Retro Thing

Brown Upholstered Zenith Beta VCR

 

Obviously James and I are on a similar wavelength today - a beta wavelength.  :)  I'm posting pictures of this Beta VCR I found, not just to show off how massive the thing is, but also check out the upholstered leather-tinted vinyl.  it looks like a two toned roof on a Lincoln.

This is 1980's Zenith VR-9750J - the "video director".  At $1125, the vinyl appointments and champagne colored metal was intended to appeal to the discerning videophile.  The "Director" bit of marketing refers to special playback effects like scanning through the tape, slow motion, perfect freeze frame, wired remote, etc.

We can puzzle all we want to about the format wars, but I think that this monster was fighting on a different front altogether.

Convergence II - Casio VL-Tone

First in what would become a long line of cheap keyboard instruments, Casio's VL-Tone boasts four instrument presets, white-noise beats, a 100 step sequencer - and here's where the "convergence" part comes in - a calculator!

The VL-Tone had some famous users like Devo and Human League, but most recently you may remember a car ad featuring the band Trio's song "DaDaDa" which uses a VL-tone beat throughout.  Besides its novelty and historic value, there's little that makes the VL-tone an interesting "keyboard" today, though you have to admire Casio including some limited sound creation capabilites.

After mention of the VL-tone, people always bring up the Kraftwerk song "Pocket Calculator" - specifically the line "it plays a little melody".  Folks often think that this song uses the VL-tone, but it doesn't.  "Pocket Calculator" is more a tribute to the VL-tone - and why not?  Combining a little synth and a calculator is a great idea.  As cool and flexible as modern synthesizers are today, you still can't use one to figure out how much to tip on a lunch split three ways.

1975: Atari Pong Invades the Family Room

It seems that I've mentioned the Magnavox Odyssey console, but only briefly acknowledged Atari's nifty little Pong games. Let's fix that little omission.

Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell, designer of Computer Space, the first arcade video game. After trying out the Magnavox Odyssey in early 1972, he set about building his own version of electronic ping-pong and named it Pong, after the sound the ball makes when hitting the table. It was a runaway success. Magnavox quickly claimed that Atari had infringed on their ball-and-paddle gameplay and sued. The case was eventually dropped when Bushnell agreed to pay royalties on each Pong unit sold. Almost 40,000 Pong coin-operated games were manufactured.

Bushnell continued to build Atari’s arcade business, but was determined to crack the home market as well. Atari designed a home version of Pong that included digital on-screen scoring, something the crude Magnavox Odyssey didn’t offer. The scoring system was based on a single chip, something that no other manufacturer had managed up to that point. They struggled to find a distributor until Sears & Roebuck took a risk and purchased 150,000 units for the Christmas 1975 season. They sold out.

Atari released a number of Pong derivatives in 1976 and 1977, including a 4-player version. One such game – Video Pinball – replaced the simple Pong chip with a microcontroller. This enabled it to play pinball and a breakout game in which a ball and paddle were used to knock down a wall of bricks. Even after these early successes, the best was yet to come.

Atari's Pong - conquest of the living rooms (computermuseum.com)

Looking Back Fondly At The First Video Format War

Humankind never learns from the past. Take the modern battle between HD DVD and the competing Blu-Ray high-definition disc format -- it all happened once before in the late 1970s, except back then it was captured on videotape...

The battle between Betamax & VHS was intense. The Sony system was widely regarded as technically superior and Sony held the initial lead in sales. There were several problems with Sony’s technology, though. The video rental industry was in its infancy in the late 1970s, so most VCRs were purchased by people who wanted to record off-air shows. VHS had a distinct edge here, since early Betamax tapes could record only one hour of high-quality video, versus two hours on each VHS tape. Betamax tapes also took noticeably longer to rewind because the tape head could not be disengaged. VHS recorders were much faster because they automatically disengage the head before rewinding.

The unfortunate result of the tape differences was that consumers and retailers perceived VHS to be a better format, even though this was certainly not the case technically. The final nail in Sony’s coffin was that JVC made it easier for manufacturers to adopt their technology, resulting in far more companies adopting the format. This doesn’t seem like a significant stumbling block until you realize that consumers are more likely to buy a format that offers a choice of 100 models over a ‘lesser’ type with only a few dozen. Sales of Betamax recorders and tapes began to nosedive around 1984, and Sony threw in the towel and introduced their first VHS VCR in 1989.

Sony didn’t completely lose the fight, however –  a high-quality version of the Beta format went on to dominate the professional market.

