Quote:
Originally Posted by DVtyro
JVC was selling top-loading 3/4-inch systems through 1984. Although those shown in the ad look a tad newer than yours 
I wonder whether JVC and Panasonic ever produced Hi-Band/SP machines. Anyone knows?
It seems that Panasonic switched to M/MII and dumped 3/4-inch sometime in the early 1980s. JVC Launched front-loading 3/4-inch machine in 1985, but for how long it produced it? It was still a Low-Band machine.
"Umatic" is Sony's brand name. JVC and Panasonic used either "3/4-inch system" or just "U".
I would not call 3/4-inch high end gear. It was cheap garbage that TV news crews used because 1-inch machines were either too expensive or too bulky or both, and 16-mm film needed processing. Still, some broadcasters like the BBC shot higher-quality factuals on 16-mm well into the 1980s. |
I know full well there were substantially better broadcast formats,
BUT I was taking about an
estate sale not the warehouse sale of the local NBC affiliate...Yeesh.
The average consumer didn't have any VTRs until the 80s....Those folks who's estate was up for grabs had VCRs in the 70s (as well as a bunch of high end consumer HiFi gear)...For a consumer, any VCR in the 70s (especially if it was not beta or VHS) was an expensive high end piece of video gear to have.