A quick question. Were index marks ever used on commercial tapes which contained multiple episodes? It struck me as I was spooling back and forth om my Ivor the Engine tape that an index mark per episode would have been very helpful.

Were these ever implemented - or at least not used as chapters as on DVD's?

I cannot help on the VHS aspect but thanks for the Name 'Ivor' as i was maintaing to grand-daughter that 'Thomas' had been around years and years.

Stan

I don't think so - as far as I'm aware it was never part of the VHS standard?, just something a few manufacturers added.

Oh - that would explain it - thanks. Would not have hurt them to add it though as it would cost nothing to do. All in the past now...

If you know the length of the episodes you could use the skip function on the recorder if it has one, this is what I used when having multiple recordings on a 4hr tape in LP and no index marks.

This has brought back some frustrating memories, something you easily forget when you have DVD/BD

Presumably the method was patented by the manufacturers who implemented it?, so it wouldn't have been cost free to add it.

I'm fairly sure my Mitsubishi B52 VCR (my first NICAM machine, and indeed my first VHS machine) allowed you to add or erase index marks, so this could have been used to add them to commercial tapes, once you'd disabled the write protection.

I don't think any of my subsequent machines could do this. You could search to the start of a recording, but nothing else.

It all seems like ancient history now!

My first NICAM VCR was a Ferguson, I can remember when the NICAM use to light up now and then when they were testing, I can also remember the first time it went fully active, it was when they showed Smokey and the Bandit.That does seem a long long time ago.

I can even remember my first VCR, a top loader with a wired remote.

How did we cope.

Me too. It was very exciting when a programme was in stereo! I bought the B52 before there were any stereo broadcasts, knowing they were on the way. Then again, I remember when my parents first got a colour TV, and the tagline "In colour" was something to look out for in the Radio Times. Star Trek in colour. It didn't get much better than that.


Mine was a top loader too - a Sony C7 Betamax. But I had the luxury of an IR remote control.


Indeed. It sometimes annoys me when I see young people whining about some perceived inadequacy in technology that is vastly more capable and loads cheaper than the stuff I grew up with. But I guess that's just grumpy-old-manness setting in.

I have just checked my VCR user manual and I can add and erase index marks - so next time I play the tape I will add them (after blocking up the hole).

Off topic, but when did the B52 come out? My Beta Hi-Fi VCR from 1985 has no Nicam tuner but my Panasonic F65 from 1990 does. I like Nicam - a touch of luxury and quality about it. Seeing the lamp lit during a broadcast makes the licence fee suddenly seem completely justified.

Suggest you test it on a non-critical part of the recording first. I can't see why it would corrupt anything, but best to be safe...


I can't remember. Mid to late 1980s, I think. I do know that around the same time I bought it there were some stereo VHS machines that used linear audio tracks, and had crappy sound quality. Some of these had NICAM decoders and some didn't. And then there were Hi-Fi stereo VCRs that had no NICAM decoders. Confusing the consumer isn't a recent development!

I don't recall Betamax ever having NICAM?, it was probably obsolete in the UK before NICAM started.

No, my Beta is HiFi but not NICAM - the F65 is a Panasonic VHS model which does have a NICAM tuner (and plenty of LED's to prove it!)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000EBP01E
£2.99 with free P&P.


Enjoy it while it lasts! Come analogue switch off you'll have to embrace the sound of MPEG-1 layer II.

btw...
http://www.oldvcr.tv/collection/inde...c&Model=NV-F65
...we had one of these too. LP mode was audio only (very confusing when someone brought an LP tape around to watch and there was nothing to see!). Quality wasn't as good as the NV-FS90 that augmented it the next year...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PANASONIC-...-/280662647135
...even on VHS (and without a TBC), it had less noise and better black level.

Neither of them work now. I think I still have a working F77 somewhere. Our kids watch(ed) videos using newer machines I picked up for free.

Cheers,
David.

Some people did their own conversions. http://martinimber.omegaowners.com/beta.htm

Wow!

"The Parallel IF board is necessary because the 950 SAWF will not pass the NICAM sub carrier - this took me nearly a year to sort out."

That's dedication to a format....

I modified my Sony Trinitron to take a direct RGB feed from my homebrew computer system (that was years before PCs and VDUs were horrendously expensive). People thought I was mad for that but it was nothing compared to the dedication of that guy considering he could have just bought a VHS.

Nice picture of 'my' NV-F70 on that site. Mine is sitting silently next to the PC with a printer on top of it. Only useful thing it's done in over 2 years. Sigh

Index marks were for adding to your own recordings.
And index marks recorded on one make of vcr rarely worked on another make

My old SONY C9 had index marking that could be added or erased manually.
Cost me £350 second-hand in 1985.

Thanks for the comments. I don't think that the way new technology is unrolled can ever equal the simple but exciting advances from the past. Back then even something small was big news and I used to stand outside the Dixon's display window dreaming of the day I would be able to afford such technology. Even when I had a part time job and headed in there post-haste to buy my first VCR in 1992 the sales bloke turned me away as I was not earning enough to pay for stereo. That was a bitter pill to swallow. I ended up buying a tape to take home but no VCR to play it on as I could not bear to return home without some VCR related item as I had lost many nights sleep in anticipation of owning my first VHS. It was called 'The Pumpkin'.

If it is of any interest I am working my way through my VCR collection and adding sample recordings to YouTube. Last weekend I added the VTC-6500 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnW1oSJ4Bqk if you are interested in such things. I will be adding as and when I have time.

Yes...


Yes...

And what does that tell us about whether or not you can add them to a commercial recording that is going to be played back in the same machine? The index marks will be recorded on a linear track on the tape, and shouldn't affect the helical tracks. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I'm sure the OP will let us know.

I'll try it and report back. It won't be until the weekend though as I have a jammed up X-Box 360 to fix for a friend. I've never seen one before but I will give it a go.

Yeah, my parents' first video recorder (JVC) had that, and it was a really useful feature. You pressed the button and it would find and erase the next index mark- then you could add another where you liked. Great when you wanted to archive programmes that weren't always at the start of the recording (e.g. using timer with five minutes' safety margin).

Later ones only put a mark at the start of each recording and couldn't change them.


How did they work, and did they have any effect? I don't recall any sound dropouts (on a non-hifi linear model) or anything like that.


Are you sure? IIRC the marks made on my parents' original JVC could be read on later Akai models.

If what you say's true, it would explain why they weren't used on commercial tapes (something I'd always thought was a missed opportunity).

What do I remember about VHS tapes is, if you put some tape over the section that had been removed, (the little plastic tab, (the write protect), which you removed so you could not record over your recordings), you could then record on it again. I'm pretty sure that's all that prevented you from recording over a rental/bought movie. If you replaced that tab with tape it basically turns that tape into one you can record onto, surely you would then be able to place index marks.