Why VHS was better than Betamax (The Guardian Unlimited)

The BBC Micro: Star of Television and Radio

Let's hitchhike back in time to 1981. Ignore my really bad Flock of Seagulls hair and the Human League LPs, and check out this awesome new computer from the BBC.

Determined not to be left out of the coming “computer revolution,” the British Broadcasting Corporation decided to produce a series of television and radio shows focused on microcomputers. They published a list of specifications and set about looking for a company to design and produce a reference platform. A tiny company called Acorn won the design competition and the BBC Micro was introduced in early 1982 at a price of £235. It was based on the 6502 microprocessor and came with 16K of RAM (later expanded to 32K). It could display color graphics at up to 640 x 256 pixels, and the built-in BASIC interpreter was excellent.

With the support and credibility of the BBC behind the little company, they went on to sell more than one million systems. The BBC Micro became the standard educational computer in the UK and was supported by a broad range of software titles.

Acorn produced a lower cost version called the Acorn Electron in 1983. They underestimated demand and it was in short supply throughout the 1983 Christmas season. Time marched on, and Acorn introduced several good computers in the late 1980s – the BBC Master (1986), and the brilliant 32-bit ARM RISC-processor equipped Acorn Archimedes (1987). Neither achieved the runaway success of Acorn’s early machines.

Visit BBC Lives, a great Acorn/BBC enthusiasts site

Sock Master's Video Game Controller Family Tree

Sock Master (a-hem) has cobbled up a very neat family tree that traces the evolution of home console video game controllers. Consider this your opportunity to discover that Ms. Sega Dreamcast Controller is actually the great-great granddaughter of the SNES controller.

Here's how Mr. Master explains himself: "How did the current home-console controllers come to be? How have they evolved? You may have noticed some similarities between the current generation controllers, or between them and the previous generations of controllers. So, how do they all tie together?

Let's try to find out. I've put together a chart, or controller family-tree, that tries to connect all the current console controllers with their predecessors. Firstly, I don't think anyone else has tried to do something similar on the web, and second, none of the manufacturers actually come out and tell you who they're borrowing ideas from. This means, a lot of the information presented here is my opinion."

Sock Master's Game Console Controller Family Tree

Computerworld Publishes A "Lost" ENIAC Interview

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of ENIAC (the kinda-sorta first electronic computer), Computerworld has published a "lost" interview with J. Presper Eckert, who at the tender age of 24 was the chief engineer on the design team.

The patent for creating the first electronic computer eventually went to John Vincent Atanasoff at Iowa State, after it was ruled that ENIAC was derived from Atanasoff's earlier work.  In this interview, Eckert seems to imply that Atanasoff wasn't really worthy of receiving a patent because he had little more than test-bench ideas, whereas [co-designer John W.] Mauchly and Eckert took their concepts and produced a machine that did cutting-edge scientific work for a decade. In a way, this points out many of the flaws with modern technology patents -- RIM would not be in the situation it is currently facing if the NTP lawyers were required to produce a working prototype of a wireless email system.

The reason that everyone lauds ENIAC is that it was the first *meaningful* public application of a "pluggable/programmable" computer. Of course, a few folks at Bletchley Park knew that Tommy Flowers successfully created a top-secret tube-based electronic computer in 1943-1944 to crack the German Lorenz codes. The British went on to build ten of them. And, incidentally, they used parallel processing.

A lost interview with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert (Computerworld)

Vespa Introduces A Line Of Funky Retro Helmets

Here's your chance to dress like Boy Wonder, Space Ranger (yeah, Grrls can play too). Vespa has introduced a line of old-school helmets to coordinate with your old-school scooter. You can even get clip-on goggles. Hmm. I think I'll wear one to work. £99 at a Vespa dealer near you.

"The Vespa Soft Touch helmet is a demi-jet design with an ABS material shell and hand stitched leather finish. Two of the lids will fit in either the Vespa Granturismo or GTS scooters. Inside is a hypallergenic Terinda (Dupont) lining, and the transparent shetterproof peak shields your eyes."

[ed. note: I have no idea with "demi-jet" or "Terinda" means. I'm just copying like a monkey this morning...]

Vespa "soft touch" helmets

1950s American Classic Cars: Alive and Well In Cuba

I stumbled upon Dan Heller's photography site yesterday. His automobile shots from Cuba are spooky; almost like he stepped into a time machine. Here are his comments:

"Up until The Revolution in 1960, Cuba was the largest importer of American Cars, mostly the huge, gas-guzzling, multi-ton pile of metal that so many of us look back on today as a romantic relic of the past. After the embargo, Cuba has had cars from other countries—most notably, Russia—but few of them have ever been able to last but a few years. The American cars, however, have lasted through the years, and still run perfectly today. For most Cubans, this is their main source of revenue, since they can operate a taxicab, taking tourists around, and taking in up to $50/day in an economy where the average Cuban makes $15-25 a month. Of course, the cost of owning a car is high, especially with gasoline costing $4/gallon. But, with prices this high, it's not surprising to see a beautify gas station with a mini-mart and fresh, clean paint on the walls, popping out conspicuously from a scene of intense poverty along rural roads."

