Lift and Separate:
portable video
 
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For some people, the main attraction of home video was as a replacement for cine film. For although "Portable Video" was still a contradiction in terms in the mid-seventies, video has several advantages over film as a medium for home movies.

Firstly, video is instant - you don't have to send the tape away to be developed. This is not only fun and convenient, it is vital for covering events where re-shooting later is not an option. Secondly, video tape is re-usable, which was particularly attractive to the home-user on a budget as tapes were much more expensive then than they are today. In 1973 a VCR format tape cost over £100 an hour (1994 equivalent), and while things were a bit more realistic by the time Betamax and VHS appeared, tape cost was still an important issue.

Video also needs no special equipment or darkened rooms to be viewed, includes sound for no extra cost or complexity, and has other automatic features such as exposure and focus control which were usually manual on a cine camera.

There was a downside, of course. The initial cost was a major problem, a portable recorder and camera costing around £1500, though this was not as bad as it seemed when the additional cost of film and film processing was taken into account. And surprisingly, if the cine equipment being considered was 16mm rather than Standard 8 or Super 8, the equivalent video set-up might actually be cheaper. But the main problem with video was, simply, the weight.

Portable VTRs had been around since it became even remotely possible to pick one up, though perhaps the term "luggable" would be more appropriate - even a basic system weighed 10 to 15 kg, and professional setups could be anything up to 40kg, with the camera on top of this.

A professional "portable" system. Note the chest-brace required for the camera!

In order to reduce the weight which had to be carried, everything which wasn't absolutely essential while "on location" was left out of the recorder. So these "portapaks" had no built in mains power supply - the recorder being battery powered, of course - and even sometimes no playback circuits. Power for the camera was also provided by the recorder's battery.

Sony's SonyMatic portable reel-to-reel recorder from the late sixties. The spools are 10 cm (4 inch), which shows the compact size of the machine.

Portable versions of the domestic formats began to appear soon after the first home machines, with the power supply, tuner and timer in a separate unit which was left at home while out shooting. These "separates" machines are exhibited in this room.

However, even a fully stripped-down VHS or Beta machine was large and heavy, and the manufacturers knew that the real solution was a new miniature format specifically designed for portable equipment. Miniature formats are covered in the next room.

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