1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:19,319 Speaker 1: with How Stuff Works, and I heart radio and I 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: love all things tech. And it is time, my friends, 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: for a classic episode. And we look back into the 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: archives of tech Stuff and the more than one thousand 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: episodes that we have recorded, and we pick out the gems, 9 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: polished them up, and serve them up to you, because 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: I bet most of you weren't listening way back in 11 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve. That's when this episode originally aired March twelve, 12 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, is called tech Stuff sets its VCR. 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: It's time to talk about video cassette recorders. So Chris 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: Pilette and I sit down chat about it. I hope 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: you enjoy today. We're going to talk about the video 16 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: cassette recorder. Why, Chris, why would we ever talk about 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 1: the video cassette recorder, a technology that is almost forgotten 18 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: about today. Yeah, that's the problem. Uh yeah. A while back, 19 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: uh my father uh VCR he he had it uh 20 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: plugged in and during a summer thunderstorm or as we 21 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: call it, in the South a week day. Yes, um, 22 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: a power surge atomized the transformer inside the VCR. Sadly, 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: this did not give the VCR superpowers, where it then 24 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: went on to fight villains and you know, various locations 25 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: around the world. That's what happens in the comics, right, 26 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:45,039 Speaker 1: lightning atomization superpowers. Really real life lightning atomization computers and 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: or people don't work very well anymore. Yeah. So, so basically, 28 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 1: the the power, the thing that makes the power work, 29 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: and the VCR is now gone. And I said, you 30 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,919 Speaker 1: know what, it would be cheaper to get a new VCRY. 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: It would be to fix this one, which is very 32 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: likely true, which is which is often true with electronics. 33 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: So I recycled it. And my my father has a 34 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: lot of old videotapes that he wants to be able 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: to watch. I thought, oh, I'm gonna go get him 36 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: a VCR. I'll just go down to the department store 37 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: and pick one up. As it turns out, no, I won't, 38 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: because you can't find them anymore on most store shelves, um, 39 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: even even electronics stores. Yeah, they they If you find one, 40 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: you're you're not going to have your choice your Yeah, 41 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: I mean, well, one or two maybe, but it's not 42 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: like it was where like say you go look for 43 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: a smartphone, you have a display of smartphones to choose from, 44 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: you have different carriers to choose from. Even even looking 45 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: for something like a Blu ray player or even a 46 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: DVD player, there's they're a handful of them to choose from. 47 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: If not, uh, you know, a pretty good sized display. 48 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: But where that used to be the case with VCRs, uh, 49 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: it is not so much the case. And I was thinking, 50 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: he you know, I'm there, so they're so disposable. I'm 51 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: sure there's gonna be a tiny little VCR that I 52 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: can I can get. It doesn't have to be Hi fi, 53 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: you know. No, now they're gone. And I was started thinking, 54 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: who when did they stop making these things? Because I 55 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: just figured that everybody there are enough videotapes out there 56 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: that somebody would still make one. I mean, hey, they 57 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: do it with turntables, and people don't. People are starting 58 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: to collect vinyl again, but you know, it almost disappeared 59 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: for a long time there after the CD became popular. 60 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: So I started thinking, and we should look at the 61 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: VCR and see if we can uncover what happened to it. 62 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: Um but I think first we sort of need to 63 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: get it back into the technology. And uh, it's something 64 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,320 Speaker 1: that again, uh is something that I thought if it 65 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: went back to a certain point maybe in the early eighties, uh, 66 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: mid seventies, but it really goes back, uh decades before 67 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: into the nineteen fifties. Really. Yeah, Now to really set 68 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: the scene back at this time, the way that that 69 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: you would capture images was using film. Oh yeah, and 70 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: we've talked about film quite a bit in this podcast 71 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: even recently, where we talked about, yeah, to use using 72 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: a chemical reaction where exposing a a a film that's 73 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: coded in chemicals to light activates those chemicals. You then 74 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: process that film with other chemicals to make a negative image, 75 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: not one that is you know, bad or ugly, but 76 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: as negative in this anyway you've heard those podcasts so 77 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: so negative. Right. So even capturing film, motion picture film 78 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: was done through this way. And the way you would 79 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: capture sound, as you would use through various means a 80 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: magnetic tape, and in the way motion picture film was 81 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: working was that you would have a strip of magnetic 82 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,599 Speaker 1: tape that ran down the side of the film that 83 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: was arranged in such a way so that the sound 84 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: you were hearing and the images you were seeing were synchronized. 85 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: So someone came up came up with the idea and said, hey, 86 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: wait a minute, we were putting sound on magnetic tape. Yes, 87 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: what if we put pictures on magnetic tape too? And 88 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,679 Speaker 1: that became the quest to create the the what would 89 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: become the VCR. But really at first it was just 90 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: getting video onto magnetic tape. And there were a lot 91 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: of challenges associated with that. Yeah, one of the big 92 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: ones being that that video information, the the image information, 93 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: took up a lot more space than audio information did. 94 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: So you had to find a new way to encode 95 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: that information and put it onto tape so it wasn't 96 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:39,840 Speaker 1: going to take up too much space. Otherwise what you 97 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: would have is a mile long tape that would be 98 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: maybe oh a couple of minutes worth of video because 99 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: it had it required so much space to record all 100 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 1: that information. Well, people shouldn't be too terribly unfamiliar with this, 101 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: this problem. I mean, uh, we deal with that every 102 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: day in the internet. Uh, you know, broadband connections can 103 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: give you full motion video. You can uh play games 104 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: with very low latency where you can count on being 105 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: able to round a corner and get a shot off 106 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: at your opponent before uh, you know, you you freeze 107 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: and then find out that you died because there wasn't 108 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: anything you could do. Um, we have the same we 109 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: have the same problem with uh, well, with DSL connections. 