Oddity Archive: Episode 220 - History of VHS, Vol. 4 (D-VHS/Demise & Resurrection)

All good things must come to an end…or must they?
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[@AliasUndercover]

If you aren't careful you'll end up writing a book.

[@GeoNeilUK]

Or collaborating with Applemask.

[@singletona082]

Given there is an apple ii book that started out as blog writeups? DEWIT

[@rafaelasabchucalovato9439]

If there was a Oddity Archive book, no matter how dollar conversion is, I'd totally buy it.

[@mjrleaguesweetie]

joke’s on him, I can’t read

[@DFX4509B]

24:14 VHS Hifi audio recording is also a thing still and can get near or exactly CD-quality analog audio.

[@jamesslick4790]

Yep using a HiFi VHS (or Beta) VCR was for music a "thing" in the day for those recording fans wanting something better than a Cassette deck, but not desiring to spend big bucks on an Open Reel deck. Why NOT have a do-all recorder? It's still a viable medium for the analog tape fan. I still have BOXES of VHS tapes with only audio!

[@drstyxquack]

@@jamesslick4790 At one time I was a college student at a small western Kansas community college radio station, looking back I wish I had made more air checks. But I'm lazy, somehow stopping a cassette after every transition made me angry. Have a tape to record an entire three hour show might have been better. VHS would have been about the only thing. Getting our engineer to hook something like that up.........

[@jamesslick4790]

@@drstyxquack Yeah, there IS the time length part. Open reel also could achieve longer times than cassette (about 3.25 hours for a 7" reel at CRAP 1-7/8" speed) But VHS offered at LEAST 2 hours out of the box at the BEST quality speed. And that's WITHOUT flipping the reels (or flipping a cassette.). Another plus to using a VCR for recording radio was the timer. I recorded many of my favorite talk shows in the 80's and 90's while I was at work using this method. It was like "downloading podcasts" before "podcasts" were invented. LOL.

[@markhesse2928]

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at Techmoan's review of a Technics device that used VHS for digital audio: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYendKuKqdNnhbM

[@DFX4509B]

@@jamesslick4790 I would put it closer to being 15ips open-reel tape in a cassette, since its tape-to-head speed is theoretically equivalent to 15ips open-reel if not a little faster while the actual tape speed is much slower thanks to the fast-spinning helical scan drum.

[@nintendolunchbox]

Thank you for mentioning the sad try Aftereffects does imitating vhs artifacting

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Just a note, the projector shown at 25:46 isn't actually a projector, it's for scanning film to digital. There's no projection bulb or projection lenses.

[@robertdolby]

I'm digging your song that plays during the end credits. Awesome work! And this episode, as the kids say, slaps. Thank you.

[@CJJC]

The kids haven’t said that for ages, granddad.

[@suedenim]

Someone really needs to write that 500 page book on the cultural history of VHS. I'm particularly fascinated by my memories of the very early days, when video stores existed but were starved for content - ANY content. Before the big studios had really gotten their act together and you had little companies pushing out all sorts of weird crap to an eager marketplace.

[@jamesslick4790]

Early home video was a "wild west" for content. Even the OTA stuff on old tapes is a "gold mine" for "lost" content. When we got our first Betamax, we recorded almost ANYTHING, because WE COULD. This newfound obsession (hobby??) is why there is old local TV content on KZbin. Early VCRs owners would tape ANYTHING. With that AND the obscure (and often weird) stuff that videotape makers were putting out just to have a "catalog" accidently left a record of the past that no "academic" history of media would have bothered to note. Now we have The Oddity Archive to sort it all out for us!

[@LeeONardo]

@@jamesslick4790 Very true, there are people who only recorded adverts. There are youtube channels dedicated to just uploading adverts segments between programs and I do know that some of them have bought collections from other to upload them. Personally I love it as it's the things like that which really hit the nostalgia hard instead of movies and such which are readily available and don't quite encapsulate the life and times of the era in quite the same way,

[@keith9876]

In the early 2000's I did see a DVHS deck for sale in our circuit city store. I remember they had two models and the staff knew nothing about them, they didn't even know they had them. We were about to buy it until we discovered it needed firewire to record in HDTV. The one ATSC tuner they had was component out only, so no way to record OTA HDTV. I looked everywhere and could not find an ATSC tuner that had firewire out. I quickly gave up on tape and got a MYHD PCI card a couple years later and was recording HDTV to hard disk. When the disk got full I'd dump the raw TS files right onto data DVD+R disk. I still have them, a huge box random OTA HDTV recordings from about 2005 or so. Each disk holds about 30 minutes of HDTV. Dual layer could get an hour of HDTV and it was able to play direct from the disk, it spun disks pretty darn fast to keep up. Was pretty cool at the time.

