Oldest VCR you've owned?

[Combwork]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

I currently own a Mitsubishi HS-300U VCR from 1981. It's really heavy and built like a tank. It still works well after 30 years, although one day I need to open it up and do a little TLC.

I don't have a picture of it (it's at home, a long way from here), but the video below has the same model. Surprisingly there was zero info anywhere about this VCR, except for the Youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH4xylRiBng

Not shown is the optional brick-sized remote and its receiver, which plugs into the back of the VCR and has a few feet of cable so you can position it for best reception. Mine came with both, which I guess is a rare find.

It's a great setup and goes well with my Zenith TV of about the same vintage - also working great, despite my Grandma using it daily for 25 years.


What is the oldest VCR you have? I have yet to find anything that predates this beast.


-Tim

A Grundig VC2000 from the late 70's. Like audio cassettes the V2000 cassettes could be turned over. The last generation were two speed with Hi-Fi stereo, giving up to 16 hours recording on a single cassette. The video heads laid down a guide track as they recorded so not only did they track automatically, a tape could be recorded on one machine and played back on another without any tracking error.

Much better spec than Betamax or VHS but too late on the market. That plus problems with the first generation units, and a basic misjudgment of how important the video rental market would be led to relatively low sales.

I don't know if this format was marketed much outside Europe.