110 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: You know that the voice uses a certain amount of 111 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: of the uh telephone line's capacity and that's how they 112 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: use uh, the telephone mine to carry the Internet is 113 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: is there's this unused capacity and that's how um, that's 114 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: how DSL works, and you know, and kind of simplified. Sure, um, 115 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: you know, but anybody who's looked at an audio cassette 116 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: and a video cassette knows can see exactly what you're 117 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: talking about, Jonathan, because uh, an audio cassette is uses 118 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: a much narrower piece of tape um than a video 119 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: cassette can. But there are other challenges to I mean, uh, 120 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: it sort of depends on how much video you want 121 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: to capture. A video cassette can be recorded in a 122 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: number of different quality levels and to fit when once 123 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: you've standardized on a cassette size, uh, and then you 124 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: start adding time to it. Oh, well, this one can 125 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: do eight hours instead of six hours. If you recorded 126 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: at the correct quality, then you start having to talk 127 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: about the tape's thickness, because the tape won't fit in 128 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: the cassette, won't fit in the machine if you leave 129 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: the tape at the same size, and it won't work 130 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: the same way inside the cassette. So something has to give. 131 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: But we could talk about the mechanics of that in 132 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: a moment. We were going to talk about the history 133 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,559 Speaker 1: and so back in the nineteen yes, yes, and before 134 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: that of course, uh as as pretty much everyone knows 135 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: we have live TV. Um you know, you burps and 136 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: gaffs and things that fall over and all. You might 137 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: have a a famous Hollywood actor think that what he's 138 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: doing is a walk through rehearsal instead of the actual, 139 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: uh the actual program which did have been with I 140 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 1: think it was a Lawn Cheney Jr. Really yeah, he 141 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: was supposed to apparently, Um Mr Cheney was somewhat the 142 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: worse for wear because he had had a little had 143 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: a little little drinking pooh and thought that he was 144 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: going in for a rehearsal for something that he was doing, 145 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: and there was a fight scene and in the fight 146 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: scene he's supposed to pick up a chair and it's 147 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: breakaway chair slamming across the back of someone and knocked 148 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: them unconscious. He, thinking it was rehearsal, not realizing it 149 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: was going out live, picked up the chair, went through 150 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: the motion as if he was going to swing the chair, 151 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: then very gingerly set the chair back down where it 152 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: was supposed to be. And I actually have this on 153 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: DVD somewhere, so I'll have to see if I can 154 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: dig that up. But anyway, yeah, it was live TV. 155 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: It wasn't It wasn't something that people could mess with 156 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: and edit things out, and uh, you know, it went 157 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: out warts and all. Well. A couple of guys working 158 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: for AMPEX, which is again a familiar name for people 159 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: who've worked with National Recording Equipment UM, named Charles Ginsberg 160 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: and Ray Dolby UH worked on the first commercial real 161 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: to real video tape recorder, and that would be UH. 162 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: It looks very similar to a real to real audio recorder. 163 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,199 Speaker 1: This was around nine six, and UH completely revolutionized the 164 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,079 Speaker 1: TV industry because at this point you could record a 165 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: TV broadcast to be played at a later time. So 166 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: if you had something like um Mr Mr Cheney's gaff, 167 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: uh happened and you know, you could go back and 168 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 1: do it again if you needed to. UM. But before 169 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: that everything was live and this this really changed things 170 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: for the industry. Of course, these machines were were not inexpensive. Uh, 171 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: they were not tiny as they later became. UM. And 172 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: so it was really sort of the exclusive world of uh, 173 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: you know, professional TV people who are using the kind 174 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: of equipment and that would that would remain the case 175 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: for decades. Yeah, I mean in uh, it was ninety 176 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: nine when Sony came up with the first inexpensive VCR. 177 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: Expensive again meaning industry not consumer. Yeah. In nineteen seventy one, 178 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: Sony had the umatic system right right, U M A 179 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: T I C. And that was almost exclusively restricted to 180 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: commercial use. Yeah. They used the wider tape and had 181 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,680 Speaker 1: had the advantage of being very high quality. UM. But 182 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: it was it was much larger than what we use today. Uh, 183 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: you know those of us who still have working videotape players. UM. 184 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: But it was it was really the mid seventies when 185 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: the equipment became inexpensive enough. Yeah. Yeah, I actually have 186 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: something kind of fun fun to say before we get 187 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: the mid Yeah, in ninete, this is the first time 188 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: we have a consumer video cassette recorder of this is 189 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: not VHS or BETA right, it's it's using the same 190 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:04,280 Speaker 1: basic technology but different format. So the very first consumer 191 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: VCR from my research was a Phillips Model fifteen hundred, 192 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: which came out in the United Kingdom, of all places, 193 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two. Well, Phillips is a British company. 194 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: Our pals in the United Kingdom. Do you get that? Pal? Ah? Nice? 195 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: Thank you. There's nothing you can do with NTSC. No, no, 196 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 1: we'll talk about that in a minute. But yeah, they 197 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: managed to get their hands on one in nineteen seventy two, 198 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: and it cost the princely some of six hundred forty 199 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: nine pounds in nineteen seventy two. And I know what 200 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: you're thinking, Chris. You're thinking, gush, Jonathan, how much would 201 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: that be in today's dollars? So you would have to 202 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,959 Speaker 1: convert pounds into dollars and then used an inflation calculator. 203 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: Who has time to do that, will, sir? I tell 204 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: you I had time to do that this morning. Anyone 205 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,239 Speaker 1: with Wolf from Alpha, which will do it for you automatically. 206 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: I didn't use Wolf from PA. So the answer Wolf 207 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: from Alpha gives may be different from the one I have, 208 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: but based upon the historical currency conversion website, sixty nine 209 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:13,199 Speaker 1: pounds in nineteen two would be equivalent to nine thousand, 210 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,960 Speaker 1: eighty seven dollars today. So just shy of ten grand 211 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: the very first consumer video cassette recorder. Meanwhile, Chris is 212 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: is looking at Wolf from Alpha as we record this 213 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,439 Speaker 1: to see how how far apart the two conversions are. 214 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:37,559 Speaker 1: Do you have an answer from Wolf from Alpha? Why 215 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: did I get? Okay, sixty nine? That's good radio right here? Oh? 216 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: I know it is. Well, that's the thing, is it? 217 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: It shows you how expensive this device was at the time. 218 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not something that everybody had in there, 219 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,440 Speaker 1: no tin grand to drop on a VCR. Yeah. Um, 220 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: do you have an answer? No, because I did it wrong. 221 00:12:58,000 --> 00:12:59,839 Speaker 1: So all right, we'll just have to ignore it. I'm 222 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: or some listener will be very helpfully let us know anyhow. 223 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: So um, so, yeah, it wasn't until the mid seventies 224 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: when VHS made its debut. Yeah. Actually, uh, in well, 225 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: in Japan it came out in seventy six, but in 226 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: the United States we had to wait till seventy seven 227 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: before it came over here. And before that Sony had 228 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: come out with a competing standard, the Beta standard. Yes, 229 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: so Beta had been on the market for a year 230 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: before VHS managed to come to store shelves. UH. And 231 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,079 Speaker 1: so there were there was the videotape wars, which I 232 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: think we've actually talked about in a previous episode we have, 233 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: and and of course Beta short, as someone else will 234 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: point out, as short for Beta max UM and UH, 235 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: but you really didn't compete for for quite a while. UM. 236 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: Of course UH. Beta max is still used or or 237 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: was used for a long time in um TV work, 238 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: even after it failed as a standard that you would 239 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: see on the h store shelves at your local video 240 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: rental place. Right. The biggest differentiator between the two, at 241 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: least early on that size, was that well it Beta 242 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:13,360 Speaker 1: had a slightly better resolution than VHS, but only slightly. 