[@niccage6375]

I dont know if its still there, in the kansas city downtown library there is a d vhs unit in the screening room

[@steviegTVreturns]

A great video Ben, I really enjoyed this, I had never heard of W-VHS. In the UK we never saw D-VHS at all (Techmoan was probably the first to have one). However, you could buy E-300 blank tapes which permitted up to 10 hours recording in Long Play mode. The availability of these tapes were few and far between and expensive. I only ever recall seeing JVC branded ones, and weirdly enough BBC branded ones. NB BBC blank tapes were effectively produced by a third party under licence for many years.

[@stressball1324]

We did see a PAL D-VHS VCR in the uk, but it was only one model and it’s very rare, the JVC HM-DR10000, but as far as I’m aware of, the best it could record was in S-video, couldn’t even do scart RGB, let alone component. I think it was only used in local broadcasting stations. BASF also released E-300 tapes, however I find they are pretty notorious for getting chewed up in the VCR if you try rewinding or fast forwarding and stopping the tape suddenly. Not fun at all, not to mention I actually find the quality takes a minor hit, even in SP mode. Really the only reason why you would ever want to use E-300 tape is if you had something like a long concert or a Snooker match but you want to record in SP mode. I have the entire BBC Two broadcast of the Freddie Mercury tribute concert from 1992 on E-300 tape as that concert was 4 and a half hours long.

[@tylerbrocato3700]

I have one of those Funai combo VCRs and it's video playback quality so awful. I found a 1996 Sony vcr at a rummage sale and bought it just so I had a better VCR. I actually found out later in the manual it says it has ability to, slightly by today's standard, improve the video quality. Needless to say. That's now everyday my VCR. I also hated on the Funai unit that everytime I'd try to record anything with the DVD recorder it wouldn't work cause of copy protection. I have enmassed a small collection of VHS tapes especial programs that aren't available on DVD or anything else. Definitely haven't and don't plan to go down the rabbit hole of rare and expensive tapes.

[@billyalbers5231]

I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

[@robertdolby]

OK, now the theme from that movie is playing on a loop in my head. Thank you. ;)

[@luisreyes1963]

Nice MST3K reference. 😁

[@mix3k818]

Imagine if JVC actually tried to make DVHS more popular...

[@luisreyes1963]

Would the adult film industry jump on that bandwagon? I highly doubt it. 📼

[@JustJaidenism]

@@luisreyes1963 excuse me what the-

[@AmstradExin]

@@luisreyes1963 Yeah, HD wasn't as much as a draw as a new and popular fetish. I haven't even heard of someone buying a porn BD.

[@JasonBoon02]

@@luisreyes1963 That had nothing to do with the format wars though.

[@italovalerio]

Yes, with ~20Mbps and AVC 265 maybe results a good 4K D-Vhs.

[@larrylaffer3246]

It's here, it's here, it's finally here!

[@GenoCuddy]

For what it's worth and you know this, Ben, as we're connected online but I still tape movies and such off live television. Most of what I tape is off Turner Classic Movies and honestly, it's a neat little way to build up a movie collection as long as you don't mind VHS artifacting. People often tell me, VHS is unreliable and will look like dung in a few years, actually if you store and handle them well, VHS can last you up to forty or so years. As an example of things I've taped, TCM ran a whole month dedicated to Laurel and Hardy and I managed to snag all of it through careful execution and timing. VHS is still a durable and reliable format and I cannot stand when people tell me "Oh, we threw out our VCR and tapes." My gosh, unless it was broken beyond repair, you should hold on to it as it is still a good archival format. The normies just don't get it.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

