Available from a Vinegar Syndrome partner label: The First VCR + Cassettes Go Hi-Fi – Vinegar Syndrome From their brief description: The First VCR: This is a documentary about the 1956 invention of the first VCR (video cassette recorder), which launched the home video revolution. Cassettes Go Hi Fi: CASSETTES GO HI FI - The story about the past, present and remarkable future of the compact audio-cassette tape. Looked interesting, so I ordered a copy.
On the potentially down side, here's the one review The First VCR gets on Amazon: This is the worst video ever. No interviews. Virtually no history. No technical information. Truly terrible. A shame, if true.
Caveat emptor . . . on me I suppose. These are pretty bad. Lots of stock footage (some plucked from Technology Connections and Techmoan). Information gets repeated, footage gets repeated. Some B roll footage sound isn't ducked down, so you can't hear the narration. There are odd edit choices: cut to black a lot, some weird glitchy transitions, lots of fake "film wear" on a video about video. For The First VCR, most of the history seems to be accurate, though none of it is particularly detailed. It's also about the first Ampex quad video recorder, not a video cassette recorder, and it does not follow the tech's development into eventual home use. Definitely not much in the way of technical information. On the plus side, there are some nice photos of old machines and the folks who invented them. For The Cassette Goes Hi-Fi, it's the same crew, so similar choices are made. The best bits are some of the old Sony, TDK, Maxell promos. Towards the end, it has a bit about the video camcorder that recorded video and seems to give it more time and credit than due. Again, a nice old promo is included. Then the narration seems to conflate the compact cassette with Digital Linear Tape as a high capacity long term storage medium, which is weird, as well as way off. Maybe the bonus features are nice?