243 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: I mean, the difference wasn't as dramatic as say VHS 244 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:20,320 Speaker 1: to DVD, but it was there. It did have a 245 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: higher quality image and also they could only record up 246 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,160 Speaker 1: to two hours, and VHS the big thing about that 247 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: was they could record up to four hours, so that 248 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: that really helped push VHS over Beta, even though since 249 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: Beta had been on the market for a year they 250 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: had managed to bring their prices down, so when VHS 251 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: first launched, it was actually more expensive, right right, Well, um, 252 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: here again, the the average consumer is is going to 253 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: look at it and go, well, I can I can 254 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: buy blank video cassettes for a VHS machine and record 255 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: more video on it, uh to allow me to record 256 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: more myself, and therefore this is a better value for me, 257 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: even though the marginal difference in quality might make me 258 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,120 Speaker 1: think about a Beta max machine. And the VHS standard 259 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: was introduced by j v C. Yes, and that's also 260 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: going to be important in a little bit. But j 261 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: v C the first model they introduced in the United 262 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: States was the hr Dash thirty three hundred, which cost 263 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: one thousand dollars in nineteen seventy, which in today's money 264 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: three thousand, five fifty five dollars. Yeah, that's a that's 265 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: a healthy chunk of change to drop on the v 266 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: C R. Yeah. And it's it's amazing too because a 267 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: lot of these machines were top loaders. I remember that. Yeah, 268 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: you'd topped the door open, slide the cassette in, and 269 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: then pushed the top of the door down back into 270 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: the video play. I had one of those. Yeah, and 271 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: this was you know, it's interesting to think of that 272 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: because I think the last time I actually went shopping 273 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: for a v c R, I was just looking for 274 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: for one to because I've got tapes I wanted to 275 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: be able to play them. This was years ago, but 276 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: I remember running across models that were like thirty or 277 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: forty dollars. So to think of it as being almost 278 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: well thirty bucks in today's money back then, Uh, that's 279 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 1: kind of kind of mind blowing right there. And of course, uh, 280 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: you might say, okay, so what happened between nineteen fifty 281 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: six and nineteen seventy six, Uh, well, one of the 282 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: there were there were several things that happened. Of course 283 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: that like all technology, it seems like people find out 284 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: better ways to achieve the same effects. So you know, 285 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: gradually these machines are getting smaller, they're getting lighter, Uh, 286 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: the qualities going up, They're getting more affordable as as 287 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: people can mass produce them in greater quantities. There was 288 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: also something else that that is common with this kind 289 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,280 Speaker 1: of technology, and there were people that just didn't want 290 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: VCRs on on people's home entertainment shelves. Are you talking 291 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: about organizations like the Motion Picture Association of America. Yes, yeah, 292 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: so you've got these organizations that were legitimately concerned that 293 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: home access to this kind of technology would mean a hit. 294 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: It would take the organization, organization would take a hit, 295 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: the whole movie industry would take a hit, as people 296 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: would refrain from going out to the movies and instead 297 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: watch things from their homes. Same sort of concern was 298 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: from the television industry. If you didn't require people to 299 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,920 Speaker 1: be at a certain place at a certain time, then 300 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,960 Speaker 1: how can you guarantee that your advertisers are spending the 301 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: right amount of money for advertisements during that slot on TV? Oh? Oh, 302 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: but what but what? But what happens I ask you 303 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,640 Speaker 1: when when your favorite one of your favorite movies comes 304 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,440 Speaker 1: on on the local station, you could record it yourself 305 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: and then never have to go see it again. You 306 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 1: could watch it again any time you want it. Yeah 307 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: that's not cool. Yeah, So these were real arguments that 308 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: were brought up against it. That was one of the 309 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: reasons why it took a while for this stuff to 310 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,360 Speaker 1: get to market, which because there was a big resistance 311 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: on the part of the content providers. So it seems 312 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: like that happens every time there's something that's one of 313 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: these revolutions in technology. If this episode we're all about 314 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: digital video recorders, it would be the same story. Yeah, 315 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: or audio cassettessettes. Really any any time you get to 316 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: any kind of medium where you're permanently putting something down. Yeah. Yeah, 317 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: there there are people who are saying, wait a minute, 318 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 1: how are we going to make money now? Well? Yeah, 319 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: I mean that it gave rise to uh to these industries. 320 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: They were able to record it the first time, and 321 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: then they could show it to you or play it 322 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: for you any other time for a fee. Yeah, they 323 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: were had. They were losing their money. Two major industries 324 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: popped up because of this. You had the rental industry. Yes, 325 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: so companies like Blockbuster and all the other rental agencies 326 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: out there that could rent out videotapes. They would not 327 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: exist without this. And then secondly, you had just the 328 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: home theater market industry. People who were purchased seeing tapes 329 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: so that they could own these movies that they loved 330 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,960 Speaker 1: in a more permanent fashion instead of being like, oh, 331 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: I saw this great movie in the theater five years ago. 332 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,280 Speaker 1: It's called Star Wars. I really wish that I could 333 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: watch it again, but no theater is showing it, and 334 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: there's no I mean, why would a theater release it again. Well, 335 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: suddenly this created a whole new market for these old films. 336 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: So once the industries realized this, they started they reverse 337 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: their decisions. Oh now I get it, and they made 338 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: stupid amounts of money on this. I remember buying UH 339 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: movies movies when they first came out on video cassette. 340 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: They were exorbitant eighty dollars for a film. Well, and 341 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,000 Speaker 1: in a lot of cases that was because those movies 342 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,199 Speaker 1: were priced for rental agencies, so that you would have 343 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,880 Speaker 1: a company like Blockbuster. I always use that one because 344 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 1: that's the one that most people are familiar with. But 345 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: Blockbuster would say, all right, we'll pay a hundred dollars 346 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: per uh copy of this film, and then we'll make 347 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: get up by renting it out to X number of customers. 348 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: And so it will take us, you know, a certain 349 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: number of times before we make our money back. But 350 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: after that, it's all profit as long as that tape 351 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: is undamaged, you know, as long of that tape is 352 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: is is lendable. Yeah, so uh yeah, there were a 353 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: lot of videotapes that never went on sale for a 354 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: price that the average consumer would consider reasonable because it 355 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: was never meant for the mass market. It was meant 356 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: for the rental agency market. One of the movies, there's 357 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: a movie that I talk about among my friends all 358 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: the time called Blood Salvage. The tagline is if Jake 359 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: can't fix it, it's been dead too long. It was 360 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: a gothic Southern horror movie about a a guy who 361 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:50,719 Speaker 1: runs a wrecking facility. He Um. He has drives an 362 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 1: old tow truck and he um salvages parts from from 363 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: vehicles and people. Anyway, I was an extra in this film. 364 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: Don't even bother trying to find it if you want 365 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: to look for me, because you first you don't know 366 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 1: what I looked like when I was twelve and two. 367 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,360 Speaker 1: You would have to have eagle eyes and your hand 368 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: on the pause because it's gone in a flash. But anyway, 