VHD - The 1980s Videodisc Format Popular in Japan

Perhaps your family owned a Laserdisc player or CED player, but VHD or Video High Density is a little less common to us in the USA. VHD was very much loved by the Japanese. Although superior to CED, it never made an appearance in the USA. Travel with me to a cool format and a cool player that offered so many features and still gave you a movie on a Vinyl disc.
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[@PascalGienger]

The trick of those VHD was that it had NO grooves. A servo control controlled exactly the needle position, so even a scratch did not make the disc skip but just some jerky frames appearing. The groove was the biggest showstopper at CED. RCA did not want to tackle that sort of electronic needle position control, and relied on a guidance of groove walls. The pits itself were not followed by the needle in neither system, they measured the distance/difference of capacitance due to that. DiscoVision failed because people at Philips did not realize that you would need a clean room environment (one particle of dust is bigger than many pits), and IBM kicked in way too late. Discs and players with the HeNe laser tube have been also 3 - 5 times more expensive. One kudos to DiscoVision (which became LaserVision and LaserDisc later (with Pioneer)): The track pitch was used by Philips and Sony for the Digital Audio Compact Disc ;-)

[@databits]

+Pascal Gienger - Excellent comments, thanks!

[@brandonreina5582]

As I was saying, Sony signed a deal with Microsoft Corporation and other companies to form The Blu-ray Disc Association. Blu-ray Disc (often referred to as BD) was a completely different video disc format. Its rival is HD DVD (developed by Toshiba) which is a dead format compared to regular DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment made their move to Blu-ray Disc because movies such as The Princess Diaries, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Wreck-It Ralph (3D version available), American Girl: Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight, Fun Size, The Simpsons Movie, The LEGO Movie, The Little Mermaid, Say Anything, Barbie: Pearl Princess, Brave, Frozen, Fly Away Home, Muppets from Space, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, James and the Giant Peach, Bridge to Terabithia, Grace Unplugged, Monte Carlo, Dazed & Confused, Despicable Me, Spider-Man 3, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Dirty Dancing, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Hannah Montana: The Movie, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Despicable Me 2, Drive Me Crazy, Minions, Enchanted, Clueless, Boyhood, Soul Surfer, Coraline, The Godfather: Part II and Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest are played on Blu-ray Disc players, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and XBOX One (these are not playable on regular DVD players).

[@telocho]

Philips developped the hardware, the disk pressing was with MCA and they did not have the clean rooms.

[@Tornado1994]

@@brandonreina5582 Mircosoft wasn't part of the Blu-Ray Forum. Also, Sony Blackballed Toshiba with BD by singing exclusively licensing rights with Various companies. Basically committing Illegal Anti Trust crimes. Sony eventually lost the IP and Patents of Blu-Ray to Pioneer in 2012. They no longer own it.

[@DisgruntledPigumon]

That’s not how to use the word “showstopper”. Showstopper means something so AMAZING that everyone stops and takes notice.

[@swifty1969]

OMG! I had no idea that a needle based video record existed. I'm more beguiled how smooth and responsive the playback is. Truly amazing!

[@kingkhossus]

Thank you for your time and effort put into this really interesting review. Such an obscure machine.

[@GoldSrc_]

I remember reading about this technology in some old magazines I had, but I have never saw one working, thanks for sharing this.

[@databits]

Gordon Freeman Thanks for watching Mr. Gordon.

[@shkeni]

Someone must have answered your questions in the last 4 years but I didn't see it so here goes: The section at 8:22 says "SURROUND". The Red jack is CH2 Right and under it it says something like "sound and voice output". The White jack is CH1 Left but I'm not sure what the kanji underneath read to. The section to the right says "FM Output" and "Antenna" under the 3.5mm plug. The knob I don't know what it is but it the setting goes from low to high. The next knob to the right is "Input balance" and the settings are right and left. The A/B at 14:50 says "STEREO", so those are probably two channels. Cool video! I had never seen a VHD machine before.

[@johngreve2104]

Nice informative video,thank you. I recently took the VHD plunge myself and bought the same model player from a ebay seller here in the US. Pretty much got instantly hooked on the format and have been importing discs and a few additional players since. I was even fortunate enough to be able to get the Victor HD-V1 player which was supposed to be the equivalent to a S-VHS VCR only in the VHD format. I think Victor called the video in that machine QX encoded video It was supposed to give you more lines of resolution. No discs were ever released utilizing those QX capabilities beyond just one demo disc called the Green Horizons disc. I’ve been a CED collector for over 25 years now and enjoy that format as well but find the audio and video in VHD superior to CED. Keep on spinnin’!

[@databits]

Thank you for your comments, John. I got back into VHD just last year after selling the one you saw in this video. A more recent video about my Home Theater features this newer player which is made by the parent company of Panasonic. Are you familiar with the audio format for VHD?

