Picking apart a very clever camcorder

In this video I expound on some absolute speculation about the motivations behind the design of a little camcorder from 1993. Am I right? Am I just making up fantasies? Nah, I'm probably right.
Support my channel so I can afford more weird video gear:
/ cathoderaydude
ko-fi.com/cath...
If you enjoyed this, please subscribe!

[@NonCompete]

Critique of capitalism slipped into extremely in-depth review of obscure 90s a/v tech = content that is weirdly specifically tailored for me

[@Dasafrak]

"Sludge factor" is a great term I hadn't heard before. Nice video too.

[@nairanvac79]

That's the name of my new band 🤘

[@Ragnarok043]

i miss clever designs, everything is so lazy now hidden in sub menus behind a touch screen with no tactile feedback.

[@weeardguy]

I think the main reason for that is that camcorders have gone tapeless, thus removing the need for a large enclosure with plenty of space for buttons and dials. Pair that with the competition from smartphones and it's not hard to understand why camcorders have gotten so small and now miss their dedicated buttons. But when you get to the bigger handheld camcorders, all those buttons re-appear ;)

[@snewl5324]

@@weeardguy that's I think one of the things, "when you get to the bigger handheld camcorders", lots of these cameras we see in these videos of CRDs were quite high end at the time if still compact (prosumer-ish), high end cameras nowadays still tend to understand the importance of buttons and are covered in them, it's not really fair to compare them to the lower end ones.

[@weeardguy]

@@snewl5324 Well, if you get to the higher-end in the consumer-market you will still find camcorders with quite some dedicated controls. Sometimes you need to assign functions to specific buttons as they can have multiple functions, but those cameras still exist. But as their price-point is usually something only considered by consumers who don't want a professional camera but like to have manual controls, they hardly stand out, especially with all the 'photocameras are great at video but the batterylife sucks' people out there these days

[@yorgle]

6:00 I've noticed that Sony was always really great about having controls with different tactile feel... (at least in the age before slab screen interfaces which have none at all..) If you look at the wired remotes for any of their Minidisc player, you can see what i mean. tons of controls on it, but some slide, some push in, some rotate, one on the end, some along the side, some with pips. It's very easy to tell without looking at it, which control you're touching. Their car stereos from the 80s were similar in this regard. This is one of the things i also loved about the earlier "classic" iPods... sure, the play/next/previous controls are... unknown based on orientation of the ipod in your pocket, but you always know that the round wheel part will adjust volume... clockwise and counterclockwise. :D

[@CathodeRayDude]

You can find the controls based on orientation, you just feel for the bottom jacks or feel for the screen and you can get oriented, that's how I used to operate mine. It's not as good as it could be, but it beats a touchscreen!

[@awesomeferret]

Buttons need to make a return to car stereos, I'm surprised it's even allowed due to the hypocrisy in distracted driving laws. How can it possibly be safer to move buttons to a touch screen? I'm really baffled at how car manufacturers have been able to skirt around distracted driving laws, it honestly confuses me. Sony knows buttons, the PSP was a great example in my opinion.

[@CathodeRayDude]

@@awesomeferret The last time we had a significant review of car safety was the 60s when Nader published his book. There hasn't been any public attention on this since then.

[@emagotis]

Incredible how much genius engineering has gone into such a old camcorder. And latest models are put into shame by some of the functionality. I'm surprised I could learn so much from such old tech. Absolutely great video!

[@hignaki]

Thank you so much for having closed captions! I'm deaf and the channels that don't have them after community captions were killed is staggering. I appreciate it and it lets me continue to enjoy your videos!

[@CathodeRayDude]

You're welcome, though I'll also apologize in advance for not having them on all my videos. It's so time consuming and hard on my wrists that I've had a hard time keeping up; it basically chews up an entire day to both transcribe and time one video, but I really think this is important. I'm going to try a third party service and see how that goes, and I'll also try and get myself to start going through when I have free time and doing them myself.

[@maltoNitho]

Man this makes my engineer heart hurt because it’s so true. “Hey I made this cool thing…” Yeah-and it makes us more money because you can ship more faster, right? “Weeeelllllllll…”

[@joannaatkins822]

Your passion for industrial design is contagious, the things you love are extremely thoughtful, extra, and delightful

[@ZackJenkins]

I love the Goodwill sticker on that camcorder. I think it really adds to the aesthetic of vintage video equipment. Thanks for the great video, and keep up the good work!

[@johndododoe1411]

As someone making modern products in a different area, your description of design issues and management economics made so much sense.

[@RussellB]

I'm making another comment here, because I just remembered that I had a camera that I went through exactly this with. To me and what I wanted - form, function, and STYLE, It was leagues ahead of any other consumer digital camera. I remember looking up digital camera reviews and seeing this one was coming out soon, so I had time to get really excited and be the first to own something like this. It felt solid to hold, kinda walkman-like with metal pieces and a cool sliding mechanism to cover the lens, which also turned it on, none of the other cameras this small had a 3x zoom lens. And the quality of the photos was way above the others, with a little mentioned macro ability that wasn't like "oh you wanna take a photo close up?" no, it was like "oh you want to read the letters of a penny?". It was so freakin badass I can't believe I just threw it out when it broke. At the time I didn't know it would be as good as it was - because as I'd get new digital cameras, sure they'd have more megapixels but they all lacked the other qualities this camera had all in one package, and worst, they removed the buttons and added a heinous touchscreen. Anyway to make you read to the end, it was called the Sony DSC-T1 and I bet it would make for a great video.

