Mal's Memories (From Penarth Times)

Mal's Memories

DO YOU remember your first home video cassette recorder?

I remember mine. I bought it from the old Rediffusion shop in Washington Buldings, Penarth, in the 1970s, for something over 600, and was told at the time that it was only the second one they had sold in the whole of South Wales.

It was manufactured by Philips, and I was soon to discover some of the pitfalls of video pioneering. For a start the square-shaped cassettes recorded for only one hour, and cost 17 each.

Even worse, when you re-wound them they travelled directly over the video head, which meant that it rapidly wore out. When the picture started to get snowy there was nothing for it but to send for the engineer to install a new video head at a cost of 70 or so a time.

A little older and wiser I discovered that newer and better machines were coming on to the market, and that you no longer had to buy them, but could rent. With the battle between VHS and Betamax formats raging I swore I would never buy again, and switched my allegiance to Radio Rentals.

VHS won the war and both Beta and my lesser known Philips format have long since passed into obsolescence. Eventually I recanted and have bought several VHS models since.

Now DVD Machines have taken over and a national retail chain has announced it is to stop selling VCRs because of the huge drop off in demand.

However, I still plan to recoup some of my investment. That first home video recorder is sitting quietly in my attic waiting for the day it becomes a much sought after antique. And then I will have the last laugh after all!

l Malcolm Davies is a former editor of the Penarth Times. Mal's Memories now appear on the Penarth Times web site www.thisispenarth.co.uk and you can also find the early columns on Mal's site at www.communigate.co.uk/wales/mdav24/index.phtml