[@johngreve2104]

The audio format for VHD you mention was AHD correct? I’m aware of it but have never seen the component come up for sale. I guess it came out at the very end of the VHD run. Welcome back to VHD anyway!

[@strictlysega]

loved the vid,, been wanting to see something like his for ages and learn about "the other video disc"

[@databits]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!

[@lewlew5686]

I'm getting excited watching this!!! I'm such a geek??!

[@databits]

You must be such a geek!

[@johnwalko1483]

Very well explained. This video commentary got me interested in buying a VHD player. It's a good quality picture for a record format. Thanks.

[@databits]

Which make/model did you get?

[@dschultz9466]

What's hilarious is RCA showed JVC their videodisc hoping they'd manufacture and distribute their system. RCA sold them a player and several discs and let them look. All JVC did was take RCA's work and improve on it, and released their own competing version a few years later.

[@BlaizeV]

Nice walkthrough. I don't think I will go so far as to ever own one of these but it's a fascinating bit of tech.

[@RoyStricko]

only just found out about VHD today, while checking out LaserDiscs on ebay.. 1st video i found was this one, and it was great. all the info i wanted, and a look inside the machine..great job dude.

[@databits]

Roy - did you buy one? And thanks!

[@RoyStricko]

no, I didn't buy one..I'm not that rich :) I saw a copy of Dawn of the Dead on eBay for £200! and it was, I thought at first, two ced disks..but it was actually vhd, which I'd never heard of. so I thought I'd try to find out more about it..and your video was the first one 👍

[@databits]

I was rich only for a short time. :) CED is a much cheaper item to obtain and collect. Plus CED has a charm to it that VHD didn't.

[@n2n8sda]

those A and B are indeed dual audio, if they are both lighted up it means the disc is in Stereo, if only one it is either mono or dual audio and you can switch (essentially it uses left channel for 1 language and right channel for another) common with Original language / Japanese language discs.

[@wolfsatyr]

This is really cool and informative and also we have the same bedspread

[@jeenkzk5919]

wow! it still blows my mind that you can get such a clear picture from tiny grooves! my guess for the background noise in the audio is the surface noise from the disk. Still far better than the noise from a VCR that's not HiFi

[@andysummersthxcinemaandmyc7748]

Wow I like the working VHD in action. One title I seen that wasn't letterboxed pressed for Laserdisc is JAWS 3 on VHD in 3D. These players seem to be rare. Great to see the ins and outs of the player and I like how the disc is stored in the caddy sleeve that is cool.

[@databits]

+Andy Summers - thank you for your comments!

[@illuminatioracle]

thank you for this informative video, david lynch

[@williamwilliam9993]

A and B lights on VHD represents multiple language soundtrack and stereo audio in film released for the japanese VHD format

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

It is funny to think that there were all these technologies just for playing back video Beta,VHS,Laserdisc,VHD,CED etc... and nowadays you can play video on just about any device digitally. Personally though my favorite video format is Laserdisc. It is a real shame it never caught on big in the US. It was much better than VHS. Sure it couldn't record but they could have made combo VHS/Laserdisc players. Now that would have been cool! I wonder how many people owned a VHD back in the day? I never even knew like every movie ever was released on Laserdisc until around 2003. There were alot of classic 80s,90s movies I wanted to buy but the DVDs were pretty expensive. Then I discovered they were all available on Laserdisc for like $5! I ended up with like 50 Laserdisc movies and watched every one of them. The only experience I had with LD before then was in elementary school. They had Laserdisc players and we watched a series called "Voyage of the Mimi" it was really boring lol. But I thought that LD was just something schools used, not something that had every movie and was for home use. I never knew anyone who owned a Laserdisc. Were LDs more expensive then VHS back in the 80s and 90s? I would think they would be cheaper to produce.

[@DelilahThePig]

"Voyage of the Mimi" was my first experience with Laserdisc too! Very boring I agree. I feel like it made use of chapters and had quizzes in between scenes. I also remember that although our school's machine was brand new, it was exercised so little and bumped around so much on the cart that it tended to have lots of issues with skipping. That was circa 1996 in middle school. Circa 2000 in high school, we were allowed to watch "American Pie" on a last gen Pioneer. It too suffered a lot of skipping and distortion, I'm sure did to disuse. Funny how crappy VHS was such a reliable workhorse.

[@Redhotsmasher]

Yeah, LaserDiscs are badass. I'm too young (and European) to have seen LaserDisc IRL (born in '91), but I definitely want to watch a LD some day, ideally something in Muse Hi-Vision (an early, Japanese, analog (!) HD system, which was available on special LD's as well as broadcast right up until 2009 according to Wikipedia).

[@RetroFan]

LD players were expensive. VHS was the cheapest of all, had the ability to record 3 hours of video and play home movies.