369 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: I wanted to copy this movie because I actually enjoyed it. 370 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,120 Speaker 1: It's a goofy horror movie, can't be tongue in cheek 371 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: kind of gross, you know, right up my alley, right, 372 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: So I went looking for it's the only place. Finally 373 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,640 Speaker 1: I got it on eBay when someone got it from 374 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:34,360 Speaker 1: like a fire sale from some rental company. But yeah, 375 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: that's why those those tapes were that expensive. So all right, 376 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: So the VHS has been on the market for just 377 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: four years or so. In VHS made up seventy of 378 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: all video cassette sales by then Beta had dropped down 379 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: to and it was all VHS from there on out 380 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: until really the late ninety nineties, and it didn't really 381 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: start dropping off until the two thousand's. But we'll get 382 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: into that after we talk about how this stuff works. Yeah, 383 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's one of the important things too, 384 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: is UM in general, these machines all kind of work 385 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: the same. We're talking about Beta max and uh uh 386 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: you know three quarter for the television industry, UM three 387 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: quarter inch UM for VHS. They're basically they're all a 388 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: reel of magnetic tape inside a cassette. And that's one 389 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: of the cool things about video cassette recorders is that 390 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,280 Speaker 1: these devices, I mean, and I talk about the cassettes, 391 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 1: the cassettes themselves are designed to protect the tape, which 392 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: is necessary because uh, certain young people I know would 393 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: gladly reach in and grab the tape and pull it 394 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 1: right out of the cassette, if it was possible to 395 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: do so easily. Um, it is if you know what 396 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: you're doing. But it's got protections on it to keep 397 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 1: it from getting stuff spilled on it or getting cooled 398 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: on something by accident. Um. So it was very wide 399 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,479 Speaker 1: of the people who made these cassettes to build in 400 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,440 Speaker 1: some protections. It's got a little door and if you 401 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: hit a cassette, if you hit the little button springloaded button, 402 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,439 Speaker 1: you can pull the door open and actually look at 403 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: the tape. Um. But it's got you know, two reels 404 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: that the tape starts on one side, moves to the 405 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: other side, but it's the cassette also has some features 406 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: to to prevent that from being done casually. Yeah, there's 407 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 1: some springloaded uh brakes on there that have to be 408 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,439 Speaker 1: engaged in order for them to release the tape. And 409 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: the VCR actually has a little pin or a pair 410 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 1: of pins really that that insert into the bottom of 411 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: the tape that releases that spring loaded brake. Otherwise it's 412 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 1: much more difficult. If you've ever tried to manually wind 413 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: a VHS tape, you realize this isn't moving very easily 414 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: at all, it doesn't work like an audio cassette where 415 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,160 Speaker 1: you can take a pencil and yeah and rewindedly winded back, 416 00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: like especially if if the tape had come out a 417 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,120 Speaker 1: little bit and yeah, boy, I've had fun with those. 418 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:06,720 Speaker 1: Um So, Also, the the information that's stored on this 419 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:12,159 Speaker 1: magnetic tape is not recorded linearly left to right or 420 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: right to left. It's if you did that, the tape 421 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: would have to be enormous because, like we said that 422 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: that visual information takes a lot of space. So this 423 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:25,560 Speaker 1: was one of the clever ideas that the video cassette 424 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: industry came up with early on, was instead of recording 425 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: it like a straight line, like imagine you have a 426 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: really wide sheet of paper, all right, so it's it's 427 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: a roll of paper, maybe, Yeah, like a roll of paper, 428 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: and you've you've rolled it out from left to right 429 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: and you're going to write a message. Well you cut 430 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,919 Speaker 1: off cut off at ten feet, all right, So at 431 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: ten feet you're writing in and you can only write 432 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: one line from left to right. You can't you can't 433 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: go back down underneath after you get to the end. 434 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: There's a limited amount of information you can write on there. 435 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: But let's say that instead of writing it to directly 436 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: left to right, you tilt the paper. Okay, so you're 437 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: writing at a diagonal from the let's say the the 438 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,399 Speaker 1: the top the bottom edge to the top edge, you know, 439 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,360 Speaker 1: and at a slant right, all right, And then you 440 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: write one little bit of information, and then you go 441 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: take a little space and you write again in a 442 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: diagonal from the from the bottom edge to the top edge. Uh. 443 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,359 Speaker 1: And then you go a little bit further down you 444 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: write from the bottom edge to the top edge. And 445 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: again you're doing this at a at an angle, so 446 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: it's maybe like a forty five degree angle across the paper. 447 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: You can fit more information on that same sheet of 448 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,400 Speaker 1: paper by recording it at that slant. That's true. That's 449 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: what is going on with VHS tapes. The the information 450 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: is recorded at a bias on the tape. It's not 451 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:51,160 Speaker 1: a direct horizontal line of information. It's several diagonal lines 452 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: of information arranged in a horizontal row. And the way 453 00:25:56,119 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: the the VCR copes with this is that the device 454 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: that reads and writes to the uh, to the tape 455 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:09,199 Speaker 1: itself is tilted. It's it's it's not uh, it's not 456 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: perfectly vertical. That the drumhead that does this. It's actually 457 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: at a tilted an angle so that it can read 458 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 1: and write this information at this angle. Well, sorry, guys, 459 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,199 Speaker 1: this is John from two thousand nineteen. Looks like I 460 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: accidentally hit pause on the VCR right there. Well, while 461 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 1: I try and figure out how this remote works, let's 462 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:38,879 Speaker 1: take a quick break and thank our sponsor. So I 463 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,200 Speaker 1: guess we need to kind of dive into what a 464 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,640 Speaker 1: VCR looks like if you were to open one up. Okay, 465 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: all right, um, well of course, Uh, we were just 466 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: talking about the the information recorded on the tape and 467 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: the drum. Uh. When you pop a video cassette inside 468 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: a VCR, um, what it's going to do is it's 469 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: going to engage all the pins and things to get 470 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: the tape ready to play, and it actually pulls the 471 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 1: tape outside the case of the cassette. Yes, the little 472 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: protective door lifts up, the brakes are released, and a 473 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:20,159 Speaker 1: couple of of guides which are inserted behind the tape 474 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,959 Speaker 1: inside the cassette itself when you push it down. It's 475 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,639 Speaker 1: part of the VCR. These two guides pop up inside 476 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: the tape the cassette itself behind the tape the door 477 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,439 Speaker 1: releases up and the guides pull the tape like a 478 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: ribbon up to the innerds of the VCR itself. So 479 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: if you've ever popped a tape in and you hear 480 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: that that mechanical were as it as a tape gets 481 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: ready to play, that's what it is. It's the the uh, 482 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 1: the mechanics inside engaging that tape. And then there's that 483 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,120 Speaker 1: that big drum that you said was at an angle, Yeah, 484 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: the rotating head drum. This is this is the all 485 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: the visual information stuff is all based off of this drum. 486 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 1: The ones I've seen are silver in color and it's 487 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: it's large. You can it's probably the easily most identifiable 488 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 1: part of the inside of the VCR. I would say 489 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 1: this