[@CathodeRayDude]

I'll look into it! I collect early digital still cameras and maybe it'll go in my collection which I'll do videos on eventually

[@RobLion]

Thank you so much for this! These are the kind of little elegant design and user-experience elements that I have always loved considering, and looking for when buying a tool. In that era I think Sony often (though not always, as you point out) did a really excellent job of that, far better than most other electronics brands. I still carry a bit of a shine for them to this day on that basis, even though once it came to software designed by Sony the wheels came almost completely off.

[@CathodeRayDude]

Sony used to really be the bees knees when it came to innovation, but internal infighting among other things really messed them up.

[@Ty4ons]

Lock meaning off is an interesting phenomenon. Dunno how related it is, but in older stills cameras there was a lock feature for the shutter because it was all mechanical, but this naming stuck with a lot of newer cameras with electronic shutters like my Minolta 700si where the switch says “Lock/On”.

[@Spritetm]

Doing engineering in an entirely different market segment; our customers aren't exactly consumers but (at some phase) still people who need to work with our products often. Gonna keep the little automatic control door in mind, and push for things like that just because it's the right thing to do. If ever, perish the thought, the company I work for decides it doesn't want that door even if there's no good reason not to build it, it might be time for me to move on.

[@funksterdotorg]

We should all aim to find an employer who looks at us the way we all just looked at that controls door.

[@growingup15]

Who needs filters to look 90s when you have one of these. I NEED ONE SO BAD!

[@calebcourteau]

I appreciate your appreciation of the efforts of the designers and engineers, who’s names are now lost to us, that cared enough about this product to make it great.

[@tylerk6206]

This was a great video. Really loving what you're doing on this platform

[@ShawnTewes]

It's those little but smart design choices that make a product like this so satisfying to use, like the detented exposure wheel to distinguish itself from the focus wheel. Also, yay 60 fps! :) Really makes the demo footage feel authentically analog, and gives off those warm and fuzzies. The 80s Quantel Paintbox-esque pillarbox border is a nice touch too. Very well thought out video.

[@weeardguy]

I don't get the 60fps hype at all, because what you see is most likely a 60i image, that (most likely) gets compressed to a 30p image, as that basically is what it is, but just recorded in two 'fields' by the camera is cameras back in the days couldn't record progressive frames.

[@99sports64]

Damn I missed this in my feed. It's refreshing to hear somebody talk about something their so knowledgeable and passionate about.

[@paulpalinkas]

Another reason companies had tons of very similar models is to aid large retailers so they’d have a unique product not susceptible to price matching policies. Apple did this in the mid-late 90’s with the Performa line. The 6360 might be exclusive to Sears, the 6320 to Circuit City, etc. The only difference might be a slightly different software package, a slightly faster CD-ROM drive, but slightly smaller hard drive, etc.

[@StrangelyIronic]

Kind of reminds me how with Fujifilm you get the same sensor in the X-E4 entry level tiny mirrorless camera as the X-T4, the big boy pro level APS-C camera. The differences boil down to the body most of the time with the higher end having multiple storage slots, weather sealing, faster/easier access to physical dials for manual settings, etc. I haven't upgraded in a while since my use case doesn't require, but my backup body for my X-H1 is just an X-T30 instead of an X-T2 or X-T3. Yes, the X-T30 has higher resolution and lacks a few features, but the IBIS among other features of the X-H1 (I LOVE top mount lcd's for settings/info) make it my main Fuji camera. If you look at other brands, for the most part you're not getting the same sensor in the entry level model as the top end model. You wouldn't have people like me, and actual pro's, that opt to carry the mid-range, or even an "entry" level body for emergencies or certain situations. Olympus was also fairly good with updating the firmware to add in features for their cameras long after their release. The E-M5 MK.II is a great example. It was solid on release, but over the course of upgrades after it gained more and more features from the higher end E-M1 MK.II. My pocket camera is an E-M5 MK.II, it's only 16mp but it's a great camera that takes great photos. Taken and processed correctly you can still get fairly large prints that look great even with the lowly E-M5 MK.II.

[@funksterdotorg]

The moment you opened that manual controls pull-out, I was full of delight. That's a really nice touch and it's a real shame that such features would be ignored on a spec sheet when someone was comparing available products and their prices. Connections going through hinges sound like a nightmare to make reliable and I bet the prototyping and testing bill for getting that right was huge. Kinda want to try making some (beyond the one power wire in my flip-up battery bay lids). Great work as always, please keep up with these videos as you always have something interesting to show us all!

[@weeardguy]

Yeah and especially having the camera fall back to default operation on closure of that manual control block is just such a nice touch. Don't forget that comparing available products was usually done in magazines covering AV-equipment, not on the internet like nowadays. This most likely meant they would mention something like this as a nifty little feature no other camera would offer. If not, you would go to the store and ask for advice and if you would get a good salesman, he would know many cameras inside out and (probably) instantly notify you on this feature (or, if you couldn't make up your mind after trying a few models, than pull out the manual controls like 'but there's more!')

[@tibipics]

That popout panel is brilliant! Camcorders usually solved this problem by having tactile pips on those extra buttons, but those have a learning curve to them, and they really went the extra mile with this to make it accessible from the get go.

[@pozdroszejset4460]

Fantastic design. Always loved 90s Sony gear controls, the variously shaped buttons, the sliders, jog dials and little flaps hiding extra buttons. WE NEED THE FLAPS. BRING BACK THE FLAPS

[@stiltongruyere9691]

Dude, I love the hypothetical scenarios you come up with. haha

[@henryatkinson1479]

So glad I found this channel.