[@villipend]

Movies on Laserdisc were stupidly expensive and required multiple discs and flips. A very awkward format. No denying the quality as compared to VHS though. Probably around twice as good. Better sound as well if they were AC3 encoded.(dolby digital). They were probably way more expensive than tapes to produce simply due to the economies of scale.

[@TheWardog1369]

I remember that boring voyage of the Mimi, but I knew a guy with a LD player. It was an enthusiast tool. I was glad when DVDs came out.

[@masterandservant8021]

at 8:21 regarding the surround section, the two audio outputs red is the right chanel and white is left, as in anywhere in the whole planet, but under the red one says "Voice Output" and under the white one says "Variable". The 3.5 mm is an antenna jack , the black knob changes the frequency (But exactly I do not know for what) left side says "Low" and of course the opposite says "HIgh". The outer knob seems to be a balance control with the scripts for "Right" and "Left"

[@herrgolf]

Fascinating

[@TheDanielHolt]

A lot of technology is inspired from records in a way. CDs, HDDs, etc.

[@dvdmike007]

Finally a VHD video!

[@databits]

dvdmike007 Hooray!!

[@williamwilliam9993]

15:08 A and B audio channels is used for disc that have stereo sound for movies released on VHD with stereo sound will be bilingual audio japanese, english, etc

[@janchristianursuaaguilar7434]

it Says " Battle Runner" .

[@AEIOUY234689]

Not just made in Japan (which itself is an indicator for the best device), but also with captions in Japanese! It's a very rare look, which makes the device even better.

[@vconqwstify]

Really enjoyed seeing this format in detail... VHD is still on my "want it" list... now if you could scare up a working CartriVision unit ;)

[@databits]

vconqwstify Thanks for watching!

[@ajspice]

The mysterious knob on the back is input balance so you can adjust your stereo speakers :-)

[@databits]

Cool, thank you for watching!

[@cedfan1]

Great post ! I loVE my CED collection !

[@enzoaveroldi]

VHD, as far as I can see, is better than CED. It´s a more refined setup.

[@databits]

Yes indeed. The movies are impossible to find and if found, are insanely overpriced. I sold the player. CED is more fun to collect, and affordable.

[@stephenmartin7227]

databits, it's truly something about Japanese characters that brings a unique anesthetic to the VHD cover art, which makes it more exciting to collect!

[@Tornado1994]

VHD was introduced in 1979 about a Year after MCA DiscoVision/LaserDisc, and finally hit Japanese Markets in June of 1983. The reason why Japan Victor Company or JVC didn't bring VHD to the West, is because of two things: 1. JVC was earning a Fat Royality and Residuals from licensing out VHS to various manufacturers and granting them Co Distribution Rights, and 2. JVC saw the writing on the wall when RCA's CED bombed badly during 1981-1983(CED took TWENTY years to hit the market as it had been in development since 1963 while VHD had been in development since 1971), although they were aware of how Dated CED was, they were rightfully concerned that Westerners just weren't going to warm up to the idea of Vinyl Media. VHD is SUPERIOR to CED. 1000X times better in everyway. Better executed as well.

[@mathewbailey8645]

There was another format similar to RCA's CED videodiscs. Telefunken made a videodisc format called TED. The difference between the two is while RCA's format used a rigid disc in a rigid plastic case,the Telefunken format used a flexible disc in a paper sleeve & to load the disc you inserted it sleeve & all into the player,turned a knob to load it & pulled the sleeve out. There's a video of it somewhere on here. Also, there was one video disc arcade game compared to other videodisc arcade games which used laserdiscs called NFL Football that actually used an RCA CED videodisc.

[@MikeNHOC]

Pretty cool!

[@shmehfleh3115]

FWIW, the Japanese TV channels 1 & 2 correspond more or less to US cable TV channels 95, 96, or 97 depending on the set. Obviously you don't need RF for this sucker, but if you had something that was RF out only, you won't need to import an old Japanese TV to use it.

[@pelorios1999]

Very very interesting machine

[@Angie2343]

"I have no way to connect it to my computer BUT it's cool anyway!" You say that so awesomely, like how Michael Keaton would say that when he plays Betelgeuse. =D

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I see you got the "Math That Counts" disc. Saw what that video was already, funny what level MCA had to stoop to get anything out on that format back then (still nice to think a decent copy of that could be watched than to find some faded 16mm print on eBay these days).

[@voltz15]

I think two of my fondest memories are when I first watched Friday the 13th (wasn't even 5 back then) and Sinbad: Eye of the Tiger, of which I always saw the disc sitting around somewhere. Radio Shack was such a great place to get these at the time.

