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Post by Arthur Chim on Jul 22, 2014 11:25:52 GMT
Also what stories where released on Betamax and video2000 in the early days? - Video2000 was the worst format for quality and you had to turn the tape around half way through the video! Betamax titles released in Australia included: The Seeds Of Death (Troughton) The Day Of The Daleks (Pertwee) The Time Warrior (Pertwee) Death To The Daleks (Pertwee) Revenge Of The Cybermen (Baker) Pyramids Of Mars (Baker) The Robots Of Death (Baker) The Five Doctors (Davison) Not sure if Brain Of Morbius was also on Betamax but the titles above I am sure of as I still have them.
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Post by petewhite on Jul 22, 2014 12:07:11 GMT
I did read somewhere that V2000 had auto tracking as standand, & some players & tapes had twin soundtracks for stereo sound or 2 languages. Aslo some high spec machines could auto reverse & even have an extended play of 16 hours per tape. Thats right. A 'GoTo' function too, so on your home recorded tapes you could input the point you wanted and it'd go straight there for you.
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Post by petewhite on Jul 22, 2014 12:16:48 GMT
There must of been a machine which could read both sides of the tape or a machine which could flip the tape it's self. I can see why tape flipping would be a pain. It would have happened, as auto tape flipping did with audio, sadly the format wasn't around long enough for that innovation. Flipping the tape wasn't too big a problem, we hadn't had remote controls all that long, so were still used to getting up to turn the channel over on TVs. I agree its not ideal for watching movies (unless theres one each side). But brilliant regards home taping. Regards TV serials, two sided tapes eventually would have been a great boon. Twice as many episodes. Two Who stories instead of one, and a whole lot less of those space consuming double and triple thick VHS boxsets. Regards Who on Video 2000. Looks like there was only Revenge Of The Cybermen and The Brain Of Morbius released. Thats the clincher eh? doctor-who-collectors.wikia.com/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Cybermen_(Video_2000)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 17:03:47 GMT
It can't of been clear at the time then which format was going to win, if the BBC released episodes on all formats?
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Post by petewhite on Jul 22, 2014 17:42:13 GMT
It can't of been clear at the time then which format was going to win, if the BBC released episodes on all formats? Thats right Ronnie. Video 2000 was a year or so late to market though (longer tech development), so had a disadvantage from the off. The rival formats were that bit cheaper too. Its a commonly held view (wether true or not), that what won it for VHS in the end, was porn. I wouldn't know about that myself though, was using Video 2000.
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Post by Robbie Moubert on Jul 22, 2014 18:13:29 GMT
In the US it was the longer running time available that initially helped VHS gain an advantage over Betamax. In the UK, the availability of VHS machines to rent was a major factor (helped by the fact that a lot of rental shops were owned by Ferguson who in turn were part-owned by JVC). JVC also licensed VHS to any manufacturer that was interested while Sony remained the only makers of Betamax for years (The only other beta machines I can remember were Sanyo). The increased competition between VHS manufacturers helped push prices down making VHS a more attractive proposition for many consumers.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 19:24:52 GMT
It can't of been clear at the time then which format was going to win, if the BBC released episodes on all formats? Thats right Ronnie. Video 2000 was a year or so late to market though (longer tech development), so had a disadvantage from the off. The rival formats were that bit cheaper too. Its a commonly held view (wether true or not), that what won it for VHS in the end, was porn. I wouldn't know about that myself though, was using Video 2000. Well I have bought quite a lot of betas from eBay in the search for uncut ofah episodes and quite a lot had adult material, despite what was on the label. I doubt that was true about VHS. I heard that or watched somewhere that VHS won because JVC allowed other manufacturers to build VHS machines and JVC also entered contracts with film companies so that blockbusters at the time were on VHS only. The beta and 2000 selection was poor because of this. Not sure if its true.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jul 22, 2014 19:57:03 GMT
In the US it was the longer running time available that initially helped VHS gain an advantage over Betamax. In the UK, the availability of VHS machines to rent was a major factor (helped by the fact that a lot of rental shops were owned by Ferguson who in turn were part-owned by JVC). JVC also licensed VHS to any manufacturer that was interested while Sony remained the only makers of Betamax for years (The only other beta machines I can remember were Sanyo). The increased competition between VHS manufacturers helped push prices down making VHS a more attractive proposition for many consumers. I think Toshiba also made Betamax machines.
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Post by petewhite on Jul 22, 2014 20:14:31 GMT
Thats right Ronnie. Video 2000 was a year or so late to market though (longer tech development), so had a disadvantage from the off. The rival formats were that bit cheaper too. Its a commonly held view (wether true or not), that what won it for VHS in the end, was porn. I wouldn't know about that myself though, was using Video 2000. Well I have bought quite a lot of betas from eBay in the search for uncut ofah episodes and quite a lot had adult material, despite what was on the label. I doubt that was true about VHS. I heard that or watched somewhere that VHS won because JVC allowed other manufacturers to build VHS machines and JVC also entered contracts with film companies so that blockbusters at the time were on VHS only. The beta and 2000 selection was poor because of this. Not sure if its true. Ah well I don't really know, but it used to be bandied about a lot as fact (maybe cynically). Those film studio deals probably did include a killer selection of soft porn for the Blockbuster isle too. But the VHS machine maufacturing, and as Robbie says the competition between them bringing prices down, sounds like reason enough. Yeah, as the years went on, selections got more limited. Think Phillips (Video 2000) knew the game was up for them by around 85. Machines discontinued 88-89-ish? Shame Beta didn't make a better go of it. I believe it too was better than VHS.