D-Theater movies got a decent amount of coverage in Widescreen Review magazine, since they were the first consumer HD video format. Many still scoffed at it because it was tape, but it definitely looks better than regular DVD and came out about 4 years before the first HD-DVDs and Blu-Rays. The tapes were nearly non-existent in stores, you had to mail order them. I was lucky enough to find a few Artisan D-Theater titles at Big Lots stores though mixed in with regular VHS tapes that they were still selling off for a while. I've gotten most of the other titles through Ebay and some Facebook users, I'm only missing a few of them. I have a unit with HDMI output but it's been very finicky with the two receivers I've had. My TV accepts it with no issues and passes the full quality audio back to the receiver. The build quality of D-Theater machines seems rather poor especially given what they originally sold for. I only use mine for playing D-VHS tapes and have plenty of other VCRs for regular VHS- S-VHS support on the D-VHS decks is a plus but they don't have linear stereo playback. I wish someone would make an ultimate archival-quality VHS deck that truly does everything, I would pay big bucks for it!

[@AveryTalksAboutStuff]

Be kind, rewind. 😊

[@BertLensch]

I had no idea about D-VHS. By the time it came out, I had already moved on to DVD's. Sad that no one is making VHS decks anymore, as both my wife & I have a rather large library of old VHS tapes from Disney, etc. that have had limited or no releases onto DVD or Blu-Ray. Guess I need to see if I can invest in a couple and maybe an analog video capture card for my PC... or maybe see if I can revive my ATI All-In-Wonder in an older PC.

[@Aquatarkus96]

Nice mellotron-y music at the end there :)

[@NJRoadfan]

A few notes from someone who had to bang their head a few times getting DVHS to "work" -DVHS tapes don't appear to be metal particle, just a higher grade oxide tape stock. I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't too different from a SVHS tape. JVC's own decks allowed one to force DVHS recording to SVHS or even regular VHS tapes. DVHS tapes could also be used in VHS/SVHS decks without ill effects. -I have had playback problems with the box of off-air DVHS recordings I got off ebay. They were recorded with a Mitsu HS-HD1100U (which lacks SVHS playback!). Most of the tapes would not display a picture using my SR-VD400US's internal decoder, I had to hook the deck up to a computer via firewire and use VLC to decode the playback. Also there were tracking issues. I had to toggle off/on auto-tracking to get the machine to "lock" onto the digital bitstream without glitching. -Recording HD footage off-air (demoed on my channel) was a giant PITA. You need a ATSC tuner with Firewire outputs, of which there were like two models ever sold and their firmware is buggy as hell. Cable boxes with firewire output were better behaved judging by the box of 80 tapes I have with various movies recorded off of premium channels in HD during the early 00s. -D-Theater was supposed to launch in at least Japan and South Korea. JVC assigned them region codes 2 and 3 respectively. -You could apparently dub HDV footage to DVHS tapes. They both use MPEG-2 TS for on-tape data. Also I think some DVHS decks did have a DV decoder to allow one to dub their DV recordings to DVHS. JVC's documentation isn't clear on this, its something I'll have to try when I have time.

[@newoldstock_]

I've done HDV dubbing from a Macintosh, and it works great. I could've sworn there was at least one JVC VCR with an ATSC tuner built in.

[@NJRoadfan]

@@newoldstock_ The HM-DT100U. One of the last decks made and so rare that most didn't even know it existed. Figures when JVC "gets it right" with a built-in tuner and HDMI output, the format dies.

[@mightyfilm]

I wouldn't be too surprised if VHS made a comeback. I mean, cassette tapes somehow gained popularity after Guardians of the Galaxy. All we need is some movie or TV show to really do something about the format for them to catch on. While I do have some fondness in the nostalgic sense, I do NOT miss having to fast forward or rewind either format to get to one song or one episode of something.

[@jamesborlan2850]

To be fair episodes of regular show and Star vs the forces of evil had a few moments of remembering the vhs tape formatt One example of this is the regular show episode about the best vhs in the world which is one of my favorite episodes of the show

[@mightyfilm]

Regular Show is a love letter to the 80's. Their video game system of choice was the Master System, after all. The Neo-VHS era seems to be pretty underground compared to the very short lived cassette tape boom in between the GotG movies. I know certain VHS tapes are going for a fortune on various sites, but other than the horror movies Benny Boy was talking about, I just don't quite see a major resurgence unless a big movie series makes them a major plot point. Closest thing I've seen at mainstream retail were the Stranger Things DVD's coming in collectible VHS rental looking packages. Certainly not nearly as overrated as the retro-vinyl movement.

