Charles And Diana, 1981: Video 2000 - The Best Choice For The Royal Wedding...

July 29, 1981, saw Lady Diana Spencer marry HRH Prince Charles, and what a day it was. The wedding was a glorious spectacle of pomp and ceremony - and just look at the train on Diana's dress!

1981 was a highly memorable year, with the Royal Wedding, the Rubik's Cube craze, illegal CB radio usage going into overdrive before legalisation in November, and the inner city riots which rocked England.

It's a year I'll never forget - and it seems almost impossible to accept that it is now thirty years ago. Yes, THIRTY!!!

And we have another Royal Wedding in the offing for 2011.

Were you one of those glued to the Royal Wedding on the telly back in 1981? Did you video it? If so you were lucky because not many people had a VCR in 1981. 5% of the population in 1980 were lucky enough, and the Royal Wedding did cause a small leap in sales and rentals of VCRs, but I didn't know anybody that had one. They were very uncommon in 1981.

By early 1985 the figure stood at 25%.

Still, some were lucky enough to be able to use this uncommon device on that very uncommon occasion.

I was fascinated to find the ad below in the Daily Mirror, July 13, 1981, for Video 2000.

Video WHAT?!!! you splutter.

Well, for a time in the early 1980s, Video 2000 was a serious competitor for VHS...

THE PERFECT MATCH. THE PERFECT REPLAY.

Some souvenirs of the royal wedding will be more authentic than others, like the Video 2000 cassette. Philips have spent six years developing the only cassette that will record the whole event. It's all part of the new Video 2000 system.

THE ONLY VIDEO CASSETTE THAT CAN GO THE DISTANCE

No ordinary video cassette can contain all the emotion of a royal wedding.

Especially when proposed TV coverage is 7 hours long.

The unique Video 2000 cassette will record up to eight hours, because it simply flips over like an audio cassette.

Hour for hour it is one of the cheapest forms of video recording around. It leaves the others waiting at the church.

THE MOST ACCURATE PICTURE EVER

To improve your video picture Philips have invented a totally new tracking system: Dynamic Track Following. It actually lays down a pilot signal during recording.

On playback the video heads continually compare the video track with this original pilot. The result is the most accurate picture ever.

Video 2000 is so accurate that it needs no tracking control - the knob other video users have to twiddle when playing a tape recorded on another machine.

Your video 2000 machine will play any Video 2000 cassette perfectly. And that goes for pre-recorded cassettes too.

A ROSY FUTURE

Video 2000 is here to stay. It has been adopted by over twenty major European brands. Why not see the Philips VR2020 recorder at your Philips Video dealer. It will handle July 29th royally.

Philips Video. Simply years ahead.

VIDEO 2000. If you've been waiting for Video, it's arrived.

Daily Mirror, July 30, 1981:

There is a glowing moment every bride remembers. When she steps into the sunlight for the first time - as a wife.

For Lady Diana Spencer it was something more. She walked into St Paul's Cathedral as the daughter of an earl. She walked out as the next Queen.

How certain things seemed back then. And what a day of joyful optimism the twenty-ninth of July, 1981, was - even for the vast majority of us - those without video recorders!

The 1980s: Coming To Your Home - A VCR! But Should It Be Betamax, Video 2000 or VHS?

Ah, the 1980s video revolution! Wasn't it thrilling? Well, yes, it was, but it was also slow moving and confusing. The newspaper ad above is from 1980, when only 5% of UK households had a VCR. Video technology had been around for yonks, but VCRs had not. And they were expensive - to buy or rent. So, hardly anybody had a VCR and nobody felt the lack because what they'd never had, they never missed.

But of course if you did rent one you need never miss another episode of Coronation Street again, as Chapman & Son of High Street, Haverhill, England, informed us.

The 1980s saw the arrival of various innovations - such as front-loading machines and ever fancier and more confusing timers.