[@informativt]

Being poor and buying a TV eight years ago: A wall of expensive TVs. A wall of clones. One had exact image as an expensive one at 1/5th the price. Still have it and it hasn't aged badly, and it just works. No features. I felt like I was victorious over the sludge that day. Edit: thanks for the term, finally able to put words on why I like this no brand trash tv

[@weeardguy]

I usually tend to buy my stuff second hand and have a certain grudge against the TV's from the big names in tech-land. When I was still volunteering as a simple technician (setting up TV's/VCR's/decoders, putting up small items on the wall, doing small electrical stuff) for elderly people so they could stay at home themselves longer instead of going to a nursing or care home, I frequently got to people's home with the cheap knock-off brands of TV's. But f*ck... my parents Philips TV has the most obnoxious menu for setting the channels on the TV in the right order. It's so complex my dad even made his own short-manual for (as the TV quite frequently happens to spontaneously forget channels which you then have to put back in their place). But those cheap knock-offs usually feature a menu that just works, is intuitive, fast, does not have any fancy graphics at all but the best: was so simple I usually didn't even need a manual to get it done. When I compare that to the really expensive models that sometimes feature on screen displays that seem to have been made by some insane idiot with no benefit to the user in mind at all, I'll go for a cheap TV anytime.

[@Dac_DT_MKD]

@@weeardguy I had a cheap TV in my bedroom from a brand called "Favorit", and besides the low resolution (1366x768) and the slight washed out colors, that TV was very easy to use and I liked it. But my father bought me a new Hitachi TV (it's twice the price of the Favorit TV, but still not that expensive, at around 350$), which is the polar opposite. 1080p and good color reproduction, but the menu is just complex and the most annoying thing is that in HDMI mode when I use my Linux PC, most of the picture menu isn't available.

[@weeardguy]

@@Dac_DT_MKD Hmm, that's pretty strange. Encountered a few Hitachi's in my life and those (at that time) seemed to outperform the LG's, samsung's and Sony's when it came to userfriendliness. My parents' Philips has the strange menu that when you want to put channels in your favourite order, you have to go into some menu twice (while the first already says 'Order channels') But then it starts: when you want to move a channel, you first have to get to that channel in the list of 999 (or even 9999) available placeholders where the channel you want to see is automatically put in somewhere. Then you have to select and move it to the right place and once you hit 'ok' it then says: 'The old channel has been moved to spot xxxx '. It means that you moved the selected channel to the placeholder you desired, but in reality it seems to imply you accidentally moved it somewhere else. The fact that HDMI hardly gives you a picture menu is most likely because HDMI enforces most settings from the source. That's also why you (usually) can't alter the width, height, vertical and horizontal position anymore, as the source gets some information about the destination-apparatus about it's capabilities and thus already creates the best signal possible.

[@tonyrulez69]

I also like the position and visual feedback of the power button, how it lights up when ON and towards the back (you can see at the end of the video). Most other camcorders had their power switch on the side, so you couldn't see it unless rotating the whole camera.

[@threeleggedman]

I bought that camera in 1994 and still have it. I used to shoot a lot of footage walking around and the steady shot did a great job. The footage is easy to watch, the shaking isn't too distracting. When I do the same thing with my Cannon Vixia, the shaking makes me dizzy to the point of being unwatchable. .

[@Raptor50aus]

Its a amazing the camera is still working and the caps inside have not leaked their guts over the circuits boards.

[@stcrussman]

Sludge factor was my nickname in college. Keep up the good work bro.

[@sr212787]

I have two old handycams and I love them both. Still working great.

[@quieky]

What a well designed camcorder. Great video! I agree with your "sludge" comment.

[@waliw3841]

Couple weeks as a subscriber and still super glad the Technology Connections post brought me here. I'll be honest, I'm still not sure what I find so appealing about these kind of videos (TC or this), but dissecting old technology maybe feels calming like meditation?

[@weeardguy]

Maybe (well, for me it certainly is) it's a bit of a mix of old technology, someone who can say something interesting about it, knows how to edit the video down to something enjoyable ánd does not dub some annoying music under for the whole length of the video. In the current fast-paced-information-everywhere world, I like to have a quiet sit down without too much going on. These videos do very well for that.

[@sheenaQuarto83]

I am a new subscriber to your channel since getting your videos recommended to me and I liked your content enough to subscribe

[@orbyorby1931]

90’s commodity design that’s just good enough to be useable but bad enough to make you buy a shinier one when shareholders “need” more bonuses!

[@CathodeRayDude]

ding! gotta keep the churn going!!!

[@circleinforthecube5170]

@@CathodeRayDude this may be like 4 years old but one thing about the plastic-y design, design is almost always influenced by generational tastes, in 30 years this wont be ugly.

[@kennylauderdale_en]

If you ever want to talk Kamen Rider let me know.

[@CathodeRayDude]

I've only seen a couple of the series but that's because my first was Build and it completely spoiled me

[@hxdmain]

honestly that cluster looks more manageable than modern DSLR video dials

[@weeardguy]

Yeah, but that is because you are comparing apples to pears: this was a videocamera, a DSLR is still primarily a photocamera with all its drawbacks concerning the use for video.

[@JuliaMono]

I love your examples for spontaneous recording recording - tiger escapes, truck crashes, helicopters going down. At this point we might as well play drinking games with them or play bingo. ♥️

[@winterburden]

Wait, you mean the profit motive doesn't drive innovation?? 🤔

[@UXXV]

You are like alternative universe technology connections ... love both your channels equally!