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Post by Darren Jones on Jul 22, 2014 21:47:02 GMT
I can remember buying (and still own - just about playable!) the 'movie' versions of 'Revenge of the Cybermen', 'Death to the Daleks', 'Day of the Daleks', 'The Seeds of Death', 'Robots of Death' and 'The Time Warrior' (Probably in that order!). As well as the first (expensive) release of 'The Five Doctors'. If I also had a rummage around my parents' attic I could probably unearth one-or-two home recorded VHS tapes of selected Doctor Who stories from the 80's from back when I was given a choice - pocket money or a tape to record Doctor Who (choices, choices?)! P.S. With all the talk of VHS, Betamax, V2000 and Laserdisk; some of you may find this site interesting The Virtual Museum of Vintage VCRs.
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Post by petewhite on Jul 22, 2014 22:44:10 GMT
I can remember buying (and still own - just about playable!) the 'movie' versions of 'Revenge of the Cybermen', 'Death to the Daleks', 'Day of the Daleks', 'The Seeds of Death', 'Robots of Death' and 'The Time Warrior' (Probably in that order!). As well as the first (expensive) release of 'The Five Doctors'. If I also had a rummage around my parents' attic I could probably unearth one-or-two home recorded VHS tapes of selected Doctor Who stories from the 80's from back when I was given a choice - pocket money or a tape to record Doctor Who (choices, choices?)! P.S. With all the talk of VHS, Betamax, V2000 and Laserdisk; some of you may find this site interesting The Virtual Museum of Vintage VCRs. Thanks, interesting stuff that link. Beta wasn't better than VHS. I really rate the Day Of The Daleks 'movie' version.
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Post by David Fade on Jul 23, 2014 1:18:45 GMT
I worked for various companies like Rumbelows and D.E.R. Rentals back in the early 1980s, so remember the various formats and machines well! The most popular one at the time was the Ferguson Videostar top-loader (VHS) at a hefty £699.95! My first video I got was a Hitachi VHS model and I remember renting out 'Revenge of the Cybermen' from Granada TV Rentals when it first came out. I also bought the omnibus editions of 'Day of the Daleks' and 'The Brain of Morbius' and can remember also the moment when the prices for tapes were reduced to a more reasonable £9.99.
Finally, I sold the majority of my VHS collection a while back now, though still have a couple that I kept for posterity including the Warner Home Video large library case editions of 'Moonraker' and 'For Your Eyes Only'. Ah, happy days!
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Post by steven g on Jul 23, 2014 22:49:56 GMT
I still have most of my VHS videos that I bought between 1990 and 2003, my first was Death To The Daleks bought for me for my birthday in 1989 (unfortunately sold at a car boot sale quite a few years ago), and just about all of them being purchased on or just after the day they were released. (My copy of Doctor Who And The Silurians is probably the one in the worst condition, the transparent sleeve is very badly ripped but I recall it was like it when I bought it).
Also I always preferred the early nineties VHS style covers with the "diamond" Doctor Who logo and the title of the story in the big rectangle at the top much more than the mid nineties to early 2000s redesign with the 1970 logo and the title directly underneath.
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Post by Richard Bignell on Jul 24, 2014 14:25:27 GMT
The early days of BBC video, when they still used the old blue label and most did not have an age certificate, I heard that BBC video produced other versions of Doctor Who stories for release - but where canceled (Invasion of Time rings a bell...) If this was the case, do they still hold the master tapes of the unreleased stories - and how much was edited out of them? Well, things have moved on in the last few days... Following a chat yesterday with Andrew Martin in the BBC Archive, it actually turns out that not only was the unreleased compilation of 'The Invasion of Time' completed, but the unused two-inch masters still exist in the BBC Worldwide vault. As I said to Andrew, I recall asking about this when the DVD for the story came up but the feedback was that it didn't exist, although that might have been a bit of a fob-off! I always used to be suggesting the inclusion of the television compilations as possible extras or just including the audios if the broadcast masters didn't exist, but until late in the day, no one liked the idea. Richard Neil Wright. You did that archive issue of 'Image to Image' many moons ago, didn't you? Good stuff.
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Post by Richard Marple on Jul 24, 2014 17:00:25 GMT
Does anyone have a list of BBC Laserdisc releases?
There seemed to be a lot proposed but then dropped over the years.
The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy comes to mind. The video release has the episodes compiled & a very odd sound mix.
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