[@MichaelPKelly-hg5jo]

19:32 I couldn't help but notice towers missing, towers return. I love the ferry dancers btw.

[@O_Alentejano]

yes please sir, more long episodes your droning voice soothes my anxiety

[@surrodox]

Nice to see the intro being recorded/played via DVHS (I presume)! 1:37 So you've got the most parts of the episode written and narrated, just waiting for the Cloneralliance to do the capture part, hence just a week worth of gap between that and this?

[@OddityArchive]

It was on D-VHS, albeit cropped because it refused to do a proper anamorphic version. @1:37: I've had the Cloner since March, but have had multiple projects going on at once.

[@Malkmusianful]

i love how they shot W-VHS test footage about 20 minutes from where I used to live

[@FromTheRoomOfLittleEase]

Maybe it's the context surrounding the episode; but this, to me anyway, was the best episode since the original Max Headroom incident debut. This was a perfect Oddity Archive, of that much I am sure. It should have probably been one of those round numbers he's always trying to not get right, heh. Beautiful.

[@irtbmtind89]

I saw a D-VHS deck on display at a Future Shop store (probably around in 2003 or 2004) playing one of the demo tapes. They would be nearly useless in Canada because the cable boxes here usually had the firewire ports locked out. Other that that I only heard about the format in articles in home theatre magazines from around the same time which seemed to give it a disproportionate amount of attention. Around the same time I worked at the photo department of a big chain store and that also handled videos, and even then VHS tapes were rapidly becoming worthless. We had bargain bins of VHS tapes that nobody would buy even for 1 or 2 dollars, most ended up in the compactor because the supplier wouldn't take them back (a bunch of Game Boy Color shovelware met the same fate).

[@numbstation]

Thank you *so much* for finishing up this great series! I love all your sub-series, but the historical deep dives are truly top notch.

[@melindamcclure5278]

I so love my D-Theater tapes....so under rated....

[@CrowTRobot-ni7zu]

I am with you on VHS. It has never died for me. I still have all of mine and my dad’s recorded tapes. A bunch of his date back to the very end of the 70s-early 80s. And since many were recorded at only the four hour speed, they’ve held up well! I’m working on getting as many of the valuable ones transferred to DVD, as possible.

[@syferdet]

I hated those Memorex T-200 tapes. My machine would always eat the first half hour and last half hour of the tape. I learned to only use 9 of the 10 hours.

[@billyalbers5231]

Backstory: I got that Mits D-VHS off of fleabay a few years ago for $400. I thought it would be better considering I already had a Mits DLP HD TV at the time. My first Mits 62" 720P DLP HDTV died (bad design, due to lack of cooling for overheating capacitors) and a 1080P replacement that Mits upgraded me for $300 (lawsuit settlement) which was an upgrade. The new 65" DLP screen crapped out after a few years with more and more missing pixels. So I cowboy'd up and bought a Ssmsung 4k a couple years ago which has served me well ever since. But that meant my D-VHS went idle for a while in my garage. So, that explains the gunk you had to clean to get it working again (Pollen in Texas is hella bad). I read there was compatability problems with the JVC, so I went with the Mits. I guess I was wrong. After reviewing this and your D-VHS 4.0 review, I made a mistake. I should have spent the extra for the JVC. Anyhoo, glad I was able to contribute to this video, I enjoyed it lots!

[@Launchpad05]

Hey look, it's the 'End Game' movie that The Cinema Snob review!

[@Launchpad05]

@UCJvLtXwfr-ndraXJ-RefvZw I'm juts point out that movie, and his review when he brought up the movies that never got a reissue on VHS, or a DVD release.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

I wonder how long Ben had letters dancing around in his head in his nightmares after this video after having to spell out soooooo many formats.

[@jamesslick4790]

6:51 Sorry, lady TV's Still use electromagnetic waves (radio waves) whether the modulation is digital or analog. OTA (antenna) TV would not be possible without electromagnetic waves. Nor would, cell phones, WiFi or Bluetooth!