is the piece that that rotates and will drive 490 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:21,120 Speaker 1: the helps drive the the progression of the tape from 491 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: one reel to the other reel. There are other rollers 492 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: that are in there too that will also help move 493 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: the tape along. It's not just the rotating head drum 494 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,880 Speaker 1: that that propels the tape through uh. There's a pinch 495 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,399 Speaker 1: roller that also does this through uh through um uh. 496 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: There's a a stationary roller called a cap stand yes, 497 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: and a pintroller that's on the opposite side of the 498 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,800 Speaker 1: cap stand. The tape moves between the two and the 499 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,960 Speaker 1: pressure that the to create against each other that's what 500 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: allows it to pinch and pull that tape through. So 501 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: you've got the rotating head drum and the pintroller that 502 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: are helped propelling this tape through the system. You also 503 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,840 Speaker 1: have a couple of different UM well they're called heads 504 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: inside the device that that have specific purposes. Yeah. Now, 505 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: the rotating head drum is there to to read the 506 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,320 Speaker 1: video information, but there is an audio head as well, 507 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: UM which is located over off to the side. It's 508 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: not right next to it, UM generally, but what it 509 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: does is it reads the audio track on there. And uh, 510 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: you know, a VCR is designed to record UM video tapes. 511 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: And if you've ever had a video tape, let's say 512 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: you you recorded UM a show that you wanted to watch. 513 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 1: For a while, before I had a d v R, 514 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: I used to record shows that I wasn't going to 515 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: be available to watch, and I would, uh you know, 516 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:43,280 Speaker 1: I had a couple of tapes that I used over 517 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: and over again. Well, there's an e race head inside 518 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: of v c R that will erase the information on 519 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: the tape so that you can rerecord it with additional 520 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: tape without there being interference or otherwise you would just 521 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 1: have stuff overlaid on top of each other, over and 522 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: over and over again, and it would be unviewable. I'm 523 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,480 Speaker 1: us you were you know, David Lynch or something. Now 524 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: they're just like with an audio cassette. There is a tab, 525 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: a little plastic tab on a v vc R cassette 526 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: that tells the VCR whether it's allowed to engage the 527 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: race head or not. Um. If you went out to 528 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: buy a copy of your a movie that you liked 529 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: from the shelves, that tape, that tab would be gone. Um. 530 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,840 Speaker 1: And you know if you tried to hit record, you 531 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: could not accidentally record over it. Now as most of 532 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: us with a long history of these things, now, uh, 533 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: you could put a piece of tape over it and 534 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: it would allow you to do this, but you would 535 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: have to actually do something yourself to allow the tape 536 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: to be replaced, so that way you would it. Let's 537 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: say let's say that you got that that Sweating to 538 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: the Oldies eight and you're like, this is not nearly 539 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: as good as my Sweating to the oldies seven. You 540 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 1: know what, I'm not going to have this debate with 541 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 1: you again. All right. Well, anyway, you might think I 542 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: want to be able to record over this, and then 543 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 1: you would use a piece of tape to do that 544 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: because otherwise, like you were saying, it would prevent you 545 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: from doing that accidentally. Because nothing like the panic you 546 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: experience when you put a tape in and then you 547 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: realize that you accidentally just hit play and record and 548 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: not just play and you want to and it's a 549 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: tape that you did not want to erase. There's a 550 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: there's a special level of panic. Yes, I'm not sure 551 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: that I have a word for it, but I have 552 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: definitely felt that more than once. Yes, yes, um it 553 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 1: also has a VCR also has the ability to read 554 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: additional information about the tape. Uh, if you will, it's 555 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: metadata just on the tape itself. UM that tells the 556 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 1: VCR some important things like UMU. When we were talking 557 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: about it just a few minutes ago. There there three 558 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: typically three modes that a VHS tape can be played 559 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: in SP, LP and EP UM. Basically, uh, there, we 560 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: won't get into I won't get into that just yet. 561 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 1: Let's let's but um, you can. It tells this information 562 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,960 Speaker 1: is along the tape. Um that hell's the VCR what 563 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,240 Speaker 1: speed to play the video back at? Yeah, this is 564 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: along the control track and it also, um, you know, 565 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: it also has a sensor the VCR does UM that 566 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: tells it has some clear leader tape UM that they 567 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,480 Speaker 1: put before and after the the brown colored magnetic tape 568 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: that tells it basically, hey, there, you're either at the 569 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: beginning or at the end of the tape. Go ahead 570 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: and prepare to shut down. Yeah, this is actually start 571 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 1: the movie. A very simple sensory because all it is 572 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: is trying to detect light. So if the regular tape 573 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,360 Speaker 1: is passing through, it's dark enough so that the light 574 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: does not hit the sensor, and the sensor says, yep, 575 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:40,800 Speaker 1: it's still good. But then once it gets to the 576 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 1: clear tape at the end, it says, whoa that to 577 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: the end of the tape, it actually does not say anything. 578 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 1: By the way, is there light? No? Is there light? No? 579 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: Is it a light? No? Is it a light? Now? 580 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: I keep hearing voices coming out of my VCO And 581 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: that's a totally different problem and not covered under our podcasts. 582 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,479 Speaker 1: But yeah, for the for the most part opening up 583 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 1: a VCO are. Uh, there's not a lot of a 584 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: glamour to it. There are rollers and some pins and 585 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: then basically being there to hold the cassette in place 586 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: and guide the tape so that it doesn't just you know, 587 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 1: start snarling on things and then then you've got a 588 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: mess on your hands. The rotating head drum is probably 589 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: the most interesting feature. I mean, first of all, it's 590 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: it's one of the largest parts of the and if 591 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: you if you were to look at one and not yeah, 592 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: and if you were to look at what and not 593 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: know what it was, you might think, my VCR is broken. 594 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,720 Speaker 1: This thing is sideways, it's tilted. It's supposed to be 595 00:33:34,760 --> 00:33:36,920 Speaker 1: like that, Yeah, because like I said, it's it's because 596 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:42,720 Speaker 1: of the direction of the information being stored on that tape. Uh, 597 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:50,480 Speaker 1: the whole rotating head thing. Uh, it's called helical scanning helical, Yeah, 598 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: because of the way that the information is encoded along 599 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: the the tape. It's almost like a helix. Now. Um, 600 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,600 Speaker 1: we were talking a moment ago about the speeds. Uh. 601 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: The n SP mode that's the highest quality mode that 602 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,720 Speaker 1: of VHS tape can can use, and it uses uh 603 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,280 Speaker 1: it goes by at about one point three one linear 604 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:15,319 Speaker 1: inches or thirty three point three five millimeters per second UM. 605 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:18,280 Speaker 1: LP is the medium it allows you know that that's 606 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: a definitely about two hours. LP runs about four hours UM, 607 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:24,879 Speaker 1: and in order to do that, it runs the tape 608 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: about UH point sixty six um inches per second and 609 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,760 Speaker 1: UH are linear inches per second and uh that's sixteen 610 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:37,240 Speaker 1: point seven millimeters per second, and EP gives you about 611 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: six hours on an average cassette UM when it's running 612 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: up at about point four four linear inches per second 613 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:49,720 Speaker 1: or eleven point one two millimeters per second. The thing is, uh, 614 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: you know, as you increase or actually as you decrease 615 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,880 Speaker 1: the speed, you're getting poorer quality, which might sound strange 616 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: too to uh to people who are just listening to 617 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: this and like, wait, what do you mean? How how 618 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: is it that going slower means poorer quality? And it's 619 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: because you're using you're using a less space to store 620 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 1: all that information. Yes, that's the thing, is that deal. 621 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:16,680 Speaker 1: If you're if you're going faster, then you're using up 622 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:20,440 Speaker 1: all that tape to store you know, a smaller amount 623 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,200 Speaker 1: of information then you would be if you're going slower. 