[@segasonic9117]

Lucky for you that your system arrived in working condition :D My first system that I bought off yahoo in 2013 arrived busted. All it would do was skip across the discs at high speed, even going into the parts of the disc with no data! That was a cheapie Toshiba model. The price of the unit was¥3000, that did not bother me. It was the ¥24,000 it cost to ship it that pissed me off! I have a Victor model on its way now, I bought it last year. It was released after the 9500 (without karaoke) and was the final "high end" model they released before they started releasing cheap karaoke focused models. I also have 3-D glasses with the system. No remote though :( I am wondering if they are interchangeable like Pioneer's LD remotes. I bought the system for the rare anime titles that were never released on LD (Victor titles, of course!) and also had no DVD release. Movies are easy to come by on yahoo but anime titles are rare as hell. I will get my hands on SCOOPERS and the Matsumoto Leiji titles, one day! Oh by the way. Not sure if you mentioned it, but the needle in VHD players do not make contact with the disc like the RCA thingy does. It is said that VHD could beat old LD releases in picture quality, but once LD mastering and manufacturing picked up, it was left far behind. That is why Victor tried to market the machine to anime fans and the 3-D system to film fans. Neither worked. I think VHD actually has the same resolution of VHS, but various other factors made the picture far superior to both VHS and the RCA system. It has less chroma and analogue noise than LD so I am looking forward to (hopefully) watching the 3 anime discs I have to see how they compare to my CLD-R7G LD player. I can directly compare one title. It is a 2 part OVA that was later released in theatres. The movie version is on LD but not the OVA. One last thing (bloody hell, I did not plan to write an essay!), in regards to "Victor" and "JVC". The full name of the company is "Japan Victor Company". Hence the "JVC" in the West.

[@databits]

A Shaw Thanks for all of the comments!

[@carlcouture1023]

The "FM" bit: The heading of the box says "surround", the jack on the right says "antenna" and the bit at the bottom is "FM Output". The writing over the dial says "frequency". Maybe it's for remote systems? The thing on the front with the A and B lights says "stereo", so I'm guessing when they're not both lit the audio is mono.

[@AmazedStoner]

My take on that is that is a fm transmitter using Japanese frequencies to provide wireless connectivity to rear amplifier using an fm tuner

[@BlueAcid9]

+databits On the front it has FM too, I think it is for an FM tuner.

[@mspenrice]

> Goes round the back > Sudden appearance of a 13-pin DIN socket I _knew_ that crazy thing couldn't have been an Atari exclusive. I wonder if there's any common ground (other than the literal reference earth) between the pinouts of the AHD port and the Atari RGB monitor port? Maybe that was yet another thing that they found was suddenly available for an unusually low price once VHD failed to gain any traction outside of Japan, and AHD in general just bombed, so the connectors were sitting around in great surplus in parts warehouses... It would fit with a lot of their other already known parts sourcing strategies.

[@AtticusStount]

I live in Sweden, and apartment buildings have a socket for a group radio antenna, it doesn't like miles off from the FM socket on this thing. Just a suggestion. I think it's great to be able to use a TV's amps for playing music.

[@cesardominguez]

Neat!!

[@69JayBee]

These where about in 1983, I still have one with was thorn/emi music.

[@braelinmichelus]

I understand some Japanese, so maybe I can clearify on some of IO ports on the back. The AHD port is labeled "external system / AHD", maybe they sold some sort of accessory for playing audio discs from the system, or maybe its a link between player units for larger systems? There are two normal normal audio outputs, one is line-level, and the other speaker-level. One is labeled "Audio Output 1 (fixed), and the other is "Audio Output 2 (variable)" And for the connection next to the surround output. Well, the jack is labeled "antenna", and one of the knobs is labeled 'frequency" and the other one "input balance". And text at the bottom is "FM output". My best guess is that they may have sold a wireless speaker system that uses radio frequency. Or maybe a wireless microphone for karaoke.

[@OmegaDarron2K8]

I wish I had this one. I'm from America.

[@Quad8track]

I have an RCA CED VideoDisc player a few disc but didn't know about the 3D system. Looks like a Japan exclusive.

[@databits]

Yes, VHD was a Japanese exclusive.

[@slashtiger1]

Been watching LOADS of video's on your channel by now, with this being one of the most intriguing ones. You talk at 14:49 about not knowing how to access the A & B leds (which you refer to as channels) on the unit, whereas at 6:37 one can briefly see the remote, and it has buttons for A & B. so the next logical thing would be to try and press them to trigger the function assigned to it. For your information: the Japanese text over the leds on the unit matches that on the remote. My guess is that it does have something to do with the channel; A being the left and B being the right; and that it could be used to engage a secondary audio track. However, I do not speak Japanese unfortunately, so I may be wrong about the exact function of these buttons/leds. This serves just to inform you that there is indeed a way for you to influence what the leds do. And since there's no way to actually change the content on the discs, or make it illegible in any way, what harm can there be in figuring it out? Also, the fact that, on some discs the leds light up, means that you can obviously select between the modes on the disc. If they don't light, than audio will have been single-track monaural; if they do light, audio will have been stereo; if one of them lights then you can trigger the other one by pressing the corresponding button on the remote, which obviously means you're dealing with a dual-track disc on the audio end of things…