VCRs moved into the ascendancy. In 1983, nearly 20% of UK households had a machine, and in early 1985 it was 25%. The sky was now the limit and it would not be long before a VCR in the home was regarded as essential by the majority of us. Most people I knew rented their first VCR.

However, another hurdle to surmount in the early-to-mid 1980s was the different formats available. Should you rent or buy Betamax, VHS or Video 2000?

From the Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue:

VHS, Beta or 2000

THREE DIFFERENT VIDEO SYSTEMS

The features and performance are similar, but the three systems are not compatible, and video tapes are not interchangeable between them. Please check carefully that the tapes you have ordered are the correct type for your machine.

A 1982 newspaper ad for the Phillips Video 2000 "Fame" release. The 1980 film was now available to view in your own home.

From the Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue - a Sharp VC9700 format de-luxe video cassette player and a Toshiba V87008 Beta format de-luxe video cassette recorder - £699.99 and £535.00 respectively. Pricey, weren't they? The cheapest models featured in the catalogue were two Beta models at £399.00 each. Mail order catalogues provided another option, apart from renting or buying outright, for people who wanted the VCR experience, as the cost could be spread over a number of months.

An aunt of mine bought a Beta model in about 1983, and lived to regret it when VHS won the sales battle. However, Auntie kept her Betamax machine for years, determined to get "value for money". Blank Betamax cassettes were, of course, still on sale for a while, and she used the machine to tape films and her favourite soap, Brookside!

Another 1980s technological marvel from the Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue - a Pye 2023 "2000" system de-luxe video cassette recorder, priced £499.99. Probably pretty collectable these days!

I was really becoming aware of the video revolution by the mid-1980s. One of my favourite memories of those days is the 1985 Scotch video cassettes skeleton ad, featuring the voice of Deryck Guyler. "Re-record, not fade away..." Remember? See it here.

Ashes To Ashes - The REAL 1980s?

Newspaper ad from August 1983 (the REAL 1983!). The first front-loading video recorders are arriving (although the vast majority of people didn't have a VCR) and they're flippin' expensive. The Rumbelows ("We save you money and serve you right") try and sweeten the pill by offering a 12 inch Ferguson or Binatone black and white TV when you buy one.

Somebody calling herself "Alex Drake" has written:

Was 1983 like the 1983 we are seeing in the new series of Ashes To Ashes?

Not that I recall, Alex. Come to that, I didn't find the Ashes To Ashes versions of 1981 and 1982 very near the mark either. Same thing with Life On Mars.

I won't criticise though.

Personally, I wouldn't fancy getting shot, but if I woke up in the early 1980s I'd be very happy indeed.

On a similar theme, Mark writes:

You seem to have a lot of 1980s newspaper stuff on here. Do you by any chance have access to the truth about how Sam Tyler died in 1980?

Oh, of course, Mark - the time travelling cops were major news.

But I'd never reveal what the papers said!

1989: A Talking Remote Control For Your VCR...

Video recorders were wonderful but so bloomin' difficult in the 1980s.

In 1980, only 5% of UK households had them.

In 1983, nearly 20% of UK households had a machine, and in early 1985 it was 25%. The sky was now the limit and it would not be long before a VCR in the home was regarded as essential by the majority of us.

Most people I knew rented their first VCR.

And most people I knew had difficulties setting the timer.

"What a load of vidiots!" I chortled.

My mother was one of the first VCR renters I knew. She obtained one in 1983, just before I left home, so I had little time to familiarise myself with it.

I began renting one in 1987.

I wanted to watch the American comedy series The Golden Girls, but as it aired on Channel 4 on Friday nights I had to rent a VCR to be able to see it. Fridays and Saturdays were nights I went out and no way was I staying in.

Having got a video machine, I confronted the timer and entered into battle.

It won.

I couldn't set it, no matter how I tried.

When I tried to tape Channel 4, it taped BBC1, when I tried to tape ITV, it taped grey fuzz...

So, I used to pop a video cassette in and put the machine on record just before I went out on Fridays, leaving it to tape hours of Channel 4 just so I could wade through and watch one half-hour programme.

