The $2,000 Video Phone From 1987

[@popularscience]

STORY TIME. I actually wanted to make this video because my uncle bought two Visitels so that my grandparents in Florida could see my cousins in New York. They all used them and they really liked them at the time -- but at $399 per unit in 1988, that setup would cost $2,154.20 today. To give you an idea of what $399 got you in 1988, the cost of each VisiTel could've paid for 13% of tuition at a 4yr public university in the US, about 415 gallons of gas, or around 4,000 shares of Apple stock (which probably would've been a better investment). --Kevin

[@andyvitz]

Sorry the original FaceTime video calling came out in the 1920s I highly doubt you have one of those

[@dylanscalfscalf9488]

⁠@@andyvitzdo what?

[@BillAnt]

These types of "video telephones" were usually found in those amazing 1980's and 90's Sharper Image catalogs.... oh the wonders of modern technology. lol

[@skipperbentdk]

Kevin you should get your own channel , would subscribe

[@gelliemonsic4785]

same on fax machine. scanning then send

[@smartereveryday]

The quality of the research that Kevin did for this video is incredible.

[@aelolul]

hey it's that cool guy from the internet :D

[@MarioGoatse]

Agreed, Dustin. It’s like a trip down memory lane, on a trip I never went on. The perfect mix of education and entertainment, which as you know very well is extremely important.

[@felino86]

Totally agree, I was just thinking the same. Well done Kevin, what a great video! Plenty of details, fun facts and, most of all, amazing story telling. I love this channel!

[@vdeovisuals]

You know they run these KZbin channels like tv stations, right? There is likely a team of people who work on this videos, A researcher/editor/writer, etc

[@appliedengineering4001]

In case you're not aware. The reason the pictures on those Visitel units came through corrupted is because cell phones use compression in the voice channel to save bandwidth. This compression is optimized for voice traffic and if you try to send a modem signal through it, it will become corrupted. The same is true for fax, dial-up modems, alarm systems and credit card machines. I know this because about 10 years ago, I bought one of those bluetooth to landline converter (like what you showed in the video) for a business to run their landline based CC machine from their cell phone and it never worked.

[@Ceelvain]

To whomever might be interested, the text surrounding the picture at 7:57 translates as follow: Top text: "How will our great nephews live in the year 2012" Bottom text: "Hello my child... We're sending you your "LOMBART CHOCOLATE" through the indian aircraft"

[@jasonblalock4429]

My first experience with videoconferencing was at Disney World in the late 80s. There were kiosks where you could video-call cast members to get restaurant reservations and things like that. It was neat, but I didn't come away from it thinking I wanted one at home.

[@gaiarhodes9171]

"Satan's sonogram" haha, good name for a metal band

[@SmokeyChipOatley]

Satan’s Stillborn Siamese Sonogram is more like it. “Newest album Free Range Fetus Fondue coming this August!”

[@thelucidintermission]

This video has 666 likes and this is the first comment it shows me lol

[@Derpy1969]

So, this is a pic of the baby inside Satan’s wife/girlfriend?

[@ColeyDuncan]

That big number pad took me back. Made me realize that I've not changed much in 40 years. Got a bunch of phones in a box now. Had a bunch of phones in a box then. You always need a backup.

[@BillAnt]

Gotta have a backup for a backup..... lol

[@gamingforfun8662]

Criminally underrated channel

[@KiwifruitDev]

21:40 Yeah, you can't use old landline technology like this over modern phone systems because it will be compressed over VOIP. It doesn't help that Bluetooth adds another layer of obfuscation, you should try hooking both devices up to each other instead. Otherwise, you will never be able to use the analog signal. Dial-up modems also suffer from this issue.

[@poeticsilence047]

I actually thought that's what he was going to do. Hook both of them up together.

[@mystica-subs]

@@poeticsilence047 He did..at the beginning.. But he wanted to try it in a more "realistic" scenario, and sadly I the lossy codecs did it in. If it were over a clean internet connection without much jitter, using g.711(the same bit for bit lossless codec sent over the actual world's telecom networks), i think it would have looked fine.

[@vaszgul736]

What do ya wanna bet this specific item only survived to modern day because the packaging was covered in brown splatters so no one touched it

[@AlRoderick]

I remember them pointing out problems with the picture phone as far back as the Jetsons in the 1960s (which I of course watched in reruns when I was a kid in the 1980s) I remember they had a gizmo that would put a fake rubber mask of Jane Jetson looking awake and made up over her actual face when she answered the phone in the morning, and the woman she was talking to accidentally had her own mask slip off during the conversation.

