Domestic VTR picture quality. - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Peter Convery · 6th May 2019, 10:49 am

Split from this thread:-

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=152604

For those of you who experimented with these early VTR's can you explain what the quality of the recorded picture was to that of what you were watching on TV at the time.

Did you ever keep your reels and machines to play them on, or are they all since long gone?

Edward Huggins · 6th May 2019, 11:12 am

I used one of the very first Philips EL3402 1/2" VTRs in this country in early 1972. The image was "softer" than that of a 625 line Mono TV of the time. Our Wedding is recorded on one of the tapes, but I can't find anyone who can now dub this to DVD.

TIMTAPE · 6th May 2019, 8:42 pm

Last year I repaired a 1970's Sony AV3420 1/2" portable b/w recorder to play the customer's parents tapes. The weak link in picture quality was its camera but the off air recordings while not up to the live broadcast weren't too bad looking. The main limitation was probably recording time at about 30 minutes per 5 " reel. I found some off air examples from VTRs like this uploaded to YT also.

Peter Convery · 9th May 2019, 2:47 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edward Huggins

I used one of the very first Philips EL3402 1/2" VTRs in this country in early 1972. The image was "softer" than that of a 625 line Mono TV of the time. Our Wedding is recorded on one of the tapes, but I can't find anyone who can now dub this to DVD.

Not sure if they would be able to help but you can try -

https://www.tiea.co.uk/

6th May 2019, 10:49 am	#1
Peter Convery Retired Dormant Member Join Date: May 2019 Location: Balloch, Alexandria, Scotland, UK. Posts: 2	Domestic VTR picture quality. Split from this thread:- https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=152604 For those of you who experimented with these early VTR's can you explain what the quality of the recorded picture was to that of what you were watching on TV at the time. Did you ever keep your reels and machines to play them on, or are they all since long gone?

6th May 2019, 11:12 am	#2
Edward Huggins Dekatron Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Southwold, Suffolk, UK. Posts: 8,327	Re: Domestic VTR picture quality. I used one of the very first Philips EL3402 1/2" VTRs in this country in early 1972. The image was "softer" than that of a 625 line Mono TV of the time. Our Wedding is recorded on one of the tapes, but I can't find anyone who can now dub this to DVD. __________________ Edward.

6th May 2019, 8:42 pm	#3
TIMTAPE Octode Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 1,969	Re: Domestic VTR picture quality. Last year I repaired a 1970's Sony AV3420 1/2" portable b/w recorder to play the customer's parents tapes. The weak link in picture quality was its camera but the off air recordings while not up to the live broadcast weren't too bad looking. The main limitation was probably recording time at about 30 minutes per 5 " reel. I found some off air examples from VTRs like this uploaded to YT also.