[@stephenneal7373]

D-VHS in Europe was marketed as an SD-only format, with an integrated SD-only MPEG2 encoder and decoder. Thomson marketed the only model I saw on sale in shops in the UK. It would record for far longer, and in higher quality than regular VHS or S-VHS, but by the time it arrived on the market we had digital TV broadcasts that were Component/RGB quality and the Thomson D-VHS machine would only accept Composite or S-video input video - its SCART input was not RGB-compatible and it didn't have component inputs. The only way - I think - to get component material in for recording was over Firewire. However, unlike the US where Firewire had been semi-standardised to carry an MPEG2 HD transport stream to and from cable boxes etc., in Europe it was only used for DV-25 (i.e. MiniDV camcorders) so the Firewire input on European D-VHS decks was purely to connect a DV Camcorder to... DVD Recorders were cheaper, more flexible and a lot more popular...

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

D-VHS was also the last off-air recording Home Video format for archiving Live TV from the late-1990s until the mid-2000s to late-2000s. (8:24)

[@ThriftyAV]

Nice wrap up to your VHS series, although D-VHS was never on my radar. I was an early adapter to DVD-R, getting a drive for my computer in the late 1990s. I had already switched over to optical when I found my S-VHS deck on sale at Best Buy around Y2K, and never even noticed D-VHS at any of the big box electronics stores when you said it was an active format.

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

D-Theater was the last home videotape format to have pre-recorded media during it's short lifespan between 2002 to 2005. (10:17, 17:27)

[@toratio8547]

I might've heavily geeked out at the Yale horror collection. Love your VHS series so much!

[@lutello3012]

I want to backup an mp4 movie to VHS using that Danmere Backer, too bad I wouldn't be able to play it in real time if I had one.

[@surrodox]

25:20 nice typo there 23:48 There's also (I think) one VHS/Bluray combo out there, although the VHS part is a player IIRC, Panasonic DMP-BD70V if you care to look that up

[@OddityArchive]

(groan) My bad. For whatever reason, this episode was an endless nightmare of corrupt files and other errors--I think I was just trying to get it across the finish line.

[@surrodox]

@@OddityArchive Glad that the video came through, a great ending to this series indeed!

[@jordanh1014]

Honestly, I think it is amazing to know that there was actually a form of VHS with HD. I wonder if the popularity of the VHS format as a whole could have been increased, had this technology been created earlier in the era. But anyways, great way to end the sub-series, Ben! Keep up the good work!

[@CommodoreFan64]

Sadly I doubt it with the high cost, and almost no consumers having an HDTV at the time.

[@billyalbers5231]

Thanks for the props!!! Was the pics of the Mits the one I gave you?

[@billyalbers5231]

Thanks for this wrapup of VHS. Glad I could help!!

[@billyalbers5231]

I hope the Mits serves you well!

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

W-VHS is technically a prototype of D-VHS but instead of Digital Video, it was Muse Hi-Vision Analog High Definition from Japan. (4:27)

[@MikinessAnalog]

In your closing discussion about using VHS effects for artful purposes, The Backrooms lore community use this, even the 4:3 aspect ratio.

[@Scotfre]

That Criterion This is Spinal Tap DVD was the 2nd dvd I ever bought (40 bucks)! Young Frankenstein was the first.

[@OddityArchive]

My first was (a lousy, edited, super-compressed version of) Caddyshack--$20 in late 1998. I have the Blu-Ray now.

[@skuzzbunny]

i had a 500 some page book about VHS, VCR's at least, it was pretty dry though..... 😅

[@ianw9171]

Awesome video. CRD and you should do a colab one day

[@iannicolson]

As an engineering and physics student, I absolutely cringed when the presenter said "Unlike the electromagnetic waves that your TV set is using now, digital TVs use 1s and 0s...". It is fair enough to say that digital TV is 1s and 0s. Digital TV is still, however, transmitted using electrometric waves. That never changed. In fact, it's the stupidest thing I've heard a technology commentator say so far. She's clearly not even done high school physics. This is actually why I don't watch TV.

[@OddityArchive]

Damn. Good catch. I was so intent on setting up the bandwidth discussion, I missed that completely.

[@iannicolson]

@@OddityArchive No problem. Love your work by the way. Keep it up.