[@AlRoderick]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6iylIdpqLBre8kfeature=shared Not actually that hard to find. Although I did misremember it a little bit, she doesn't have a gadget put the face on for her. She just pulls it out of the cabinet.

[@ccricers]

What's interesting to me is that this is exactly what beauty filters on smartphone apps set out to solve. The public concerns about looking ugly on video still exist but the software to correct it wasn't there yet.

[@cypresscustoms]

I was a very avid reader of Pop Science and Pop mechanics in the 80’s I remember this issue and being excited to see the future of communication on the cover! Great video!

[@BloodDripss]

this channel is crazy under rated. i love this content!

[@mystica-subs]

At 40 years old now, growing up from the late 80s all throughout the 90s and into the 2000s I had a subscription to the magazine continuously gifted by my loving mother until I moved out. I was very sad to hear that the publication in its century+ form is no longer. But now seeing that the VSauce2 guys are helping to bring Popsci to new audiences and make such great and interesting content for old fogies like me to enjoy makes me very happy!

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

Germany experimented with CRT TV based video phones during the 1930's. I saw an obscure presentation film from this time period where they demonstrated a public videophone booth during one segment. It's called: "Das Auge der Welt" (The eye of the world).

[@EzraMable]

There is a scene in the 1927 German movie "Metropolis" with a video call. I wonder how long the idea was floating around there. Edit: Looks like AT&T made the ikonophone in 1927. Also, I should watch the video before posting. 😅

[@blurglide]

I remember seeing this in Popular Science when I was ten, and was blown away when I actually got to use one at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)

[@AlexWhitman-ep1sk]

Loved going to OMSI

[@CowPiper21]

This editing fire man 🔥

[@LobotomyTC]

I only want the words. I'm sick of people trying to facetime me, or zoom call me, or teams chat. Never in history has access to another human being been considered a right. I hate it.

[@ChrisHarmon1]

I refuse to make a Facebook(for same reason) in my name and purely use it for selling stuff and groups related to my hobbies. I would still use Craigslist and forums if people hadn't moved on.

[@leadoug1163]

I wholeheartedly agree

[@abcd1239me]

I do not answer video calls. and a few people get so mad at me for not wanting to use video while on a call. I hate it.

[@kirnupiimaa]

Best part of these videos is the amount of hoops to jump through to get the products working.

[@Tiberius22495]

the way that this device sends a image reminds me of slow scan tv (sstv) that is still active in HAM Radio.

[@scaleop4]

was thinking the same thing.

[@fburton8]

“Werther’s Originals-greased fingers” 🤣

[@DanaTheInsane]

And if Werther’s originals were greasy that would mean something

[@PaulsPubAndBrew]

I remember wanting to try a video phone badly in the 80s. But it was abundantly clear it would not be the common method of communication.

[@Mechaghostman2]

It still isn't, really, even with easy access. Most people prefer to just text.

[@BillAnt]

​@@Mechaghostman2 - I have never used a face to face video, just not into it. A simple phone call or text will do just fine. But I do remember that Pop Science issues when it came out, I was just shaking my head. However I never forget that lovely magazine stand smell. :)

[@Mechaghostman2]

@@BillAnt Doing face time is cool if you're chatting with buddies that you've since moved away from, or if you wanna do some things that you just can't really over the phone like play guitar or something. For everything else, texting is better.

[@BillAnt]

​@@Mechaghostman2 - Honestly I don't wanna see another's face while talking, but that's just me. lol

[@3DJapan]

Fun fact: they could send photos over phone lines in the 1930s. That's how newspapers got photos for a story from across the country.

[@daniel4412]

Fake news

[@mystica-subs]

@@daniel4412 FAX.

[@dilipdas5777]

Not fake. It's called fax technology ​@@daniel4412

[@jimbotron70]

​@@daniel4412Telephotos for you, genius.

[@diyeana]

​@@daniel4412it's not fake news. It's called wire photography. It's really interesting. I suggest you look it up and watch a video on how they did it. Enjoy! p.s. this is comment try #2. My 1st try was automatically removed because, I think, I shared the name of a subreddit with a naughty word. _gasp_ lol @ KZbin moderation rules.

[@oldmoviesinbwwithsubtitles3501]

Punch was a great magazine from England.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

When a video phone has 96p and a GameBoy has 144p, a GameBoy kind of looks like high resolution. The video phone has 8 times the monochrome depth, but I doubt it mattered that much when you already couldn't tell what was on the screen.