624 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: It's it's almost counterintuitive when you first think about it. 625 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 1: But then when you actually sit there and say, oh wait, 626 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,919 Speaker 1: if if I have a piece of paper that's going 627 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: past me at a certain speed and I'm I'm I'm 628 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:37,759 Speaker 1: able to write really really fast. Uh, you know, it's 629 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get as much um, I'm not gonna 630 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:44,680 Speaker 1: get as much quality crammed in there. It's just weird. Man. 631 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:46,360 Speaker 1: I sit there and try and think about it, and 632 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: then my brain breaks. But no, Yeah, the slower it goes, 633 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 1: the less the lower the quality. It's not able to 634 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,319 Speaker 1: store as much information and um uh as you would 635 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,840 Speaker 1: if you were running it faster. True, and some of 636 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: the drs to have a flying race head, which is 637 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:04,799 Speaker 1: not what happens when you get really fed up because 638 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:12,360 Speaker 1: your VCR is broken and you fling it across the room. Nice. Um. 639 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:14,919 Speaker 1: The race head that we were talking about before, UH 640 00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 1: found in uh the less expensive VCRs is basically just 641 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,359 Speaker 1: gonna erase the entire tape. Um. But a flying race 642 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,240 Speaker 1: head is is you can find it on the rotating 643 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:29,520 Speaker 1: drum itself, and it actually can take individual bands and 644 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: erase them and uh that allows you to be more 645 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:39,280 Speaker 1: precise when you erase material. From the VCR tape. UM. Also, 646 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: if you're going to use the two faster speeds, uh, 647 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:47,960 Speaker 1: you're going to need a forehead VCR. UM. Again, this 648 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: is not some sort of mutant Uh. The sp tape 649 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,480 Speaker 1: only needs two heads, but a forehead VCR can run 650 00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: the other speeds. Basically, the other heads uh play heads 651 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 1: need to be there so that they can on the 652 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: other speeds. UM. So it's just one of those technological 653 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,480 Speaker 1: things that needs to take place in order to uh 654 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 1: do that. But if you've ever wondered what that meant 655 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: when you saw it on on the cards, because because 656 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: you aren't going to see it now at your local 657 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:17,720 Speaker 1: department store, I can tell you, um, you know that 658 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:19,360 Speaker 1: that was that was one of the marks of a 659 00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: more sophisticated VCR because you you had more flexibility to 660 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: record other other speeds with that. Yeah. And there are 661 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:33,919 Speaker 1: multiple standards for encoding information onto cassettes. And anyone who 662 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: has tried to bring back a tape from another country 663 00:37:38,880 --> 00:37:41,439 Speaker 1: into their home country and then realize that doesn't play 664 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: on their machine has experienced this joy. Because the VHS 665 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 1: tapes from from various countries tend to be the same size. 666 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: I mean physically, there doesn't appear to be anything different 667 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: about them. It's convenient, right, they don't have to make 668 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: a new size cassette, right, But the the saves money. 669 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: The encoding process is different, and the playback process is different, 670 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,799 Speaker 1: the speeds are different and uh, and they're not compatible, 671 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: so you could lead to a flying race head. So 672 00:38:10,800 --> 00:38:14,160 Speaker 1: our folks overhead, our friends in in in the UK 673 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:19,439 Speaker 1: they used the the Powell standard PL which was also 674 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,759 Speaker 1: very popular throughout Europe and other countries as well, and 675 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:24,800 Speaker 1: then the United States and then a few other countries 676 00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:29,280 Speaker 1: including Japan. In TSC was the standard. And these again 677 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: we're not compatible. So if you went over, like if 678 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,759 Speaker 1: I hopped on the plane and flew over to Old 679 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:38,439 Speaker 1: Blighty and decided that I wanted to pick up the 680 00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: full series of Doctor Who from the classic era and 681 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 1: then come back and watch them, I would be very 682 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:48,520 Speaker 1: much disappointed when I tried to play those in my 683 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: my United States VCR, because I would not play back. 684 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: You would really need to buy a VCR there and 685 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:59,080 Speaker 1: bring it back with you, and then possibly adapters as well. Yes, 686 00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,759 Speaker 1: and and and and then eventually someone would show up 687 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,319 Speaker 1: at my door and asked me if I had my 688 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 1: television license, and I'd say, what are you talking about? Yeah, 689 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: I'm sure customs would love that. You know, they're to 690 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,359 Speaker 1: bring back a trunk full of electronics and plastic. Yeah. Well, 691 00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:15,600 Speaker 1: you know, they didn't say a thing when I brought 692 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: back the police call box. So, um, I thought the 693 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,960 Speaker 1: police call box brought you back. Let's rune a bypass customs. 694 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,799 Speaker 1: I just got on another list. That was a joke. 695 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: All of those things were jokes. So yeah, the different standards, 696 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 1: but that's that's why they're not compatible. Um. Yeah, and 697 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 1: that control track also holds the information necessary. Like usually 698 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,479 Speaker 1: the tracking is is fairly automatic. You know that that 699 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 1: tape over time warps. Yes, you can stretch. Um. You 700 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:48,839 Speaker 1: know the more you know, you're putting when we think 701 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,719 Speaker 1: about it, you're putting stress on it. You. Um let's 702 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 1: say you uh fast forward and rewind the tape over 703 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,200 Speaker 1: and over again, and then there's that sudden stop. I remember, Um, 704 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 1: I got a VC or I have now which is 705 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: thankfully still working. UM has a mechanism in it to 706 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:08,399 Speaker 1: determine when it's getting close to the end of the tape, 707 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:11,440 Speaker 1: and it starts to slow down when you're rewinding or 708 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: fast forwarding the entire tape, um to prevent it from 709 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:19,800 Speaker 1: getting that sudden stop, which could potently the tape snap. Yes, 710 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 1: and uh, you know the tape is the tape is 711 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:26,960 Speaker 1: very thin. It's made of essentially it's plastic, which is 712 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: known to stretch over time. Uh and uh, yeah, I 713 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,799 Speaker 1: mean you've spent the money on a movie or or 714 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,920 Speaker 1: something a show that let's say you've recorded your wedding 715 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 1: or you noted it and you don't own it. Yes, 716 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:44,560 Speaker 1: be kind please rewind. Um. So, yeah, I mean you 717 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:47,080 Speaker 1: want to take care of the tape because otherwise, uh, 718 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:49,200 Speaker 1: it could get out of whack. That's um, if you 719 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,560 Speaker 1: have to mess with the tracking control. You know about 720 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:55,080 Speaker 1: this because the tracking basically controls how the tape is 721 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:58,560 Speaker 1: reading it. When you start to see uh static little 722 00:40:58,600 --> 00:41:01,200 Speaker 1: lines in the in the video playback, you realize that 723 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: the tape has started to warp or stretch. Yeah, it's 724 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,200 Speaker 1: not quite aligned properly, so the the drumheads having trouble 725 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,440 Speaker 1: reading the information. So with the tracking. Some of some 726 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,759 Speaker 1: of