[@NullStaticVoid]

Sony always has at least one product in every category that does this. Just very well thought out ergonomics, clever use of tech along with slightly higher quality plastic than most. I had a cassette deck that had the same kind of attention to detail. It wasn't the top of the line at the time, though it was probably the top of their not explicitly audiophile line. I used to call it the NASA deck because of the light show when it turned on. But it had a VCA for controlling level. So you could do very precise level adjustment of overall level and each channel. In 0.1 dB increments! It also had a fade in/out feature with duration. Auto level of course, and like a Nakamichi you could adjust bias level and frequency and save it. Even the metering had settings for ballistics and hold. That was all crammed in a standard looking grey and silver plastic fascia with membrane buttons circa 1985. I bought it for $20 at a flea market to tinker with and it ended up being my main deck for years until it died. Also a lot of Sony laptops and other gear I've encountered has these minor masterpieces. I wonder if it's some kind of initiation for new industrial designers? Design us the perfect version of X with off the shelf parts. Nothing custom beyond the standard moldwork.

[@oddballlw]

What an astute and thorough analysis!

[@karolisbickus7313]

Reacently i have repaired one of those video 8 camcorders , replaced 12 bad electrolitic caps, works reliebly now

[@FranNyan]

Nice choice of focus prop there. A little older than the camcorder, but the spirit matches ;)

[@nomodz4real]

I appreciate the rant on Capitalism, or at least the honest commentary on it's pressure to only worry about profit.

[@weeardguy]

i think it's about the same as with the Sony DSC-R1 still camera from (I think) 2005. It was deemed a very odd design, but darn did I like that design. A grip I can HOLD very, very firmly, no greasy nose-prints on the LCD as the LCD sits on top of the lens (instead of basically at the back of the sensor as well... every photocamera these days) and the hotshoe was mounted right above the grip so a heavy flash would not throw the camera's balance off. Pity that when my still camera died after 13 years and I went to look for a new one, Sony had lost every single model the way they designed the R1 and adopted the big-screen-at-the-back approach just like any other manufacturer. The grip has never been matched by any Sony I held in my hands at the camera-store, the Canon I purchased proved to be a big mistake. Not only because I went from an electronic viewfinder-camera to a DSLR, but also because the grip was just extremely bad for my long fingers. After about 3000 pictures in 9 months I decided to look for something different, and bought a GH5 from Panasonic. At least it's an EVF again, but the grip is still problematic compared to my trusty old (but broken) Sony.

[@tombskater3000]

@@weeardguy And goddamm has that camera held its value. Its still $300 for a 10mp bridge!

[@weeardguy]

@@tombskater3000 Well it still takes excellent pictures as long as I check them after taking them (as some lens-element inside seems to have come loose). When I compare it to my GH5 from Panasonic and set it as equal to the settings as I used my DSC-R1 over the years (3MP setting) as possible, the picture-quality from the GH5 just sucks: it's noisy, has some problem handling parabolic lines (I took a picture of power lines once, which showed some very weird artifacts at lines crossing eachother, artifacts I could even reproduce) Yes, it's a slightly smaller sensor at MFT onboard the GH5 compared to the slightly-bigger-than-what-every-other-manufacturer-calls-APS-C sensor on-board the R1, but it just doesn't explain the huge difference in picture-quality. I just think that Panasonic took on the video-market way too much with the GH5, making it lack photographic quality, where the R1 couldn't do video and just had to perform very, very well considering the price-point. Looking back now, the sales-guy at the store basically got me with his smooth talk about all the benefits of the R1 versus 'the other one' (I had basically decided to buy the FujiFilm Finepix S5600 if I remember it right), so I spent my full first holiday-job paycheck on the R1 and boy did I never regret that decision. The thing lasted me 13 years, survived snow, rain and sand, salted melting water in Kyiv, multiple drops (with the most serious one having it tumbling down 13 steps of a staircase and ONLY breaking the LCD which I could replace), it took well over 150000 pictures and even the battery is still the original one, which was always spot-on with it's InfoLithium circuity onboard. I still can't get over it that the focus is off so many times by now.

[@tombskater3000]

@@weeardguy Love Letter to Sony DSC-R1 video? I feel the same about the Canon EOS 5D II. It just turned 13 but is still basically a modern DSLR. Full frame, sensor, 20mp, 1080p 30fps. AF and ISO performance are lacking but low light performance is still very good. I use it with an 1100mm soviet mirror lens to spy on people from afar. >=^) I've had so many of those old CCD sensors in Fuji bridges be defective. You also have the classic problem of the battery door pins being sheered off from neglect on cameras that take alkalines. Its no wonder those aren't worth much these days.

[@Mots-mot]

I was having a hi 8 Handycam and viewfinder was having a tilt angle of 180 degrees. I haven't used that feature but it was fun to see the image rotates automatically when viewfinder faces front. That was first selfie camera may be 🙄

[@CycloneCordVHS]

0:13 where'd you get the palm-strap? because I have a TR200 and there's no palm strap that came with mine

[@GreaseBrain]

I just picked up a Sony SPK-TR3 waterproof case and when I checked the manual for compatible camera models I got excited because I have an excuse to get one of these now lol

[@steadfasttherenowned2460]

Holy moly, my parents had that camera back in the day. Haven't seen one in a very, very long time.

[@Razerin]

I have the tr700 and I guess it’s a more advanced version, it’s got a movable color viewfinder, and steadyshot, and a few more bits. It’s almost identical to your tr400

[@dabigbadwolf5081]

It's like the comparison between VW Golf 7 and Golf 8. Golf 7 has very intuitive buttons and menus, the Golf 8 has almost no buttons, a 5 layer menu to control something like heated seats and overall sludge design. Just for the sake of cool modern design..