[@johnnakulski7743]

I enjoyed watching this. The video goes well beyond a product review! It delves into the history of video phones, talks about what was possible in the day, discusses the use cases and.... Does it with nostalgia and emotion. Well done! Konnekt 😊 makes our own Videophone since about 2015 for people who can't use a modern device but despite being in the industry for ten years, I hadn't heard of this invention!

[@thatoneannoyingfriend]

still amazing how you put out top tier quality work like yo have a million subs nice work!

[@bjy128]

I wonder if the "video"/Still that you received was distorted do to some audio compression from your cellphone or the landline to cellphone converter. I remember playing with something similar at The Sharper Image at a Mall back in the 80s.

[@martinfobert9407]

I can't believe Futurama hasn't used that little jingle from the world's fair

[@ddturnerphd]

Kevin, thank you for continuing to generate such awesome content.

[@divergentthinkingproductions]

David Letterman's 80's Late Night show used this for a recurring bit where they sending Larry Bud Melman on a road trip to Tiera Del Fugeo, the absolute tip of South America. Melman ended up sending images that increasingly ended up looking like proof- of-life photos from a Mexican drug cartel as the weeks dragged on.

[@MarioGoatse]

First time I’ve seen one of these videos, and I really like it. I get some V Sauce vibes off some of the narration, which is always a good thing, but it’s mixed well with a bit of video essayist, and general tech entertainment vibes. It’s a tropical flavoured video with my favourite flavours.

[@dogcowrph]

In the sixties, at the planetarium, they displayed telephones with vision… although it was the cubical next to you. That was the precursor to the cell phone. Many people didn’t want to be on camera. Now we are all on camera but that’s the CCTV all over London. The police can watch you get stabbed, but that’s another story. Enjoy your videos. Your research is appreciated.

[@malixcrash4126]

I love how this original video phone is just a fax machine with extra steps

[@HumblElephant]

Incredible production that was still so informative + entertaining - great upload

[@5nowChain5]

Nope, the first facetime (pre) prototypes were created and used in Gerry Anderson SPACE 1999 TV series. The Handheld communicators. in 1972

[@jimmy21584]

I worked at Nokia in the mid 2000s, and we all had unlimited data and smartphones with cameras. Even then, I only ever made 1 video call: to a workmate to see that it worked. IMO the concept only took off once people’s mums got smartphones.

[@bobdole62846]

That retro future aesthetic is what I crave this looks like it was something from Blade runner

[@coolbro8922]

That explains why I thought Skype was first… and that texting began on AOL.

[@dapifyyt]

I love these videos they are so much more interesting than 99% of those KZbin shorts

[@thej3799]

I remember reading about this when back to the Future 2 came out. I also remember that you couldn't actually use your phone

[@film79]

Its a lot older than 30 years Att had the picturephone model 1 in 1964.

[@MarshaCollier]

I actually bought two of these so my daughter and I could talk to her Grandma in Florida. I set it up for her when I was on a visit. When we got home, we were never able to receive a picture. Why? My mother didn't want us to see her without make up. To her it was more of an intrusion than a communication device. But at least she could see the pictures that we sent.

[@Melissa0774]

I can imagine deaf people who used ASL were super excited about this back then.

[@coondogtheman]

I'm curious if there is a way to decode the images sent over the phone line as sound and decode them back to an image on a PC.

[@jimbotron70]

It shouldn't be difficult, some primitive lossless video codec.

[@AdamRamseythetouchable]

It's crazy to me how hard it seems for even established personas on KZbin to build a new channel.

[@greyben1]

A hardware implementation of slow scan television over a phone line. Very cool!

[@BillAnt]

Considering that it only has a few refreshes per second, ain't bad for what it is over regular land lines. But for a mass consumer product to be successful, it has to be affordable.

[@guidohavelton6280]

5:15 I remember back in the day sometimes you would misdial and accidentally call someone's fax machine line and get this same noise

[@c.jishnu378]

I guess that also has image data.

[@LivingNomad]

From my own experience its always more comfortable being on a phone call or team meeting not being required to show yourself on camera.

[@matchc0635]

They send image via sound? Then it should be possible for someone to just send random funnie pictures by a SBC making precise noises

[@henryisnotafraid]

Being able to video chat only became common recently I would say like since it became easier for me to do it in 2018. I'm sure for others it was earlier and I'm sure for some others it was even much earlier but high speed internet believe it or not is still not real common across the US.