Dan Heller's Photos: 1950s Classic American Cars In Cuba
Commercial photography books by Dan Heller

A Chocolate Human Heart For Valentines? 1 lb of Anatomically Correct Chocolate

Pushindaisies.com bills itself as "a mortuary novelty shop." In that vein (har har), here's the perfect Valentine's gift for the Goth in your life: "Made from premium chocolate, they make the ultimate gift for mortuary students, pathologists, embalmers, or your sweetheart. Packaged in a white gift box." Only $16.95, bonus points from me if you send one internationally and it gets inspected by Customs.

Chocolate Human Heart

Behind The Scenes At Retro Thing

Retro thing is an independent vintage gadget website run by a team of renegade elves based in Calgary and Chicago. Each month we present a never-ending stream of classic and almost-classic gizmos and books. OK, so I made up the bit about the team of elves. Everything else is true, though.

High Quality Turntables That Don't Resort To Laser Trickery

There has been a flurry of interest in the ELP laser turntable recently. This $15,000 device plays vinyl using a laser. It's been on the market for a number of years, so I'm not sure why it's suddenly generating attention. As far as I'm concerned, it has a fatal flaw: laser technology requires an astoundingly clean record, because there's no mechanical stylus to snowplow dust out of the way. This means that every fleck of dirt and hair is reproduced in pristine stereo -- not exactly a pleasurable experience.

There are some fantastic traditional turntables available for a fraction of the price. The Italian-made Bluenote Bellagio (above) is a stylish example of a top-of-the-line Reference turntable. The platter is suspended on hardened stainless steel springs, and rumble is an impressive -83 dB; approaching silence. Besides, it looks amazing. The price? A mere $5,995.

Bluenote Bellagio Reference Turntable [The company is now Goldenote, with a slightly different lineup]

The DG-808 Motorglider - Soaring With The Eagles

DG Flugzeugbau GmbH produces what I consider to be the most beautiful flying machines on Earth. This is the DG-808 motorglider, capable of self-launching using a retractable motor behind the pilot. These advanced machines have a glide ratio of 45:1, meaning that for every 1000m of altitude you can glide 45km through perfectly calm air. Of course, the sport of gliding is all about finding thermals and mountain updrafts to enable stunning multi-hour flights. The DG-808 has a maximum speed of 270 km/h, but best performance is at about 110 km/h -- with no engine, remember. People comment that powerless flight must be incredibly quiet, but don't underestimate the roar of air at 100+ km/h.

Soaring is a (relatively) low cost way to get into flying. For more about the sport, contact the Soaring Society of America, Soaring Association of Canada,  or British Gliding Association - they can put you in touch with a club in your region or country just in time to register for a Spring ground school course.

DG-808 High-Performance Motorglider (DG Flugzeugbau GmbH)

Philip Taysom's Extreme Home Synthesis Studio

I admit to having a musical synthesizer addiction, but Philip Taysom's loft studio - featured in the October 2004 edition of Sound on Sound magazine - takes things to another level. It all started in 1996, when he bought a used Korg O1/W keyboard. The Korg was followed by no less than 41 synthesizers, including four classic Fairlight CMI workstations and a smattering of fantastic-looking analog gear. I'll let the pictures in the article speak for themselves.

Philip Taysom's Synthesizer Loft (via a classic Music Thing post)

Grundig AM/FM/SW Radios - Fun With Shortwave

The trouble with traditional AM and FM broadcasts is that they have limited and unpredictable range. Shortwave broadcasts offer a chance to listen in on hundreds of radio stations from around the world. Believe it or not, decent Shortwave radios are surprisingly affordable.

Grundig manufactures a range of digitally tuned receivers that can be yours starting at under $50. The model shown here is the $150 Grundig G4000A (marketed in North America by etón). It offers FM-Stereo; AM; and Full-Shortwave (1711-29999 KHz) reception. Forty programmable presets let you store your favorites. Other features include dual alarms, external antenna socket, headphone jack, and a carrying case. It weighs under 600g (1lb. 5oz.) and runs on 6 AA batteries.

Grundig AM / FM / Shortwave Radios