[@Redhotsmasher]

The text between the A and B leds on the unit reads "sutereo" - stereo - which leads me to believe that databits' guess that it has something to do with audio channels is correct, perhaps some discs have two different audio tracks to choose from and that makes those lights light up, or perhaps it has to do with mono vs stereo or stereo vs surround discs or something, I dunno. Also, the katakana above the jack in the "FM" section on the back of the unit reads "antena", so presumably you'd plug an FM antenna into there (I would guess the thing has FM radio functionality built in) and use the knob to adjust... something I guess, beats me - don't know what the kanji above the knob mean, though if my memory serves me correctly on the kanji at the sides of the knob, we at least know that the knob goes from low to high.

[@masterandservant8021]

14:58 You were right about those buttons, they are to access double audio tracks

[@deltib]

Is that section on the right of the surround outputs for sending the rear surround channels to an FM radio, cause that's the only thing I can think of that makes sense. "FM output" and a knob for "Frequency" (you wouldn't put the tuning knob on the back if it was for receiving).

[@DvdXploitr]

Channel 1 and 2 is Channel 95 and 96 here in the US....I have a Nintendo from Japan (the Famicom) and I use it on Channel 96 on the TV. Also, so glad to see this video....I have been wanting to see a good video on VHD. It seems like it looks ALOT better than CED....I don't own a CED player though, but wouldn't mind getting one.

[@databits]

DvdXploitr Thanks for the info! I have also been wanting to see a good VHD video...wish I had more time to make a documentary on VHD or something. haha. Thanks for watching!

[@DvdXploitr]

you're welcome...glad i could help :)...keep up the good videos and look forward to your 2015 videos....

[@debbietravis3638]

that is Great dadabits a Japanese Videodisc

[@databits]

+Debbie Travis - Yes it is! Thanks for watching.

[@iamnobody2]

wow, that looks better than CEDs in pretty much every way!

[@Renatodonadio]

7:30 It's a cascading AC plug with Jap inlet to connect other devices like the TV itself to the player

[@bob7872]

I never heard of this format. I do remember the one that played audio records using a laser instead of a physical stylus.

[@Enigmatism415]

The FM section is for the radio. It has a 3.5mm antenna/aerial jack and a tuning knob.

[@databits]

+Enigmatism415 - I wish it had AM too, such a shame

[@Enigmatism415]

+databits Why on earth a VDP would feature any radio tuner at all is beyond me...

[@svenjansen2134]

+Enigmatism415 For the same reason your smartphone does. Just because.

[@Enigmatism415]

Sami Jansen How do I access the radio tuner on my iPhone 5?

[@svenjansen2134]

Enigmatism415 By clicking the app icon?

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

18:45 Funny thing is...Try to do this on a BluRay Player.

[@Renatodonadio]

19:29 The audio track played in "James Bond Theme" by Moby ;-D

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

I wonder how the pause function works...the stylus has to skip some groves for it to work, which isn't too good for longitivity of disc and needle.

[@LotoTheHero]

Look like these discs have pretty impressive quality. In some ways, it looks better than videos of laserdisc that I've seen. I haven't seen either up close and in person. Well, maybe laser disc in stores years ago, but I don't really recall how it looked then. Looks like a well designed format too. Seems the machines and discs also hold up pretty well over time. Looks a bit less cumbersome than the laserdisc format. If this had come out world wide, It may have killed the laserdisc.

[@segasonic9117]

VHD is barely better than VHS. Laserdisc kills it in quality. Especially later discs with superior transfers and pressings.

[@robmortimer4150]

I presume the FM socket is to do with FM radio? Maybe an input or output, perhaps linked to the karaoke function?

[@nathansyoutubechannel4921]

Next to the victor logo on the rear. Is that a tiny HMV (his masters voice) logo aswell???

[@databits]

Nathan De Lai Yes indeed!

[@robmortimer4150]

Nathan De Lai JVC was originally a distributor of HMV products (before the second world war), and they linked up with Thorn EMI (who owned HMV in the 1980s)to sell this in Europe (although they ended up not releasing it)

[@DelilahThePig]

I like this a lot. Just seems like a case of an overcrowded marketplace. Something which does not check boxes for the highest quality or the most economical gets left out.

[@alanwong3980]

A B channels are for multi audio karaoke disc

[@cemsengul16]

I wonder if you placed one of those VHD films on a Vinyl turntable and clicked play would we hear the sounds of the movie? Anybody ever try that?

[@databits]

This would not work. You would hear virtually nothing.