[@5roundsrapid263]

That’s the same as when people call it an “HD TV antenna”. An old analog antenna will work just as well, if it’s made for the same frequency, and isn’t broken.

[@trainluvr]

I love watching OA while engaging in the self abuse of staying up way past my bedtime.

[@eddiereptile1049]

XD me too... Yay

[@LeeONardo]

I actually get my laptop and watch while eating dinner, dunno why but it's comforting lol.

[@SRMkay]

A VHS copy of Coven signed by Mark himself?? ...I may have to take a trip out to Archive HQ for... reasons.

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

Yeah a lot of TV shows are on D3 tapes, especially in Great Britain. It sounds interesting in concept, but failed in execution.

[@micaelsilva]

It’s was nightmare to the BBC archives to salvage them

[@newoldstock_]

Awesome episode. I was one of the sucker early adopters of D-VHS. Kept using it until 2010 or so, still have my VCR and tapes. In retrospect it was never going anywhere, but it was quite a nice format for the archive nerd. Now with the FCC firewire mandate killed and streaming taking over, it's pretty depressing.

[@NJRoadfan]

To be fair, you had a few years after the Firewire mandate ended. What really killed DVHS CATV recording was the switch to MPEG4 broadcasting on various cable systems.

[@newoldstock_]

Yeah, it had a good service life. I just hate the customer-hostile environment at the moment, with no official and unambiguously permitted way to archive live stuff.

[@georgelea4297]

Awesome thanks for the upload very interesting as usual

[@Madness832]

Summer '99, at a Best Buy, they had an early Sony 16x9 flatscreen telly (for only $8,000!). But more importantly, it was the first I time I ever encountered ATSC broadcasts. The first was from our local ABC affiliate, which was simulcastin' their analog channel. And the other, if I remember right, was that Harris test channel. In other words, I flipped up and down the (then) new band, but only found the two aforementioned channels.

[@5roundsrapid263]

8:55 “DSS” was actually the early name for the DirecTV system. Its D-VHS deck was outboard, and used FireWire. JVC made an all-in-one unit for Dish Network, which was indeed totally incompatible.

[@SFtheGreat]

Yeah, films are still getting limited VHS releases, mostly horrors, I myself run a small VHS label. Oh, and in Europe, here we have PAL, so better wuality than NTSC, we got E300 tapes, so 300 minutes in SP.

[@growingup15]

oh my god that Circuit City ad just brought back memories

[@mjrleaguesweetie]

4:27 could we take a break and watch this for a while

[@billyalbers5231]

At a minimum, Benny got some use from the blank D-VHS tapes I sent!

[@TeraunceFoaloke]

Thanks for this retrospective series. It was quite the interesting watch.

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

Excellent presentation. Plenty I wasn't aware of.

[@TheAwmoody]

The JVC DVHS was for sale at the Sears I worked at in 2002 lol. I don't remember any of us in sales ever sold one.

[@Eyetrauma]

D-Magnetite tape, ideal for high def TV *and* demon negotiation

[@scottstrang1583]

I remember seeing a Panasonic DVHS machine at Frys in Garland, TX. Can't recall if it was HD.

[@AmysFantasies]

I've heard many people refer to W-VHS as 'Wide VHS' but I don't think that's accurate and here's why. From what I've seen a 'W' at the beginning of a term can mean 'double' in Japan. For example in the anime Aikatsu an idol duo (Mizuki and Mikuru) form a group called WM which is always referred verbally as "Double M". Hence I think W-VHS is and was always meant meant to be Double VHS, referring to the (roughly) doubled vertical resolution, and this got lost in translation.

[@ChaunceyGardener]

"D" stands for "dead".