the VCRs, especially later ones, have automatic tracking, where 727 00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:16,960 Speaker 1: it just a text that that's the things are not 728 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,279 Speaker 1: quite right, and it will start making adjustments. Others have 729 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,600 Speaker 1: manual tracking. Others have manual tracking where you have to 730 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: change a little dial or whatever and try and get 731 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,440 Speaker 1: it as closely aligned as possible so that you have 732 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: the best possible picture. I remember doing that a lot 733 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,480 Speaker 1: with stuff that we had taped off television back when 734 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 1: I was a kid. Yeah. Yeah, Well, especially if you 735 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:39,399 Speaker 1: use it over and over again, the more the more 736 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,279 Speaker 1: likely you uh, the more you use it, the more 737 00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,879 Speaker 1: likely it is to start to stretch and and uh 738 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: and warp. I hope you guys are enjoying this rewind 739 00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 1: episode of text stuff on VCRs. I'm running out of 740 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: VCR puns, but let's take a quick break to thank 741 00:41:56,160 --> 00:42:06,480 Speaker 1: our sponsor. Well, let's talk a little bit about what 742 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: has happened to the VCR and VHS DVDs. Yeah, that 743 00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:15,640 Speaker 1: was a big one. Okay, So DVDs when they premiered, 744 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:20,960 Speaker 1: well first, it wasn't a huge blow to VHS at all. Well, 745 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,719 Speaker 1: for the same reasons we were talking about earlier in 746 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:26,640 Speaker 1: the podcast. They were the machines were expensive, DVDs were expensive, 747 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:28,880 Speaker 1: and there weren't nearly as many I mean, you know, 748 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 1: you could find the odds of finding a popular movie 749 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:36,240 Speaker 1: in those days on VHS were pretty high, but finding 750 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 1: that same film on DVD could be really a challenge 751 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,319 Speaker 1: because there just wasn't as much content available and that 752 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 1: form factor at that point. So stop DVD players from 753 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:51,880 Speaker 1: selling very quickly. Now they had a pretty relatively fast 754 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:54,520 Speaker 1: ramp up. I mean it. I do remember that it 755 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:56,360 Speaker 1: was a couple of years before I got a DVD 756 00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: player because they were they were, you know, luxury items. Yeah, 757 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 1: for a long time. But you did start to notice 758 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,040 Speaker 1: things like if you went to one of those rental 759 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:09,800 Speaker 1: stores like Blockbuster, you started noticing that the VHS section 760 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: was getting smaller and the DVD section was getting larger. 761 00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 1: Same thing in retail stores. You would go to a 762 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:17,560 Speaker 1: retail store that would sell movies, and you know that 763 00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:21,280 Speaker 1: the VHS would get smaller and smaller. But DVDs started 764 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: to really take over. Uh Well, I mean DVDs have 765 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: some advantages. You know, there is no warping or stretching. Well, 766 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:31,680 Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's the possibility that you could scratch them. Um, 767 00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:34,120 Speaker 1: but even even depending on how they scratch, they may 768 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: not uh they may not be damaged enough to affect 769 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,520 Speaker 1: the playback significantly. Plus you have a lot more control 770 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:47,319 Speaker 1: of over where you can start and end. The resolution 771 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,719 Speaker 1: was far better than vhs. If you can, you can 772 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:55,880 Speaker 1: watch them in computers and even include extras that allow 773 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,840 Speaker 1: you to interact with them. Uh, you know, games and 774 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: other things the tracks, Yeah, and and things like that 775 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,520 Speaker 1: that you couldn't do with a with a videotape. Yeah. 776 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,920 Speaker 1: If I ever wanted to, uh to watch a movie 777 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,279 Speaker 1: like let's say Indiana Jones and Raised the Lost Ark, 778 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,040 Speaker 1: I never wanted to watch Rails Lost Ark and and 779 00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: have a commentary track while I was watching it on VHS. 780 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:24,120 Speaker 1: I had to kidnap Steven Spielberg and and tie him 781 00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 1: up and have him sit next to me as I 782 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: watched it. And that only works once, folks. Thanks to 783 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:32,040 Speaker 1: the restraining order, he won't be doing that again. Yeah, 784 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,479 Speaker 1: they recognize you even if you dramatically change your look. 785 00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:38,120 Speaker 1: It's amazing Steven Spielberg has this ability. And if he 786 00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 1: does not forget a face. Yeah. So, Uh. DVDs really 787 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:48,440 Speaker 1: became popular quickly enough that it started to put a 788 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,200 Speaker 1: It started to clue the movie studios in and of 789 00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:54,640 Speaker 1: course at this point they were a little less likely 790 00:44:54,719 --> 00:44:57,759 Speaker 1: to be upset about the DVDs, which were Uh. You know, 791 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:01,320 Speaker 1: when you buy a DVD from the store, you can't 792 00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:05,000 Speaker 1: record over it like you could with VHS tape. Uh, 793 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:06,759 Speaker 1: you know, all it takes a little piece of tape, 794 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,040 Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. For for a long time, Uh, the 795 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,440 Speaker 1: the ability to record to DVD at all was even 796 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:16,880 Speaker 1: greater luxury than a DVD player. Yeah, so they, you know, 797 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,759 Speaker 1: the movie studios, I don't remember them making as big 798 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: a fuss about DVD as they did for some of 799 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:25,560 Speaker 1: the other stuff, And so they people adopted it fairly quickly. 800 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:30,360 Speaker 1: It still took a while though, before VHS started really 801 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:34,040 Speaker 1: tapering off in popularity. In two thousand three, that was 802 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:38,440 Speaker 1: when DVD rentals began to finally outpace VHS rentals and 803 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:42,759 Speaker 1: rental agencies. And in two thousand five, DVD sales hit 804 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,640 Speaker 1: twenty two billion with a B dollars and VHS was 805 00:45:46,719 --> 00:45:49,240 Speaker 1: down to one point five billion with a B dollars. 806 00:45:49,239 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 1: So the writing was on the wall at that point. 807 00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:54,560 Speaker 1: But the real blow came in two thousand eight. Yes, 808 00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,279 Speaker 1: that's when j v C, which if you recall, was 809 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:04,439 Speaker 1: the company that introduced the VHS format, stopped producing standalone VCRs. Yeah, 810 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 1: and that was that prompted a lot of people to 811 00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:10,160 Speaker 1: say that two thousand and eight marked the death of 812 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:13,960 Speaker 1: the VCR. Yeah, although I think it's as dead as 813 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:20,239 Speaker 1: any of these other technologies are, like uh, the final turntable, UM, 814 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,359 Speaker 1: the laser disc and some of these other the other 815 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:26,520 Speaker 1: formats there. And the thing is, I mean you you 816 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 1: told me too before the podcast that you have some 817 00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:32,759 Speaker 1: movies that you have on on VHS cassettes that you 818 00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:36,080 Speaker 1: can't find on dv Blood Salvage, fix It. It's been 819 00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:39,680 Speaker 1: dead too long, so it's not available on DVD. So 820 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 1: there you go. Um, there are reasons that that you 821 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,840 Speaker 1: that people are still going to want to make them available. 822 00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 1: Of course, libraries and other people who have uh large 823 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,239 Speaker 1: who spent money on these have to find a way 824 00:46:53,239 --> 00:46:56,719 Speaker 1: to either convert them or maintain the equipment long enough 825 00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,160 Speaker 1: to keep it out there. So uh, I think it's Um, 826 00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:02,799 Speaker 1: it sort of turned into a zombie technology at this point. 827 00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:04,759 Speaker 1: But I just hadn't realized how far I had gone 828 00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:06,960 Speaker 1: until a few days ago when I went and then 829 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,280 Speaker 1: tried to find one. Yeah, I was thinking I'll probably 830 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,480 Speaker 1: be able to get one for twenty dollars or so. 831 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,319 Speaker 1: He seen that recorded that the last major supplier of 832 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:19,000 Speaker 1: VHS tapes in the United States shifted its final truckload 833 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:23,160 Speaker 1: in December eight Well, see that shows you how long 834 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,600 Speaker 1: it's been since I've tried to find a movie on VHS. Yeah, 835 00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:27,719 Speaker 1: and when, And a couple of films have come out 836 00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:30,920 Speaker 1: on VHS, but it's been more like a gimmick, like 837 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:36,440 Speaker 1: especially films that are uh, kind of an homage to 838 00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:39,440 Speaker 1: to certain genres that were really that came to prominence 839 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,879 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties. Yeah, which you know, that's short 840 00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,640 Speaker 1: of the same thing we saw with bands and vinyl 841 00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:46,600 Speaker 1: for a while, because the Vinyl was kind of a 842 00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,400 Speaker 1: gimmick like saying, hey, look, we're this cool independent group 843 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:54,600 Speaker 1: and we're supporting this what some would call obsolete form factor. 