[@cemsengul16]

@@databits Thanks for answering my question. I have always wondered but I could never test it.

[@gustavofigueroa6087]

El VHD era más Superior Comparando al Formato: CED

[@databits]

In every way.

[@emilyvilleneuve9315]

I doubt you would, but do you know where some might even be able to find one of these things with the 3D compatibility? I have a copy of the 3D VHD of Friday the 13th Part 3 and need one to finally watch it. I have heard it is the best way to experience the movie in 3D on a home media player.

[@JLeaguer]

Try Yahoo Japan auctions, many VHD players there.

[@alanwong3980]

That is surround sound (rear speakers)

[@ryans413]

Kinda cool sucks you hotels get up to flip the disc. There was a laser disc player that would flip the laser so you wouldn't have to flip the disc. It read on top of the disc then it flip it self underneath and read the bottom kinda cool.

[@willthetrill4849]

You have any out of print movies on those formats?

[@databits]

Hi Will. I sold all of my videos.

[@ilcool90]

It looks like the Japanese got this technology working correct, because I hear everywhere that most CED discs have skipping problems these days.

[@databits]

+ilcool90 - CED discs had skipping problems in THOSE days also. But the format has a personality that's fun.

[@kelli217]

Weird sound between 7:57 and 8:02. :) Also 9:18 to 9:20. The bass resonance and slight reverb goes away for a brief moment, then comes right back.

[@databits]

+Kelli Halliburton - this is called ghost resonance

[@ramzac1993]

Looking for help my vhd video has a shaking video pucture

[@BlueAcid9]

+databits Why didn't Lasediscs use caddies? Why don't DVD/Blu-Rays use them? Either the CED type or the DVD-RAM type?

[@MacXpert74]

The optical disks are less sensitive to things like fingerprints etc. A caddy was not necessary and would make the disks and players more expensive. The CED disk in particular was very sensitive for dust and fingerprints and had skipping issues despite the caddy.

[@Madness832]

If by swapping the caddies, I'd love to know if a CED disc could be played on that deck (or vice versa).

[@databits]

Madness832 They are similar technologies, but the discs are not interchangeable.

[@marcusdamberger]

Besides the fact that one is 10"' across and CED is 12", CED wound't fit into a VHD player. Also the RPM is different between formats, VHD is 900rpm while CED is 450rpm. In contrast Laserdisc was 1800rpm.. CED did support PAL and ran at 375rpm. Also per-rotation VHD encoded two frames of video while CED encoded four frames of video. Even though they both used NTSC as their video standard, I'm pretty sure they used different frequency carriers to encode audio and video. One being VHD down converted the color burst signal from 3.58MHz over to 2.56MHz to reduce noise in the picture. Apparently done to minimize the non-linear properties of encoding on a disc versus tape. Creating harmonics when you read off the disc, or beat frequencies that could be visible in the picture. Shifting those carriers around avoided that problem, or rather made harmonics harmless. Its interesting how each disc system tackled how to encode video onto a disc.

[@michaelallard5324]

I thought that the VHD format came long after the CED format? Did I miss something?

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

Now you should try and carve a record out of one of those discs.

[@databits]

IAmNotAFunguy Buy me another one and I'll do that. :)

[@afloyd4976]

Arnold is "Battle Runner." LOL

[@tunainoil]

I find it weird how the Japanese like to give alternate English names to American movies. Honorable mention: Big Trouble in Little China re-titled to the generic, nonsensical "Ghost Hunters".

[@aidanhawkins6491]

3:55 my brain exploded

[@TuneStunnaMusic]

You didnt include that video records were tried in the 30s or 40s and failed (because it looked so spooky) The videos are here on youtube.

[@mememe84]

so this VHD/VED discs are read like music vinyl disc with a needle only? no computer? its mechanic not digital?

[@databits]

maak Yes, it is a mechanical system. Not digital, although AHD discs apparently were digital audio only.

[@scottstrang1583]

Didn't yamaha demo a AHD platform prior to CD?

[@scottstrang1583]

Have you ever come across a AHD player?

[@databits]

From what I understand, this unit would play AHD discs, but I did not run across any of the discs in my short time with the player.

[@devicemodder]

Japan is 100V AC 50Hz in east japan, 100V AC 60HZ West Japan.

[@ryans413]

Yea but around same voltage North America 120 volts 60hz Japan 100 volts 50hz 60hz so all electronics are made with 50hz and 60hz inn mind. So question is will the 120 volts hurt the machine not really it's pretty close it'll work and I don't think it's really an issue. Now it be a problem if you were trying to use an North American appliance in Japan.

[@devicemodder]

Most appliances made today are compatible with 100-240VAC 50-60 Hz

[@ryans413]

+devicemodder yea I know but I was saying everything here is 60hz that might be a problem if you wanted to use it in Japan depending were you go. And it might work bit be underpowered due to the voltage difference.