[@OfficialDJUnikittyYT]

Season finale already? Aww. so soon. Well a another Oddity Archive season has come and gone. i want to thank you once again, Ben. :and like i repeated last time. 2nd year in the new archive HQ come and gone, or is it 3rd year? lol And it's been the first few steps on your new journey in the new Archive HQ and i want to say congrats on moving and opening the new Archive HQ. and i want to say cheers for the brand new era of exploring the great audio-video landfill that is the Archive. and indeed we enjoyed in the exploration of the great audio-video landfill, in the brand new Archive HQ. Record Ripoffs in the new Archive HQ. Laserkaraoke Hell in the new Archive HQ. and yea. i want to thank you to Ben and Ed for the great new era of exploring the great audio-video landfill as the season in the new Archive HQ comes to a close. for the original Archive HQ. Well and if you confirm there will be new Sergei's Catacomb of Classics, well i am GODDAMN ready!!! Thank you once again and see you next time 　 Cheers! and oh congrats on 200!! and here to 200 MORRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE

[@GTVNewsForGamers]

It's not surprising horror movies are keeping VHS alive. It was the format's biggest genre...outside of porn.

[@Capturing-Memories]

Your next episode should be PCM recording on VHS tapes and S-VHS 8-track recording ADAT.

[@OddityArchive]

I've been wanting to cover it forever now, but there's a very specific PCM model I'm after that I've had no luck acquiring.

[@Capturing-Memories]

@@OddityArchive Let me guess, the Sony PCM-601ESD?

[@OddityArchive]

Yup. Accidentally bought a European (240V) 501 some time ago--been meaning to send to Techmoan (if he wants it, that is) at some point, but that shipping would be a bruiser.

[@lutello3012]

Autographed Coven! I just recorded American Movie to Video8. Coven wouldn't fit.

[@SnabbKassa]

17:47 "Exclusive High-Definition Coverage of the War on Terrorism" complete with smiling Afghan warrior. Yeesh.

[@growingup15]

VHS is here to stay and I dont see it going away at least for another 30 years at least.

[@krzbrew]

Thank you for this historical overview.

[@AmstradExin]

Though, Tapes with 420 minutes was pretty dope.

[@mikal]

"It's pronounced coe-ven"

[@mr.electronx9036]

They cost more than tripple the price of new Premium UHD Player on ebay.

[@mumirluu3865]

Thanks to you i Learn something new today, same as you i never heard of (D-VHS) before until now ha but i remember digital audio (DAT) but thats different

[@carlharoe]

i wonder if this is a good idea tho or im not sure if you’ve done a video already but just a suggestion: how about a vhs tape put to a beta cassette and play it on a beta player, as if it’s a beta tape inside the beta cassette. or the other way around i suppose: a beta tape put to a vhs cassette and play it to a vhs player. that would be fun or wur im not sure tho but im curious how it would look like when played.

[@OddityArchive]

They may use the same tape stock, but the record methods are completely different. Playing one format on the other format's machine will just be static.

[@robmclean4352]

$9,850 in 1998 = $16,267.31 in 2021.

[@Charalspirals2]

Ahaha...That's the playful side of Torgo.

[@JohnJohnson-fr5cx]

9:17 it’s cool seeing the old logos for the different channels. Pretty much all of them are different nowadays. Although, I can’t tell what the logo above ☝️ USA and to the direct left of ESPN 2, a.k.a . “The Deuce” it looks kinda like a crab 🦀 ? Did there used to be an all crab channel on Dish and I missed or or what? But yeah…. Does anyone know what that logo could be? I’m out of guesses.

[@JohnJohnson-fr5cx]

T-I-A

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

D-VHS is obviously an underfunded format IMHO. (19:28)

[@ianvallender7892]

@techmoan did one Similar called When HD Movies came on VHS!

[@AgentOffice]

Lovely intro

[@squirrelpower1666]

DVHS and DCC; two formats that came much too late.

[@Thrakus]

mitsubishi mid 80`s HIFI VCR has a large board to the right under the case with 1 parallel port and one edit loop port. Anyone know what this was used for? could you recode data to the vcr are control the vcr via pc?

[@kennyadvocat]

Do you know what camcorders were used for those early 90s HD footage?

[@OddityArchive]

I couldn't tell ya. I think Ikegami might've had something like that on the professional market by then.

[@prismstudios001]

But, the amp goes all the way to 11…..

[@buckfiden6227]

20:55 Sorry Ben. But, This is partially false. T-160 (8 Hours) VHS tapes were introduced in the med 80’s by BASF. I do believe that the information here on T-200 is correct.

[@VectraQS]

I have a Scotch T-160 recorded circa 1993 or so. They were around, but not common until the late 1990s.