[@CathodeRayDude]

God, I would love to have access to a series of cars in the same model line so I can just do a time lapse of how the UI and ergonomics have plummeted. Those BMW (I think) knob interfaces make me want to SCREAM, and the number of things you can't operate in a modern car without TAKING YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD is breathtaking.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@CathodeRayDude indeed, lots of people I know specifically choose a model based on how the stereo and heating works, over how it drives, and it's completely understandable. Touchscreens have just become cheaper to implement than knobs and buttons. The upmarket cars still have them a lot of the time. So now "it has a temperature dial" is a bonus to pay extra for.

[@dabigbadwolf5081]

@@CathodeRayDude the BMW knob is the best of the worst. At least you have a physical button^^

[@devinsvideos8667]

Great content as always, keep up the good work!

[@StevenBradford]

I have never seen a sony with that switch before. That is excellent, I would much prefer that to the one they've used before and since on the consumer prosumer gear.

[@Rotary_Lover_89]

This is a cool video. Love the ergonomics of this Cam. I prefer to use SVHSC so I wonder if JVC ever made something close to this in ergonomics.

[@SleepingCocoon]

the way you talk about cognitive load in this is fantastic - SUPER important concept! alright, so what's your favorite kamen rider series! let's get to the good stuff! joking, of course (but also curious, if you do indeed have one!). i really dig black and ex-aid - ridiculously awesome designs on the latter!

[@jblahut3591]

The TR500's power switch and record button is really interesting because it highlights a problem with consumer feedback. I'm certain they got complaints from users that they couldn't find the red record button. First time users don't typically know that you have to unlock the camera before you can record. The TR500's system gives those users something to complain about: "I can't find the record button." That complaint doesn't vocalize the underlying problem: the user doesn't know how to operate the camera. The always visible record button like on your TR400 eliminates that specific complaint, but it doesn't really address the underlying problem. Fewer people will admit, "I don't know how to work the camera" or "I can't figure out the camera", so always visible record buttons generate fewer complaints overall even though new users will struggle more because they can't figure out _why_ the record button won't work. Listening to what the user is saying literally can be misleading. Identifying the underlying problem is more important. In this case, the lock switch could be given a clear housing so you could always see the record button, but you could only access it when the camera was unlocked. That would hint to new users what they need to do to be able to record: slide the lock switch into standby so they can physically get to the record button.

[@charlesball6519]

I bought a Sony CCD-TRV37 camcorder off eBay to transfer my 8mm videos to my computer (about a month ago). I really like it (I originally had a Hitatchi VM-H855LA that had some more effects functions, and had sold it by 2007, then later bought a JVC camcorder that I don't know what I did with). Even bought a NP-F750 equivalent battery, which gives 520 minutes of runtime. (The NP-F330 that it came with, gives 120 minutes of runtime). The 2025 clock battery was dead, so I found that a 2032 battery fits in the space, even if the 2032 is slightly wider. I already have a Sony 4K HD camcorder, but I'm thinking of using the Sony TRV37 camcorder this October on vacation to finish using my 8mm tapes.

[@awesomeferret]

Great video as always. I wish I had found your channel years ago. I love your old software videos too, do you have any plans to do any more of those?

[@CathodeRayDude]

Yes! Yeah, whew, that's kind of a topic... I did those videos for a while, then sort of ramped up to more ambitious things, and now I'm not super sure how to go back to those, but I plan on doing it. I'm still fascinated by old software, it just feels so much less punchy and I'm not sure how to record it in a way that doesn't feel janky to me. It'll happen in time, though!

[@SleepingCocoon]

@@CathodeRayDude looking forward to it, for real! trust your instincts and i'm sure folks'll be game for constructive feedback - your comment section is remarkably positive and kind, so you're doing something right!

[@jimwilliams8822]

Great overview of the TR500! I bought mine new, way back when, and it doesn't have many hours on it, but it seems that, when I playback a Hi 8 or regular 8 tape from the camera, the audio sounds a little a little scratchy. The same tapes sound fine on my TRV730 camera. Could it be that I need to clean the audio heads or the video heads? Where can I find a how to video to do that? Thanks.

[@CathodeRayDude]

afraid I'm not sure how to! I know it's a more delicate process than your usual tape head cleaning, best advice I can give. good luck!

[@weeardguy]

I know that some Hi8 camcorders incorporated manual tracking in the design which could help with the audio-problem (downside was that audio-quality could degrade as you started tracking to get the image-quality better and vice-versa)

[@giovannizebele5350]

Honestly the whole video I was wondering how you could get so many camcorders in such perfect conditions (also aesthetically speaking, they look perfect) without selling a kidney. I am really stunned! Also, I personally like the "plastic blob" design, especially when they used that deep black color. I don't know how this look was perceived at the time these things were sold, but to me it is just so clean, "squary" but not too much, really elegant and classy. Plus I think the Sony design was really distinctive, you just glance at this black shape and you immediately know what you are looking at. I don't know I really like these objects.

[@weeardguy]

I think the quality of the items is basically keeping your eyes open, inspect it closely before you buy and especially don't decide to quickly if you find something that doesn't completely suit your preferences.

[@najnajnajqk7285]

Does the Hi8 or 8mm tape quality differ from the later sony handycam models?