Perhaps I could have done with the remote control featured in the September 1989 magazine ad above.

One that would have talked me through the process...

WHOEVER'S PROGRAMMING THE VIDEO NEEDS A GOOD TALKING TO.

The Sharp video with Talking Handset.

If you're still wondering why your "Neighbours" didn't turn up.

Or wondering why the Big Film turned into the big fiasco.

Why Ivan Lendl bore a remarkable resemblance to Sandy Gall.

And why J.R. was cut off in his prime.

If all these wonders of conventional video leave you wondering why you keep programming things incorrectly, Sharp now have the solution to your video nasties. The Sharp Video with Talking Handset.

The unique Handset has its own voice to guide you through all of the various stages of programming. Accurate talking instructions for you to follow, from "Let's set the Timer for recording" to "Which channel do you wish to record?"

The 44 function remote control is a handy size with an easy button layout that's simple to operate.

The video itself (VC-T310HM) enables you to pre-programme a full year of recordings with a 365 day eight programme facility.

There's a super search feature which locates any recordings you're looking for.

There's even a child-proof lock.

Sharp really do think of everything.

As well as this particular model, there's an alternative in the Talking Handset range. The VC-T510HM. A 4 head system, providing improved picture quality, an extended recording playback of up to 8 hours, variable slow motion, frame by frame advance and double speed playback. To list just a few features...

The wonders of modern technology. Love the Radio Times Neighbours synopsis featured in the ad:

Charlene breaks out in a mysterious rash.

I would have been so hacked off if the VCR timer had made me miss that...

The Scotch Skeleton Ads: "Re-Record Not Fade Away"

A December 1985 TV Times magazine advertisement for "New Scotch Extra High Grade Tape", designed for "when you want to watch something again and again and again".

The Scotch skeleton TV ads were launched in 1983 when less than a quarter of UK households had a VCR. The skeleton didn't sing in the original ad - he fell off his chair instead! The 1983 ad was set in the year 2021, and the premise was that a Scotch video tape bought in 1983 was still perfectly usable for re-recording in the 21st Century!

In 1985, came the famous "Re-record, not fade away, re-record, not fade away..." slogan. The ads ran for years and were highly popular.

If I remember correctly, Deryck Guyler (Corky the policeman from Sykes and the caretaker from Please Sir!) was the voice of the skeleton.

Great.

The skeleton idea was indicative of the manufacturer's confidence that the Scotch tapes were amazingly durable and could well outlast the buyer. And if every recording wasn't as good as the first, they'd give you a new video cassette. Good, eh?

Video technology had been around for ages, but by the 1980s domestic VCRs had not. In 1980, only 5% of UK households had a video recorder. They were hugely expensive for the average household to buy. Renting was not terribly popular either because, in those financially-stressed times, further commitments were unwelcome in the majority of homes. Also, as most people had never even seen a VCR, there simply wasn't the interest.

And on top of the dosh considerations, there was the confusion over which make to have - Betamax? Video 2000? VHS? My well-off aunt bought a Betamax machine circa 1983, and soon regretted it bitterly. Betamax video tapes were still on sale for several years after VHS won the sales battle, and, determined to get value for money, Auntie used her Betamax machine for taping films and Brookside until it finally conked out!

I recall, when my mother first rented a VCR in 1983, we considered ourselves very posh indeed. In that year, the year of the very first Scotch skeleton ad, nearly 20% of UK households had a VCR. The Steve Wright In The Afternoon Book, published in 1985, the year of the first "Re-record, not fade away" skeleton ad, informs us that the proportion had grown to 25% by that time.



A Scotch skeleton ad from the series' launch year - 1983 - very cleverly set in the 21st Century (then the distant future), with the video cassette featured bought in 1983 and still in use! Amazing to think that under 20% of UK households had VCRs in 1983!



The original 1985 "Re-Record, Not Fade Away" Scotch Skeleton ad.