[@asapfilms2519]

Can I use a DVHS tape on a VHS camera from the 1980s and get an HD quality footage?

[@MikinessAnalog]

No, the medium is limited by the recording equipment, not the media its recorded onto.

[@italovalerio]

Great job. #VHSMEMORYRESCUE

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

Wish to see a history of Adobe Flash episode in the future.

[@OddityArchive]

That'd be more LGR's department.

[@rafaelasabchucalovato9439]

Oh my oh my yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

[@AgentOffice]

Season finale

[@jamesmoss3424]

D-VHS did not work out. 📼

[@itsyeeoledskoolfurry3208]

13:28 WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?! It looks like something SEXUAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????????

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

Hi ta chi Hih tah chee Not "high"

[@neilforbes416]

For the Dog & Gramophone(His Master's Voice) trademark to be *legitimately* used by JVC, JVC and its parent company, Matsushita(Mat-Su-Shi-Ta), should be owned outright by Toshiba Corporation, which is a *subsidiary* of Britain's EMI, the rightful sole owners of the HMV brandname and Dog & Gramophone tradmark. And by the way, a Subsidiary is the "infant toddler" in a corporate "family". And for RCA to legitimately use the trademark in the USA and Canada, RCA would have to come under the control of Capitol Industries, itself a mere "subsidiary" of EMI(The Gramophone Co.) Ltd., Hayes Middlesex, England.

[@drstyxquack]

My goodness! His Master's Voice is a complicated mess. RCA isn't what it used to be, neither is Japan Victor Company. Heck even Technicolor is owned by a French company.

[@neilforbes416]

@@drstyxquack His Master's Voice(Die Stimme Seines Herrens) started outunder 50/50 ownership of The Gramophone Company of England and its parent company(until WW1), Deutsche Grammophon Gesellshaft, both companies owned by Emile Berliner. Berliner set up the Victor Talking Machine Co. in Camden New Jersey as an afterthought but did *NOT* extend any ownership rights of the HMV trademark to this insignificant third entity in an insignificant country called America. In 1918 Berliner lost ownership of The Gramophone Co. of England, and with it he lost the 50% ownership of the His Master's Voice trademark(Dog & Gramophone) that he held, The British entity becoming fully self-owned. The small American offshoot, Victor, paid its licence fee to the British company only after 1918. RCA bought Victor in 1929 but should've only got the factory and the Victor name.The HMV trademark was *NOT* Victor's to sell or dispose of in any way, and should've reverted to the British owners.

[@drstyxquack]

@@neilforbes416 I can't honestly say the last time I remember seeing HMV in the United States other than when I actually go looking for it. Radio Company of America isn't exactly the industrial titan it once was, it's basically an American holding company owned by the French company that was once an American film colorizing company Technicolor. What about Japan Victor Company or Nivico? My parents owned a Nivico radio receiver from the 70s. Once again JVC isn't what it once was. To me HMV doesn't really mean much today. I'll bet if I asked my 70 year old mother about HMV and it's current American ownership she'd look at me and wonder what difference it actually makes. EMI, JVC or RCA are ancient history to most people, let alone HMV! Surely if you cared about old Nipper as much as you claim you'd dispute ownership less and want the trademark out in the public instead of hidden in a museum in England! Business changes, maybe one day HMV will become a major trademark again, until then it exists as just a historical footnote waiting for wider appeal.

[@neilforbes416]

@@drstyxquack Not Radio "Company", rather Radio "Corporation" of America. The "His Master's Voice" brand was seen throughout Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Asia(except Japan) as one of the two *flagship* brands of EMI, the other *flagship* brand was Columbia(outside Caada and USA).

[@drstyxquack]

@@neilforbes416 Columbia or CBS used the walking eye and dual notes for years. Sadly Columbia and CBS are owned by Sony now. Except for CBS which was sold to Westinghouse and later sold to National Amusements and became part of Viacom. Viacom, CBS and Paramount are basically controlled by the the Redstone family. Non have any claim to HMV. I can play the corporate history game as long as anyone. I've wondered if Columbia records, CBS and Columbia pictures have a common parent? Columbia records and Columbia pictures are both owned by Sony, but did Columbia Broadcast System ever own Columbia pictures?

[@donk2c]

Nice

[@GeoNeilUK]

Nice