[@KaleunMaender77]

I agree with a lot regarding the "sludge factor". I think that the "sludge factor" is essentially the most universal universality. Literally you could get any two TVs of the same size today, and apart from the logo, they will be pretty much the same. Why? Because there is literally nothing much you can do to distinguish between the two of them; a 60" TV is a 60" TV. I'm only thirty and I remember when TVs were distinguishable by more than just cosmetic features. A Sony Trinitron was a wealth of difference from a Panasonic. The user interface (if you can even use that term for analog CRTs) was a wealth of difference. And different brands tried to distinguish themselves from the competition. Some were intentionally basic to the core, and some were intentionally designed to be as advanced as possible for really nitpicky users who wanted either the cream of crop in terms of quality. That or to be able to fiddle around with everything, pretending or aspiring to be "professional". I feel that digital consumer electronics and time have levelled the playing field as regards what exactly is on offer. Manufacturers kind of already know what the general consumer wants, and only that seems to be on offer. I can't tell whether everything has a manual option or everything is automatic, but digital is so samey that I don't know what I'm getting in an LG that I'm not getting in a Samsung. Plus the designs are the height of sameness that again, I don't know what the difference is between any two different manufacturers' products. In fact, I don't think I even know what the difference is between last year's Samsung and next year's. Surely I don't understand something, because I don't understand why there are different manufacturers today if everything is just so same.

[@prebenjaeger]

Having had a lot of Handycams, this one looks pretty great especially considering its from 1993. Many of Sonys later models lack the color view finder (but ofcourse bet on the LCD screen instead). The record button mechanism I dont recall seeing on any of the models I've had either, usually quite a lot newer than this one. I've have a Canon Hi8 camera which sports its too, though. (UC-X20Hi). Pretty cool. Does a PAL version of the TR500 not exist?

[@jlb4742]

PAL version is the CCD-TR3E

[@trinitron384]

1993 to 2000 was basically the Handycam golden era

[@BubbleChumpkins]

So I have this camera and I managed to slide what seems to be a charging dock onto the bottom of it (it slid in easily and fit perfectly, the dock is labeled dk500 btw) But now I have no earthly idea how the heck to get it off. There is no latch, button, or lever on the camera or this small dock piece to speak of. Since this is the only video I've really found on this camera I thought I'd see if leaving a comment would solve this problem.

[@Stjaernljus]

Candyham

[@paveloleynikov4715]

That is somewhat reminiscent of Techmoan's videos on professional Walkman's.

[@nate_0723]

I can't believe I watched a 17 minute review of a 27 year old camcorder and enjoyed it.

[@agenericaccount3935]

In fact it was a Flex-cable on the part of the engineers. Badum tss. Also big ups for mentioning the idea of cognitive cycles. Its real. Interface ergonomics have a cost. The good ones don't take too many instructions per clock 🧠 .

[@CathodeRayDude]

BA DUM BA DUM I think *constantly* about ergonomics and the brain as a cognitive computer - the cost of context switches! of branch mispredictions! these impact us, and we feel them like the princess and the damn pea. This is my first video where I think I really go into human factors analysis to any depth, but I hope I can work it into future stuff.

[@agenericaccount3935]

@@CathodeRayDude I think it is a nice side-road to take. I deal with far too many physical tools and interfaces and diagnostic stuff and for that matter cars and trucks and buses. You can always tell when the team took human factor optimization into account. Or when they didn't. Like, the curvature of a trigger on a power drill, or when that drill cuts torque to stop you breaking your wrist. A good drill is calibrated with the workman in mind. It cuts power on a jam before it pops out of his hand, spins halfway around, and smacks him in the chops with the battery. To calibrate that you have to sit down and ask "Who is the user? What is his average grip strength, forearm strength, where will the tool be used and what will be in it?" For ergonomics, how long will it be used on the average day?Is the grip and balance optimized for avoiding repetitive strain injury? Milwaukee does a good job, as an aside. Point being a lot of these design decisions (whether hardware or software) can be made intelligently with the end user in mind. The average 1993 tier handicam user was not savvy, so the ethos for the product should have been set up to be savvy on their behalf. The best products are savvy on behalf of the user, in an invisible sort of way. That shit needs highlighting in the same way that Gamers Nexus highlights thermals. They changed the case industry. I just love the automatic switch back to simple mode when you close the extended control panel. Perfect consideration for the meatbag.

[@johneygd]

Those cameras from back then are waay cooler and waay more appealing,nowadays it’s just nothing more then a boring lens or lenses on a smartphone, and no longer will you stand out from the rest, i miss those exclusive days from the past , the fucking 90’s were awesome.

[@MrSpacelyy]

Usability on this camera has extra points

[@ThePodable]

Hi does anyone know how to get the audio output to work on this camera during playback?

[@loicverbeke216]

Hey, do you know where I can buy this camera ? Thanks!

[@tibipics]

I have a tr-880, very similar to the tr-400, and I'm very confused why Sony chose to use NiMH batteries for a newer camcorder than the 500. Did they reserve the infolithium only for the higher end models initially?

[@weeardguy]

Could very well be. I didn't even know Infolithium was around in 1993 already: My still camera from 2005 used those batteries and looking at the manual, they presented it as the next big thing in batteryland (and to be honest, I still miss it on my GH5...) It could be people found the batteries too expensive, as lithium-batteries were incredibly new at the time, with the added technology to inform the camera very precisely about the remaining running time adding to the cost. It could also be it was a technology Sony adapted a bit too early and many batteries quickly failed, which led them to revert back to NiMh batteries (and by the way: NiMh was a new thing back then as well! NiCd was still very common)

[@fletzyproductions1190]

4:40 my panasonic nv-a1 does this too!

