't imagine what would be the equivalent of video cameras today. In the 60s even through the 80s home recording was expensive. You were talking $2-3k if not more in today's dollars for a bulky device used to record birthdays and special events. I'm looking at my home studio I use for Zoom calls and trying to justify a dedicated camera and lighting setup for maybe a similar price and thinking that's a lot. Plus that's work related and something I do for a large portion of my day, not once or twice a year.
posted by geoff. at 9:16 PM on November 5, 2020
I wonder what other technologies have such a direct lineage to the professional market? This went pretty directly from large studios using it with the barrier to entry literally being whatever costs less than shooting a television show twice all the way to incremental improvements until it became also an incidental device. I know I don't purchase phones for the cameras, it just happens to have one.
Also while I can't imagine what would be the equivalent of video cameras today. In the 60s even through the 80s home recording was expensive. You were talking $2-3k if not more in today's dollars for a bulky device used to record birthdays and special events. I'm looking at my home studio I use for Zoom calls and trying to justify a dedicated camera and lighting setup for maybe a similar price and thinking that's a lot. Plus that's work related and something I do for a large portion of my day, not once or twice a year.
posted by geoff. at 9:16 PM on November 5, 2020
Weird! I just learned about the Bing Crosby/AMPEX connection day before yesterday, but in the context of using early audiotape to rebroadcast his radio show.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:24 PM on November 5, 2020
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:24 PM on November 5, 2020
So fascinating. Really well done and researched video.
In 84-85 we played around with a JVC or Panasonic (I can't remember which, but it recorded onto VHS) portapac video camera in high school, it seemed so freaking hi-tec and modern, I think it had those EIAJ connectors too. We'd do things like go to McDonalds on a Friday night and with the VCR part over my shoulder I'd interview the terrified 14 year old cashier, that kind of gripping stuff. We'd go home and play it back and laugh. Good times.
In 1994, right out of film school I got a job at a post production house as a "junior editor" and man, the guy who made this video would LOSE IT with the old school gear we had. By then they were moving to Avid on the 2nd floor but I was often relegated to the 3rd which had a bank of 3/4" tape machines that were connected by a big patch-bay, along with the title generators and those crazy old machines that did psychedelic video transitions. The basement was a museum of old tec and just before I quit (it was a really shit job) the one nice owner told me I could have the early 80's TEAC reel-to-reel machine I still have today.
posted by chococat at 10:23 PM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
In 84-85 we played around with a JVC or Panasonic (I can't remember which, but it recorded onto VHS) portapac video camera in high school, it seemed so freaking hi-tec and modern, I think it had those EIAJ connectors too. We'd do things like go to McDonalds on a Friday night and with the VCR part over my shoulder I'd interview the terrified 14 year old cashier, that kind of gripping stuff. We'd go home and play it back and laugh. Good times.
In 1994, right out of film school I got a job at a post production house as a "junior editor" and man, the guy who made this video would LOSE IT with the old school gear we had. By then they were moving to Avid on the 2nd floor but I was often relegated to the 3rd which had a bank of 3/4" tape machines that were connected by a big patch-bay, along with the title generators and those crazy old machines that did psychedelic video transitions. The basement was a museum of old tec and just before I quit (it was a really shit job) the one nice owner told me I could have the early 80's TEAC reel-to-reel machine I still have today.
posted by chococat at 10:23 PM on November 5, 2020 [3 favorites]
This was great. I was involved in video projects in the 1970s and we really did think opening up media could make a difference. And it has, more good than bad, IMO, but that's not the popular take right now.
posted by CCBC at 3:00 AM on November 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by CCBC at 3:00 AM on November 6, 2020 [4 favorites]
I just had to try to figure out what kind of video camera we had when we were in Kaiserslautern from like 78-81... I think it was a Panasonic WV-2600 but can't be certain.
Somewhere in a landfill in either Hillsborough or Alachua County, future archaeologists will find me and my sister opening Christmas presents between 1980 and 1983 or so, along with a few of her toddler dance recitals.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:34 AM on November 6, 2020
Somewhere in a landfill in either Hillsborough or Alachua County, future archaeologists will find me and my sister opening Christmas presents between 1980 and 1983 or so, along with a few of her toddler dance recitals.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:34 AM on November 6, 2020
Nice, thanks for posting! Another early machine is the 'Telcan,' claimed to be the first domestic video recorder, from Nottingham, UK, in 1963.
One thing that could be in the video is the standardization of tapes/machines, and adoption of VHS by movie studios and other content providers, which drove VCR adoption in general, which in turn drove the ever-cheaper camcorder market.
Anyway, nice video!
posted by carter at 4:51 AM on November 6, 2020
One thing that could be in the video is the standardization of tapes/machines, and adoption of VHS by movie studios and other content providers, which drove VCR adoption in general, which in turn drove the ever-cheaper camcorder market.
Anyway, nice video!
posted by carter at 4:51 AM on November 6, 2020
Am pretty sure I watched a couple of hours of school lessons on a Telcan machine back in the late 1970s/1980-81-ish: they were already visibly clunky and obsolescent compared to the Philips N1700 VCRs people were buying for home video in the UK back then (arrived after U-Matic, but before Betamax/VHS caught on: was generally crappy and a VCR cost about £600 -- that was around $1500 back in the day, or maybe $5000 in today's inflation-adjusted money -- but it was totally cutting-edge).
posted by cstross at 6:12 AM on November 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by cstross at 6:12 AM on November 6, 2020 [2 favorites]
I've spent a lot of time in the archive stacks filled with a history of video tape formats, this is a lot of fun to see.
you may enjoy this you tube channel also
https://www.youtube.com/user/theavgeeks/videos
posted by djseafood at 12:12 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
you may enjoy this you tube channel also
https://www.youtube.com/user/theavgeeks/videos
posted by djseafood at 12:12 PM on November 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
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/me watches linked video
7:19: yay!
posted by flabdablet at 9:02 PM on November 5, 2020