[@devicemodder]

***** I realize that.

[@ryans413]

Yea the UK uses 240 volts that's standard that's crazy

[@TheBudgie29]

databits. I need a Stylus for a G&C McMichael Model # V5000H CED player If You could get me some that would be Great there Is nowhere to get them In the UK. Thanks. B.

[@databits]

Join this great group on Facebook and ask there for info. I'm a member also. facebook.com/groups/36668183795/

[@TheBudgie29]

Thanks Will Do. B.

[@gio048]

Cool video,but those subtitles would drive me 😠 Gio🙂🙂🙂

[@bluebearbank247]

It is worth collecting decks with controls written in Japanese languages. I am sure it is getting less and less of those.

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

I know KZbin user videoholic loves his Japanese Beta VCRs but I don't think even he has heard of this format.

[@cogsinister100]

I have to point out that Japanese 100 volt AC equipment is not ment to work on US 120 Volts AC without stressing out the player quite a bit.

[@databits]

Neil Robinson Worth looking into.

[@cogsinister100]

databits Yes it is worth sorting a 100v power supply for the player as it is such a nice unit. Amazon sells a 100/120 volt step up/step down transformer for under $50.

[@databits]

Neil Robinson Yes, I was looking at one for about $39.02

[@cogsinister100]

databits That sounds like a small investment to protect such a cool player, thanks for posting and keep the great videos of your way cool stuff coming, and happy new year to you.

[@databits]

Neil Robinson Thanks Neil. A stepdown transformer is on my "to buy" list now. You may have saved my player from unforeseen death! Appreciate the compliments. Happy New Year!

[@urbanodagrippino8433]

Video record player

[@sherryhannah498]

what movie is this???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...does anyone know?????????????!!!!!!!!!!

[@Matty112uk]

It's James Bond in 'Goldfinger'

[@kascnef]

Audio is low

[@jamesleethebond]

this look like the ced machine

[@PascalGienger]

+Vanoss Lee (leejiasengthepro1) Yes but it was grooveless, so the needle could not skip because there was no groove guiding the needle. The guidance of the pickup was purely electronically controlled so that the needle always was in the middle of a holes track, which were measured by the same capacitance method as RCA videodiscs. The electronic guidance made those video records play smoothly and skipping was not known. But degradation was, the picture quality went worse after every play due to wear of the vinyl discs, but they did not skip, which made it acceptable. The "still frame" function (with repeated 3 double frames = 3 full movie frames) deteriorated the discs very rapidly. 2 minutes freeze frame resulted in a white snow storm for 1/10s when playing that scene the next time, because this revolution of 3 pictures was heavily worn down. If RCA did not rely on grooves to guide the needle, I am sure the CED video disc would have been a big success at that time, regarding the high prerecorded VHS tapes prices at that time. It was the skipping which annoyed the people and made them bring back their players. You could watch a disc once or twice but if you lended it to your neighbors for a 3rd play it would skip already.

[@jamesleethebond]

Pascal Gienger i appreciated your explanation thanks

[@soneca7652010]

tataravô do Blue ray

[@KentuckyRanger]

Actually, Sony invented VHS. They sold the rights and design to Panasonic, because they thought it was a worthless format, far inferior to Beta, which they also invented. We know what happened after the fact... Anyway, back in the 80s, it was very hard to keep up with the tech.

[@databits]

You may want to check your sources. JVC invented VHS, either that or they were lying to everyone. They printed the statement on almost every player box they sold. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS

[@KentuckyRanger]

databits Huh... I'm just going by what I'd heard back in the 80s. That Sony sold the entire concept, because they just couldn't see it catching on. They figured that once Americans got hold of the Betamax system, they'd forget all about VHS. Like I said, I'm just going by what I heard back in the 80s, when I first graduated high school and got into the electronics field. Either the guy who told it to me had no idea, or Sony has spent ALLOT of money to sweep that one under the rug... LOL! It doesn't matter, it's all good. ;O)

[@mspenrice]