[@jamesroviezzo7924]

That’s crazy that had something back then in the 80s that can do FaceTime with so FaceTime was made in the 80s so that means FaceTime is 30 something years old

[@oldmoviesinbwwithsubtitles3501]

I had this back in 92

[@EyesOfByes]

My dad bought a Mitsubishi Pocket in 1989. He was addticted to cellphone already in the 90s.

[@Zeitgeist997]

@5:20 he doesn't understand this is incomplete technology because Bell stopped innovating after early 70's DEI and this was an idea before that. So the end result is it bever developed further than that gem of an idea in the 60's

[@bman5988]

Does anyone remember the fiberoptic video phones they trialed in France in the mid 80s (maybe?)

[@RisingRevengeance]

_"What would you pay $90 a minute for?"_ I would consider it if I could video call the dead but man even then its a bit much

[@thespicemelange.1]

😂😂😂 If it could that would be a very interesting concept. Now that's opening Pandora's box.😂😂😂

[@RimHellworth]

I’d imagine AI is going through the exact same thing right now

[@maaadkat]

I have the same view on talking to devices. Cortana's amazing success demonstrates that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to talk to my PC. I barely ever talk to Google if at all. People I talk to say they rarely use Siri. Alexa is useful only because it avoids having to clean hands or otherwise make room to perform a few simple functions - if I'm stood by the light switch it's easier to just hit the light switch than to shout an instruction into the ether.

[@frogz]

whoa i bought one of these at a resale shop years ago, i think i still have the camera tube somewhere

[@tuegy]

My grandma had one that my uncle gave her. I remember using it for like 10 minutes before it got old

[@davidgekler]

Ha, I actually did the sound for a TV Commercial for this system in 86. There were a number of companies competing to do this, as you noted.

[@Olkv3D]

AT&T had also released one called the VideoPhone in the early 90's

[@MemoGrafix]

I think the AT&T one was is one I saw in the eary 1990s. I posted the following comment earlier: I recall seeing the *_VisiTel_*_ (or similar Video Phone)_ sold on *_QVC Shopping TV Channel_* for *_$5000_* in 1992. My Auntie - a _QVC Junkie_ started to buy it. My Uncle told her *_"!!HELL NO!! You ain't paying $5000 for a phone I don't care if You could call some on Planet Jupiter with it, I DON'T CARE how much MONEY WE HAVE to buy ten of them!!!."_*

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Calling in to work sick would be much more of an acting session with a video phone.

[@FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

I like the history but you spend not enough time on the actual using of the devices.

[@kriscerosaurus]

I have never used video calling outside of professional setting. Hell, I don't even like calling if texting will suffice, so I absolutely don't want to be perceived for a phone call.

[@Bcarr122391]

Growing up, my little brother (who is about 5 years younger than me) would try to show me stuff through the landline phone. “Look at this Brandon”. I always thought he was crazy. Maybe he was a time traveler. 😂

[@me3333]

A friend of mine had one of these when he was on house arrest back in about 1990. He loved it because the officer called at the same time every night and then he could go out and do whatever he wanted after that lol

[@NielsNL68]

I did see this back at the time in the dutch Telephone store. It was just some years after Robocop was released, where the shown a videophone. Back then i was already knowledgeable about computers and electronics etc. And knowing the fastest modems where. At first i was interesting to have but the cost and the way it worked my interest was dampened very fast as well. I belief for sure when the technic was much better at that time the videophones would had more interest then it did. The landline was never suitable for this kind of communication. Maybe when ISDN was introduced it would have had some change of success, but i think the negative sentiment was already to big to try it again, may be. The bigger companies did not dear to try it again to reintroduce. I know there where some Corporate Solutions between B2B's etc. But for the normal user, i cant remember of there was something to use. Other then using PC Software etc.

[@Zeitgeist997]

@6:53 It mirrors Africsa growth in relation to the rest of the world (sans south of the border of the USA) where the development just stopped under a universal law that doesn't term but is seen when one bad apple in a bunch of apples eventually ruins the entire bunch. It was the same thing with Bell innovating and in the microcosm of that trickling down in this idea from Bell labs

[@Dj.MODÆO]

I remember seeing ATanT video phones for sale on clearance at a sharper image store back in the early 1990s for $1200. ATanT had solved how to use video compression that allowed it to transmit video images over the analog phone line. The biggest problem I saw with the device was that unless the other person had one also, it was kinda just useless and they were on clearance for 40% off so the likelihood of everyone else getting one in the future was impossible.

