TV recordings pre VHS

[image45]

look for these types of video recorders........



PHILIPS EL3400 / PETO-SCOTT 3400 (1963-68) this is a big, HEAVY 1" reel to reel video tape recorder, a hybrid valve/transistor 405 line machine,and was the first domestic vtr.............3,000 were produced and sold in the UK; I have one,and know of one in Norfolk and one taken to the States.They were made until 1968........



TELCAN (1964-6)used normal reel to reel audio tape, and ran at high speed. Only sold in small numbers, and I know of one only. No recordings found.



PHILIPS LDL range,( 1968 ) , 1/2 " SKIP-FIELD recorder, used reel to reel tapes,replaced the 3400 range-- 625 line transistorised--come up quite often on ebay etc.



SONY 1/2" SKIP-FIELD reel to reel recorder range (1968) similar to above



SHIBADEN was introduced in 1968, and many are known to be in good order



Missing episodes might be found on tapes for the above --keep a watch on ebay etc.



1970 brought the U-Matic from Sony................. several types were available, but 1/2 of the types recorded in B/W only.............

[image45]

Stars on Sunday with Robert Dougall



[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvHOUT7caX8[/tube]



Val Doonican



[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lPSBax2QsE[/tube]







Lilac Time 1969 Gaiety Theatre Dublin



[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lZqrOWyNpo[/tube]



"Recorded at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin 1969. This is unique material recorded by a amateur camera and a Sony CV2000B VTR in 405 lines.

This is the oldest home video that I have ever seen."



RTE 1969 Christmas with Maureen



[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apNG4Kc4f84[/tube]

"A rare surviving document from teh show with Maureen Potter. Recorded from the 405 line network on a Sony CV2000B. "

[Moor Larkin]

Unlike the BBC and ITV, I make no charge for my archives. But then I'll never be able to pay lardy-tongued smoothies 6-mill a year...............

[HIPPIEDAVE]

I bought a 70s VCR for a fiver in the 90s so probably never be worth much

[susanduic]

Thanks 'Fellwanderer'......interesting that it might be possible to 'view' the programme....trouble is we're so spoilt now, I think I'd find it too frustrating not to be able to keep it!

[woody123]

As sixth formers in 1972-73,we used get a good skive by volunteering to man the audio visual room which involved recording educational programmes onto a whopping great reel-to reel video made by a Japanese firm whose name I don't remember.I know it wasn't one of the big ones,sony,Toshiba etc.If a teacher who'd got up someone's nose had a programme requested they were more likely to get Tales of the Riverbank and Rainbow instead.

As a management trainee for a large retail company we sold the Philips 1700 series vcr foe about 2 years before vhs and betamax really started to take off.tapes for the Philips machine cost a tenner in 1977 and only recorded for 2 hours.Better picture quality than vhs,but not very reliable.

[torinfan]

name='susanduic']When clips turn up on places like YouTube of TV from the days before video-home recording was generally available-where do they come from? Is there a site somewhere I've missed? I want to find an edition of Late Night Line Up from late 1968, possible the BBC have wiped it........I've checked out many places eg BBC Motion Library but nothing. Has anyone any ideas or suggestions-beyond 'give up you daft bat'?

Video was used occasionally during the 1960's, and I think during the late 1950's. If you're talking about live shows, kinescopes were made of the show. Some survived and some would just get lost or disposed of. Some videos were made of kinescopes. So it's possible the item your looking for might exist on video in some form.

[torinfan]

Ernie Kovacs used videotape in his early 1960's specials. He knew video is more practical for visual tricks rather than live, direct to camera use. Though he did make a number of live shows back in the 1950's, some of which are gone forever I regret to say.

[alan french]

Hi.

As someone who watched television, when there was only one channel. I recall that until circa 1957, programmes were mainly live or on film. There were some programmes which were recorded by a process called telerecording. The Americans I believe called it telefilm. I think this is what Torinfan is referring to. As also stated, video tape came in or around 1957. The first public broadcast demonstrated was on PANORAMA by Richard Dimbleby. Possibly the first, or one of the first international demonstrations was at a world's fair. Pre-President Nixon had a row with the Soviet Union's Mr. Kruschev, who was one of the most powerfull men in the world. It was explained to Mr. Kruschev, that the argument was recorded on a videotape. Both men then shook hands.



But the earliest video disc recordings were originally done, believe it or not, in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Examples; Phonotone and Silvatone discs. Yes, John Logie Baird was involved. Snippets are on the Internet.



As far as the BBC is concerned, I hope they do not call people who enquire about archive programmes #### nuisances. I will not say anymore.



Alan French.

[Brief Encounter]

name='susanduic']Thanks 'Fellwanderer'......interesting that it might be possible to 'view' the programme....trouble is we're so spoilt now, I think I'd find it too frustrating not to be able to keep it!

I feel exactly the same.

[penfold]

One inveterate home-taper from the sixties onwards was the late Bob Monkhouse; the Kaleidoscope organisation are busy cataloguing his collection (Tv film recordings from the late fifties onwards, VT from the late sixties onwards) which obviously include hours upon hours of long-thought-lost British Telly. I forget the estimated figures of the numbers of tapes involved, which I heard from the researchers early on in the process, but I'm sure it was in the tens of thousands......