[@izackpaz]

how do i find these omg 🥺🥺

[@ThePodable]

Is there a way to output the audio from the camera?

[@McFlyOrPie]

Im not talking crap on people that take their time putting out content on YT, but I love how you can put out quality videos on a rather regular basis. Well made and the kinda content Im excited to see on my notifications. I watch KZbin to get my nerd fix. Not so much the pranks, funny cats and reaction videos. (Not ever) 😂

[@alejandromartinez5280]

hi, i dont know if you still read these comments. But i just got this camera handed down to me from my grandpa. Im trying to see if it works, but when i turn it on and put it in camera mode, i get no image in my viewfinder, just info. Even out of standby. It has no tape inside it, it might be that, but i was hust curious if you knew something about it.

[@catfree]

Can it be recorded onto a PC? Or is it limited to Tape?

[@aydenkron2254]

Yay new vid!

[@nicolaekis3507]

I had several similar rooms. the image quality was decent. but I discovered a little trick that made the image quality very good. instead of hi8 MP cassettes, I used Hi8 ME. these offered the best quality with very beautiful colors and fine details much better than in the MP version. the second trick was to deactivate image stabilization, that is, "steady shot", turned off. it consumes a lot of the image quality because it is electronic and not optical.

[@phantom2012]

I actually helped sony with both the stuck shutter & stuck iris problems they had. It was because the coatings were able to absorb moisture and oil. So they'd always lockup after a little while. The solution was to use either absorbers nearby, or using coatings that didn't absorb. They literally made my changes the next day. And then I never saw the problem again. I started as a video tech back in 1992, so most, but not all 92+ models didn't stick shut. Except for the econo cameras that didn't get the fix.

[@CathodeRayDude]

that's a fascinating story! how do you feel about the rest of my opinions on the device?

[@phantom2012]

@@CathodeRayDude Yeah it was a great jump from the related models. So many were cut down junk missing ports and other features. Oddly Sony did weird things with model numbers. Main products had oddly plain numbers. Like 500, etc. Then extensions could be better or worse. Aka a trv 512(I made that up) could have more features, or be a discount version. BTW, love your work. I was a Sony tech for many years, including the broadcast equipment. Yep, I even worked on edtv gear.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Thoroughly enjoyed the political-economic analysis at the end there :D I find this '90s styling strangely beautiful, though. Guess it's polarising, much like '70s stuff. Really nice intuitive control scheme though. Always hated those homogenous dials.

[@drasco61084]

Yesss. This is something I wish more tech people talked about. It's always omg shiny new omg 💩 on my chest daddy Elon. This is a breath of fresh air.

[@delarageaz]

thank you so much for this very good video !

[@leonjohnsonjr3331]

I got this same camcorder mines don't have sound it have a good picture but no audio

[@kelownatechkid]

Love me some Vitalstatistix

[@jochenstacker7448]

There are huge differences between the Sony camcorders. My absolute favourite was the DCR-TRV-320. It played back Super8, HI8 and Digital8. It had pass through video digitisation and a FireWire output. It would digitise the analogue tapes and whatever input source and throw them out directly via FireWire. And do the same for the digital tapes. It's an absolute powerhouse and a Swiss Army knife if you want to transfer analogue media to digital. They still fetch mad money on eBay, sometimes over €300. NEVER buy the follow up models. Sony deleted digitisation and playback of analogue tapes and the CCDs ALL die. If you want an old Sony camcorder, that's the one to get.

[@beltofbelt]

That's a cool lil guy! Fun video with just a dash of delicious anticapitalism on top

[@NickShvelidze]

Is there a MiniDV camera like this?

[@CathodeRayDude]

not afaik, but I haven't dug into minidv much. They're usually much smaller so I'm sure there's different innovations to make that possible.

[@GrannyBender]

These things are important to the overall User eXperience and, unfortunately, they usually stay design school's projects instead of real products nowadays. I never buy digital cameras, except for the old ones. In general, with cameras (analogue or digital ones) the most important thing to me, even over the quality of the optics, the features, etc, is the general feel. I don't care if this camera is the top of the top if it's a pain in the ass to use. Does it feel good in your hands? Are the options accessible and clear, or are they hidden under layers and layers of menu? Is it heavy enough or does it feel like hollow plastic? etc. One of my all time favourite camera is a sony Mavica shooting on floppy disks. It's not a good camera in terms of quality today, it's heavy and clunky, but boy does it feel good to use it! It's not perfect by any mean, but most things are at the right place, it feels good in my hand, the thumb zoom control is great, the floppy drive gives it a mechanical layer that is satisfying. Really, I love to shoot with this old camera more than shooting with my phone, and it gives me the same joy than when I shoot with some of my old film cameras. The design and the user experience are maybe more important than the features and it's frustrating that it's too often overlooked.

[@ixionn563]

"Sludge-factor," I like that. It becomes even more obvious how true it is just looking at any modern electronic device, house appliances, TVs (like you mentioned), prebuilt computers.. I mean look at the Android phone market, half the brands are just selling copies of other phones with the same off-the-shelf parts. I mean if you want to look at it even deeper, most houses here in the US are just variations of the same basic cookie cutter designs, my family lives in home that looks near identical to a house 2 streets over. It makes sense that nowadays we don't see these little innovations and touches, it's far cheaper to slap a different brand name on an existing design, ever so slightly change the plastic mold, then sell it. I hate to be the "old is better than new" guy, but this really does seem to be the case. I collect a lot of old tube radios (mainly the table models) dating from the 30s to the 60s, and the small innovations and touches are something that simply seem rare to find in modern electronics. I think nowadays most companies are just focused on maximizing profit for unique innovations to be seen anymore, if we do see them they are on very expensive, high end models. Also I'm just throwing this prediction out there, I feel like the KZbin algorithm is about to pick up your channel, if it hasn't already started to. Seems to be the case as I found your channel like 3 days ago completely by a random video recommendation, wasn't sent by anyone. Glad to see a lot of people finding it, seems like you have a passion for the content you're making which I really do appreciate.