[@BrickTsar]

Why does nobody listen to Maria?

[@safetinspector2]

These were once used by house arrest services! There was a house arrest company in Eastpoint, Michigan that had a bunch in parolee’s homes. A modified 486 server would call each of them up randomly. The parolee would have to pose in front of the camera and blow into a breathalyzer. The server would take a photo and store it for the parole officer to review. I heard the company that designed it had purchase a warehouse full of these at a huge discount which made the system affordable.

[@buckysrevenge]

I remember that big button touch tone phone! I didn't have one, but I probably saw it on a TV show or something back in the day 🎶mehhhhmorrrrieeeees🎶

[@kearsarge6658]

Reminds me of the datastream you'd hear from Slow Scan TV

[@shibolinemress8913]

You say that people from way back weren't like us, yet I see it every time I leave my camera off on a remote video meeting because I don't want my colleagues to know I'm eating oatmeal in my PJs. 😊

[@kid_scarlet]

what new video games are coming out for the weenus?

[@mfbfreak]

And still - i barely ever video call someone, despite it being effectively free today, with perfect connection and high res color images.

[@samuelmeasa9283]

Reminds me of the Jetson's episode where Jane had a mask of her face. For when she needed to answer the phone but didn't have 39 minutes to apply make up.

[@MisterMakerNL]

I still don't want video calls.

[@wskinnyodden]

Check the History of 3G Mobile service, originally it included Video Call services and not over the Internet (actually used those a few times). Windows Mobile Phones such as the HTC Diamond would allow you to do video call over 3G, same can not be said for Android phones those would do it but over the internet, not over the 3G Network directly. Just another video service that ended cancelled only in this case because internet was more important and flexible enough to replace it while being better.

[@LivingNomad]

This was great i love learning about our history

[@mikejames6588]

I remember seeing this in total recall

[@lillyclarity9699]

what they doin' at 7:14???? looks like they're keepin' an eye on the ol' plantation...

[@SO_DIGITAL]

21:35 Modem sounds confuse the voice codecs used over the IP link emulating your landline. Modems don't sound like voices so the codecs give up, sending rubbish.

[@garrycowan4394]

Sounds similar to loading manic miner from audio tape on to zx spectrum circa 1985

[@UmmerFarooq-wx4yo]

8:00 "Discovery mania" - we call that the endless scroll

[@NikaHollywood]

I'm at a bar here now, down in the 4th sector. Taffey Lewis is on the line, why don't you come on down here and have a drink?

[@dougalsii]

And now, I'm annoyed when someone calls or sends a voice message instead of just sending a text message.

[@themeantuber]

There's another failure related to the video calls. You may be too young to remember, but sometime in the 2000s the cell phones were given a video call option. And that was a network service, alongside regular voice calls. Of course, you and the other party would've both had to have a "camera phone" supporting the function and your cell provider should've had the service actived. The calls were overpriced, of course, so no one really used them, except that once or twice, perhaps, to see how it works. I haven't seen a phone that supports those video calls for nearly 15 years.

[@wii166]

With modern compression we might be able to send video through dial-up now

[@Nolroa]

Which is already obsolete when the 2G and 3G protocols in cell phones already had greater bandwidth than a 56 Mbps modem.

[@skiburnski7543]

The main thing I learned from this video is that you can buy a "cell2jack" bluetooth adapter and mimic a landline with your cellphone!

[@desklaser]

The "brown splatter" is probably just the paint/ink coming off the cardboard.

[@johndaniels404]

All that work on video phones and in the end we have mostly gone back to what the telegraph provided lol.

[@jasonmead8475]

This was great. Destin sent me this way.

[@robertkerr4199]

I would pay $90 a minute to shovel gold into buckets, provided I get the gold.

[@shaider1982]

8:35 sounds like present day people's reaction to LL. AI like ChatGPT

[@piousminion7822]

2024 and I still never make video calls. It's pointless.

[@joshjones3408]

Werthers greased finger's 😆😆😆😆

[@zackboyer]

This is a MGS codec

[@foolunderscore]

The reason why the picture turn out like "Satan's sonogram" is probably due to the fact that cellular service compresses your audio to around 8khz at the towers so your phones don't have to process the audio when it's being received. Back in the early 2000s when cell phones were becoming a hit, they were only powerful enough to decode an audio signal around 8khz. Now with a regular POTS line, the limit is gone.

[@EyesOfByes]

VR seems to be in the same state for a few decades more