3 frames, or more likely given the blanking 3 _fields_ of video per revolution... whose boneheaded idea was that? No wonder the freeze frame was jerky. If it was either 2 or 4, you could have got a reasonably good freeze - showing one or two whole interlaced frames, which would essentially be completely static in the former case when showing a frame of movie material, and not jumping around _too_ much even in the latter with live-recorded video. Trying to show the same 3 fields over and over is a recipe for massive jitter, even if your TV was able to properly decipher what was coming in and end up scanning one field twice as often as the other... at best they'd have to make it so it read two successive tracks and then jumped back to the start of the first, repeatedly showing a 1/10th second snatch of video, which is going to be rather too obviously NOT static. The little extra engineering that would have been needed to get the picture quality up to snuff with 4 fields per revolution and a slightly slower rotation (with a nice side effect of longer playing time), or to cram in the extra tracks to maintain playing time on each side with 2 fields per rotation (and to deal with the faster spin in the first place) would have paid off in spades by allowing the implementation of a proper pause function without needing to build in a load of memory like that Toshiba VHS deck that could pause live TV... (this is probably why your deck doesn't really have a proper pause feature... it'd also be yet another thing that would have spoiled its chances of mass adoption, because as rough as early VHS pause was, it did at least work) EDIT: Actually on closer inspection of it when stopped in the player, it looks more like 4 fields per revolution. Which makes far more sense, even if it's still not the best ever (2 fields would be the optimum, though maybe rather harder to engineer, and use a quite excessive amount of disc material for each field). That would also explain a few other things on there, like the available fastforward speeds (2x - just skip inwards by one track every half a revolution... and I think doing that after every field might unintuitively create a 5x speed? erm...), and the curious alternating smoothness and jerkiness of the slow motion (NTSC telecine pull-up means recording 24 frames per second into 60 fields per second in a 2-3-2-3 fashion; reading 4 fields in a repeating fashion means sometimes seeing just 2 neighbouring frames, sometimes seeing the contents of 3, the first and third of which might be quite different from each other)... plus maybe if it's recorded as a single spiral track rather than a set of concentric rings, it might not always make an entirely clean jump back or forth by exactly one track when trying to seek one way or the other, or hold a steady position. ...I wonder how the chapter mark system works, though? Presumably signals in the Vblank and/or HBlanks? Oh and of course the one Bond film they have available is the one where he goes to Japan.... :D

[@mikeandhisdogs]

Whether RCA "did it" is open to discussion,

[@segasonic9117]

I forgot to ask, did you get a 100v step down? If you did, did it make a difference to the sound?

[@databits]

A Shaw I did get one, it didn't appear to affect the sound at all. I'll sell you the transformer if you'd like?

[@segasonic9117]

Thanks for the offer! It would be useless to me however, I am not in the US. My HD-V1 arrived Friday morning, all is working fine! I am not very impressed with the video quality though, and wonder if it is the stylus at fault or my expectations being too high.

[@databits]

The quality ain't that good. :)

[@segasonic9117]

Ain't that the truth! I always thought it was much better than what I am seeing. It's insane to think that Victor developed this when LD was already in production and gave it VHS resolution. If VHD had 400 lines like LD has, I think it could have been a lot better and could have been bigger competition for LD. The anime titles I have are from '86-87, I have LDs from '86 that look near DVD quality on my CLD-R7G, how did they expect VHD to compete?!? I don't think the fact that it had 60mins each side with "CAV quality still and trick play" was that big a deal!

[@databits]

A Shaw Yeah, I wanted one of these machine for such a long time and was very disappointed in the quality. The discs are expensive and hard to get too!

[@jamesleethebond]

is this james bond

[@MrCougar214]

Manufacturers spend so much time trying to screw us, they land up screwing themselves. Had they played their cards right, they could have kept the VHS going longer had they only released the S-VHS players and media, then released the D-VHS players and media. And once the VHS tech had reached it's end of life, they could have THEN released the laser disk to replace VHS technology. Had they released all this tech in baby steps, VHS would have lasted another 10 years and then milked the market for the "New" laser disc technology. At that rate, dvd wouldn't have been introduced until around 2010'ish and blu ray would be brand new tech today. But nope! They have to rush out everything to maximize profits and land up hurting themselves in the end. From a consumers standpoint, this is perfectly fine for us, but from a business standpoint they always shoot themselves in the foot.

[@MacXpert74]

Huh? That makes no sense. You want to slow down technology by 10 years? By the time D-VHS was on the market, the DVD was already introduced. Why on earth would you want a clumsy 12-inch disk with less features and lower image quality be introduced at this time (mid-90s) if superior technology was available. If the idea was to 'maximize profits' they could have kept on selling the same stuff, like you suggest. So it's kind of the opposite of what you are saying. And further, the laser-disc was no replacement for VHS or S-VHS etc. because it only supported playback and not recording. That's why many people kept on using VHS for a few more years after the introduction of DVD that had the same limitation at first. Only when DVD recorders and hard-disk recorders became available, the VHS was done with. If anything, here in the west the industry has kept the progress of HD television back by not adopting a universal format. In Japan they already had the Muse HD video system in the late 80s. But here in europe and the USA we had to wait till they finally adopted a digital version of HD around 2005. So they could have introduced somethings quicker rather than later. The only 'screwing around' that the industry did when it comes to video cassette recording, was not adopting 1 standard right from the start, but introducing several different systems that were not compatible (VHS, Betamax, V2000)

[@maryhayes7574]

Manufacturing VHS tapes is way more expensive than pressing a DVD. They probably made way more in profit off by switching to optical media sooner once it became viable.