[@CathodeRayDude]

Thanks for watching! I've never had the eye for tube radios - so many of them are just all american fives, but there must be innovation there I don't know about. Maybe one of these days, when I'm less averse to messing with analog, medium-voltage circuitry...

[@circleinforthecube5170]

i wouldn't say it's all equal for everything, and the old is better than new is objectively wrong if your trying to establish a certain date, not every niche was sludge factor at the same time, and even then you can find innovations and touches, while 90s camcorders could be samey, 90s keyboards or camcorders could've been absolutely different, infact many 1800s american farmhouses were just 10 variations of the same floorplan, the general L or foursquare shape is not unique, i feel like the 2000s gaming console era was just as in depth and unique as the 1950s radio era, also consider that the "everything was better in the 1950s" is generally not right, cars were absolutely worse, you cant die in a 30mph car crash today in the same way you would back then

[@circleinforthecube5170]

imo the midcentury modern period was absolutely horrible for design due to capitalism, all the cars looked the same

[@awesomeferret]

Just realized that this is your 69th upload. [[[Nice]]]

[@CathodeRayDude]

NICE

[@drasco61084]

I've long had this problem with so many electronics. No thought put into the design. I've encountered so many flashy new car stereos that are absolute junk, nothing like the stock units that came with the cars back in the day which one could operate by feel alone. These stereos have tiny buttons bunched together with no texture to them that you have to squint at which is obviously dangerous when you're trying to drive, low quality knobs with no tactile feedback and they get dirty and stop working very quickly, very minimal buttons so you have to flip through menus to change something. Not intuitive at all.

[@bloxyman22]

The worst thing that ever happened to radios imo, is the digital tuning or auto tuning system. Not only does it take longer to manually tune something, but if the signal is not great then good luck getting a lock on a radio signal.

[@paulpalinkas]

About a decade ago I bought a third-party head unit for my car when the stock radio broke. Using the radio presets was confusing, but it did have a separate button just for changing the display color. What madness.

[@drasco61084]

@@paulpalinkas stuff made just for the oooh ahh factor but not to actually be used in a vehicle by the driver. That or meant for someone who only plans to use it with bluetooth. The rest of the normal stereo features are an after thought... Also I'm surprised in many newer cars they don't get the song description data off the radio signals displayed on the screen the way cars in the early 2000s I remember would have on their small vacuum fluorescent or LED backlit displays. Seems easy enough to program into these fancy touch screen units.

[@AaronSmart.online]

I'm not sure I get your reasoning for the sports mode - I don't think the intention is for looking at stills, the fast shutter speed is desirable and more visually appealing for depicting fast motion as moving images as much as stills. This camcorder is from an area when many people did not have household VCRs that could cleanly display a still picture.

[@CathodeRayDude]

I believe this is what it specifies as the use case in the manual, and it was a pretty common selling point. These tapes were not played back on VCRs because nobody had an 8mm VCR except extreme enthusiasts. Hi8 is played back from the camcorder itself using the video out jacks and an RF modulator if need be. Video8 and Hi8 transports all have four heads and can reliably freeze images.

[@AaronSmart.online]

@@CathodeRayDude Thanks, that's interesting regarding the manuals. My point re: VCRs is based on my experience of home video in the '90s: You typically only had maybe two or three 8mm/VHS-C tapes that stayed in your camcorder bag, and once you got home you dubbed everything to VHS (and maybe dubbed copies for family/friends) and re-used the camcorder tapes. I don't know anyone who archived home videos on the camcorder formats, it wasn't convenient for playback.

[@CathodeRayDude]

@@AaronSmart.online Fair point, but this feature would have been for advanced users, like the many other features included in camcorders that weren't used by most people. If you were a little enthusiastic you could do something like pause the vhs during dub, pause the hi8 on an important frame, unpause the VHS for a few seconds to get the frozen shot, then unpause the hi8 to continue. That sort of shenanigan was probably extremely uncommon, but then, most users just turned on the camera, pressed record and never even read the manual - by the time we're talking about Features at all, we're already into the set of uncommonly motivated owners. I believe Sony sold LANC controllers at this time that let you do individual frame stepping, and I'd guess they were picturing this kind of use, since the average user certainly has no possible application for that sort of thing.

[@TheRailroad99]

The sludge factor was very high for smart phones. Not many innovative features during the last 5 years. I hope they get more interesting again (foldables, smaller phones, etc.). There are some interesting concepts (like rollable phones) but hard to say if they will become more popular than the standard 6.5" brick.

[@GrannyBender]

Honestly, all I want is a keyboard. Something like a Psion 5; I have typing on a touchscreen.

[@arttheboy]

Its so sad that iconic designs were probably in the works of all things that were thrown out of cheaper bottom line friendly options :(

[@drasco61084]

Why don't I ever find stuff this cool at Goodwill :/

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

High school grad gift - My Sony CCD-V3 Handycam, with BW viewfinder for only $999 from an appliance store! Better than the V1 (because you could PLAY BACK the video). :)