Ferguson Videostar 3V01

FORMAT: VHS

DATE: 1979

PRICE: £
[1994: £]

33x31x29cm

 
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The 3V01 (all Ferguson VCRs are called Videostars) is a badge engineered clone of a JVC machine, and is essentially a portable version of the JVC 3300 series. The system is well designed and integrated, and can be set up as a fully functional home VCR. When going out filming, two leads between the recorder and the tuner/timer are disconnected, and the recorder can be hefted away; all the mains and aerial connections are to the tuner/timer, so remain in place at home.

The recorder is basically a perfectly normal VHS deck of its time, with just a few special features. A mechanical piano-key toploader, it is somewhat more strongly built than its sessile cousins, to cope with the stresses of being thrown around.

All the usual tape-transport controls are present, with the unusual addition of a full-size key for audio dub. A mechanical counter with memory - to stop the machine at 0 while fast-winding - and two indicator lights (incandescent bulbs, not LEDs) complete the dashboard. The lights are used to monitor the state of the battery, shining orange for warning, red for nearly empty and flashing red for empty.

The more astute reader will notice a slight oddity here: the light that tells you that the battery is flat is itself powered by that battery... Luckily there is enough power left to light a bulb even after the recorder itself grinds to a halt.

The lights are also used for dew warning; dew means condensation inside the machine, which can affect its performance or even cause the tape to stick to the head drum or tape guides and wrap itself around the works. It affects all machines, and most have sensors, but dew is usually caused by a sudden change of temperature and obviously a portable machine is more likely to be moved from one temperature to another.

The machine has standard AV inputs and outputs, microphone, external power, camera and remote-pause sockets. This latter is unusual in a mechanically operated machine, but is necessary to allow the camera's start/stop trigger to control recording. The recorder has no RF input - since it has no tuner - but does have an RF output to drive a TV set. This uses a removable modulator under a flap at the back, like many machines of this age. RF output was often left out of portable reel-to-reel machines, to save more weight, but for the home user the household TV would be the main display so a modulator was required. Some later models put the modulator in the mains power supply, so that it was left at home when filming. Similarly some professional portable machines were record-only, which allowed many playback-specific circuits to be left out, saving yet more weight. Another machine in the studio was required to play back the tapes, so this technique was not appropriate for the domestic market - since few home users could afford two machines at 1979 prices!

The battery, which is behind a door at the back, is a 12V Sealed Lead Acid unit. Lead acid batteries use the same technology as a car battery, and are heavy and perform poorly by today's standards. They would soon be replaced by the now ubiquitous NiCd (nickel cadmium, or Nicad) technology.

This machine, with its SLA battery installed, weighs about 10kg; compare this with a modern palmcorder, which includes an entire camera but comes in at well under 1kg.

This machine was bought privately, though the previous owner found it in a junk shop. It is in working order, although the video heads are a little old and tired.

The matching tuner/timer unit is also the mains power supply, and together with the recorder forms a full-function home video machine. The timer is a basic one event system, and simply operates the power to the recorder - to make a timed recording, the recorder is simply left with Play and Record depressed, so that it starts as soon as the power comes on. Not surprisingly the beginnings of recordings were pretty ropey, as the machine takes a second or two to get up to full speed.

The tuner is unusual for its time in that it provides twelve channels - six or eight being more usual. This is actually quite convenient for a portable system, which could be moved between areas using different TV frequencies; on the other hand, the whole point of the separates approach is that you leave the tuner/timer behind!

The illuminated buttons can be disabled with a channel-lock switch, to prevent accidental channel-changing during recording - surprisingly, channel locking was not automatic on machines of this era. The buttons are labelled 1 to 12, though curiously the tuning presets themselves, under a flap on the top, are marked A to L.

Amazingly, I found this unit in a street market less than a week after buying the recorder and camera system. It is in full working order.

The last part of the system is a battery charger, which can also be used as a portable mains power supply for the recorder. It is not required when at home, since it doesn't do anything the TTU can't do, though it does have a battery charge gauge.

 

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