844 00:47:55,360 --> 00:48:00,400 Speaker 1: But you know, although Vinyl managed to to have a 845 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:03,960 Speaker 1: a second gasp, I'm not sure that VHS well, and 846 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:08,360 Speaker 1: the big reason behind that. DVDs definitely were a blow 847 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:12,040 Speaker 1: to VCRs. Yes, digital video recorders was like that was 848 00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:15,560 Speaker 1: the death blow. The DVR was a death blow to 849 00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:20,439 Speaker 1: the VCR because now you had DVDs where you could 850 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:25,560 Speaker 1: get a better quality picture and experience from the content providers, 851 00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 1: and you had DVRs, which that's what took care of 852 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:31,840 Speaker 1: the time shifting element of vc rs. Yes, definitely, because 853 00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:36,400 Speaker 1: I actually had um VHS or VCR plus, which was 854 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:40,200 Speaker 1: this technology that people came out with that would allow 855 00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:42,720 Speaker 1: you too. If you knew a code and your VCR 856 00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:44,799 Speaker 1: was equipped with it, you could enter that code in 857 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,960 Speaker 1: your VCR and it would pick the right channel in 858 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:50,319 Speaker 1: the right date. Of course, some my VCR didn't have 859 00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:53,720 Speaker 1: the ability to change channels like my DVR does, because 860 00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 1: it's built in so it can change that. It knows 861 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:57,839 Speaker 1: what channel to change it too, it knows when, and 862 00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:01,239 Speaker 1: I can subscribe to an entire earies. So I can 863 00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:04,839 Speaker 1: say I want you to record this show which comes 864 00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:08,560 Speaker 1: on two days at eight, and the network makes a decision, no, 865 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,560 Speaker 1: we're going to move that to Thursdays at nine thirty. Well, 866 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,200 Speaker 1: the DVR can handle that because and again there's meta 867 00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:18,399 Speaker 1: data there that the DVR can follows. I can say 868 00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 1: I want to record new episodes only don't record reruns, 869 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,719 Speaker 1: and it goes, okay, this one's a rerun. That's kipping it. Yeah, 870 00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:25,840 Speaker 1: whereas your VCR would just be like, nope, I'm going 871 00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:27,680 Speaker 1: to record at this channel at this time. Because that's 872 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:29,560 Speaker 1: what he told me to. Yeah, and it's it's so 873 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:33,000 Speaker 1: much more. The DVR is so much more flexible, much 874 00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:37,359 Speaker 1: more versatile that then a VHS recorder is, and it's 875 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 1: just one between the two of those. Once the move 876 00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:44,319 Speaker 1: to digital happened, VHS really had no hope. And then 877 00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:47,320 Speaker 1: on top of that, if that weren't enough, even the DVR, 878 00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:49,880 Speaker 1: at this point I think is starting to have a 879 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:53,080 Speaker 1: bit of a slowdown. You know, people aren't buying DVRs 880 00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:55,319 Speaker 1: as as frequently as they were before. And then part 881 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,399 Speaker 1: of that is because the time shifting has gone even 882 00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:01,640 Speaker 1: more dramatic with Serve. This is like Netflix Incident, or 883 00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:05,400 Speaker 1: Hulu Plus or Hulu Hulu in general, or the Amazon 884 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:09,640 Speaker 1: Video where people now have access huge libraries of content 885 00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:14,359 Speaker 1: that don't require a DVR necessarily. A lot of them 886 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 1: have access to it through stuff they already own, video 887 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:21,560 Speaker 1: game consoles or just on on a computer. So we've 888 00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:25,240 Speaker 1: even seen the DVR have a meteoric rise, and then 889 00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:27,640 Speaker 1: I think I wouldn't say that it's gone or anything, 890 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:30,400 Speaker 1: but still I think it's in decline. I think companies 891 00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:33,359 Speaker 1: like TiVo are finding it harder to make products that 892 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:36,319 Speaker 1: consumers are finding really compelling. That they feel they have 893 00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:41,640 Speaker 1: to go out and get because the the internet delivery 894 00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:46,600 Speaker 1: method has taken off pretty dramatically over the last two years. Yeah, 895 00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,239 Speaker 1: I don't think they'll they'll die out like some of 896 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:53,319 Speaker 1: the other technologies simply because of well, actually live TV, um, 897 00:50:53,719 --> 00:50:56,520 Speaker 1: things like awards shows and sports and things like that 898 00:50:56,520 --> 00:50:59,960 Speaker 1: that uh um, you you won't be able to get 899 00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:02,560 Speaker 1: it later on from one of the streaming shows you 900 00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:06,680 Speaker 1: want to watch. Uh Um, let's say the the Oscars. 901 00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,560 Speaker 1: She wouldn't be able to You're not gonna say, watch 902 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,600 Speaker 1: the Oscars from last week on Netflix. Yeah, those of 903 00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:15,680 Speaker 1: us on the East Coast are sick of the Oscars 904 00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:18,120 Speaker 1: coming on so late at night for us, Yeah, or 905 00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:20,839 Speaker 1: it's the afternoon for everyone in California. But for us, 906 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:23,560 Speaker 1: we're like, can you move it along? I have work tomorrow. 907 00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,560 Speaker 1: But but you're right, like the standalone stuff, it's it's 908 00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:30,160 Speaker 1: it's not a thing anymore. It's something you sort of 909 00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:34,680 Speaker 1: expect um. But yeah, it's it's kind of amazing that 910 00:51:35,200 --> 00:51:38,200 Speaker 1: VCRs really have moved off the map. I guess I'm 911 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,480 Speaker 1: just not tune with what's on the store shelf. Such 912 00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:43,920 Speaker 1: a it had such a huge impact on consumer behavior 913 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:46,400 Speaker 1: on the industry itself. I mean, it was one of 914 00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:49,560 Speaker 1: those pieces of technology that really was a game changer. 915 00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:53,200 Speaker 1: That's multiple I don't really care. Yeah, exactly, yes, And 916 00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:55,960 Speaker 1: so you know, to see it kind of disappear now, 917 00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:59,800 Speaker 1: it's again a reminder that just because something is popular 918 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:02,640 Speaker 1: doesn't mean it always will be that way. That's right. 919 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:05,840 Speaker 1: It's it's a lesson that we've had to learn multiple times, 920 00:52:05,840 --> 00:52:09,439 Speaker 1: and yet people still forget about it, and they'll still say, 921 00:52:09,480 --> 00:52:12,200 Speaker 1: oh no, I can't see it. I cannot imagine a 922 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:16,359 Speaker 1: time when this will not be important. Well, there may 923 00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:19,600 Speaker 1: come a time, is all I'm saying. And with that 924 00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:22,439 Speaker 1: in mind, the only thing I think you can count 925 00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:24,400 Speaker 1: on is that tech stuff will always be amazing and 926 00:52:24,440 --> 00:52:27,680 Speaker 1: popular and you should always listen to it, depending on 927 00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:31,759 Speaker 1: what format it's and uh, no matter we transcend, we 928 00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:38,560 Speaker 1: transcend formats, we transcend platforms, we are freaking amazing, all right. 929 00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:41,759 Speaker 1: So just you can in fact that, I think that's 930 00:52:41,800 --> 00:52:44,760 Speaker 1: gonna be our new slogan, tech stuff. We are freaking amazing. 931 00:52:45,440 --> 00:52:48,680 Speaker 1: You know. I am pretty sure that the VCR is 932 00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:51,640 Speaker 1: largely thought of as an obsolete piece of technology now. 933 00:52:51,680 --> 00:52:55,560 Speaker 1: They haven't been produced in a few years. But without it, 934 00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:58,840 Speaker 1: we wouldn't have the wonderful series Half in the Bag 935 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:03,640 Speaker 1: from Red Letter Media, where they are consistently and perpetually 936 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:08,960 Speaker 1: not repairing an old man's VCR. That's a great series. 937 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:11,800 Speaker 1: I hope you guys enjoyed this classic episode of tech Stuff. 938 00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:14,960 Speaker 1: If you guys have any episode ideas, or comments or 939 00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:17,520 Speaker 1: questions or anything like that, send them to me. The 940 00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,760 Speaker 1: email addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. 941 00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:23,839 Speaker 1: You can pop on over to our website that's tech 942 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:27,600 Speaker 1: stuff podcast dot com and check out the older episodes. 943 00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:29,879 Speaker 1: Don't forget the head over to our merchandise store that's 944 00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,759 Speaker 1: t public dot com slash tech stuff, and I'll talk 945 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:40,920 Speaker 1: to you again really soon for more on this and 946 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:43,560 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Because it how stuff works dot 947 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:53,520 Speaker 1: com