Deadline 2025 is an initiative that aims to preserve the NFSA’s videotape collection. There are many rare and early home video recordings in the collection. In researching the earliest home video recorders, we can better understand how they worked and who was using them – and find some rare gems.
With lightweight smartphones it’s easy to take video for granted – today anyone can record high resolution videos and publish them online. But not so long ago, video recorders were anything but portable, or accessible. They were very expensive and therefore beyond reach for most people.
Videotape was invented in 1956 by the Ampex Corporation and was only used by broadcasters for the recording and replay of television programs. The 2” (two-inch) or Quadruplex video recorders (as they were known) filled a room and required an air compressor for use.
While advances in electronics reduced their size a little, the recorders were still prohibitively expensive; in 1960, they cost £100,000 (the equivalent of $3.5 million today) and the tape itself cost about £100 per hour ($3,500). It wasn’t until 1965 that Sony released the first half-inch CV-2000 Videocorder. The CV-2100 succeeded this, advertised for sale in Australia as ‘compact and portable’ – despite weighing in at a hefty 22 kilograms.
Within a couple of years, there were more options, with Sony joined by Akai, JVC and National in manufacturing lighter and more portable video recorders. Sony’s VideoRover, more commonly known as the Portapak, became the most widely used of the portable video recorders. It also heralded the first video camera system for the non-professional user.
Introduced in 1973, the VideoRover AV-3240CE, a solid device weighing about eight kilograms, was priced at $1,370 (including duties and tax), which is equivalent to more than $15,000 today. While far more portable than its predecessors, it was still a substantial piece of kit with three separate components. To appreciate how clunky and heavy this is, it would be like throwing a satchel containing a few house bricks over your shoulder and then with one hand holding up another brick as if it’s a camera. Sony marketed this device as being ‘invaluable in countless applications in industry, business, sport, education, even home use’. This did lead to take-up within some universities and secondary schools.
The operation of the Portapak required some skill and a checklist of tasks to complete before heading into the field to make a recording. This included charging and installing the battery, lacing the tape up and ensuring the camera was working. The battery had to power not only the recorder, but the camera too. If the battery ran low, the recorder would still record, but at a slower speed, making playback nearly impossible due to the tape running at a different speed. The Vidicon tube cameras at this point were black-and-white only and not very sensitive, resulting in fairly flat-looking pictures. The videotapes were limited to a duration of 30 minutes.
This 1975 training video explains the operation of the Portapak:
Portapak demonstration video, 1975. Courtesy: Access Video, Carlton. NFSA title: 525420
Portability offered many possibilities, and these were as varied as the users themselves. Filmmakers recorded interviews with other filmmakers. Students recorded visiting lecturers and guests. Artist filmmakers made new video works experimenting with their new-found electronic devices. Community groups took to their constituents and captured oral histories. Dance companies filmed rehearsals and performances to aid in the review and improvement of techniques.
The NFSA holds in its collection not only the videocorders themselves, but many tapes recorded using this equipment. The diversity of subjects in these tapes is evident in the examples below.
Among the tapes in the NFSA collection are five from the Women’s Community Aid Centre in Brisbane. This excerpt captures the potential uses of portable video cameras and recorders by community groups who wanted to represent themselves, rather than be represented by the traditional media as was previously the case. This clip features direct addresses to the camera from the members of the association:
Speakers at the Women’s Community Aid Centre in Brisbane, 1975, filmed with an early Sony Portapak video recorder. NFSA title: 532225
Found on a tape containing footage of an anti-Malcolm Fraser rally and a demonstration against Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited was an interview with Garry McDonald in costume as Norman Gunston. It looks as though the tape was recorded over and this interview is what remains of a longer recording. More than eight minutes remain, and this is an excerpt:
A 1975 interview with Garry McDonald, dressed as Norman Gunston, filmed on an early Sony Portapak portable video recorder. Courtesy: Digby Duncan. NFSA title: 56571
This is a video about the Whipstick Area in Bendigo, Victoria. It’s an example of the Portapak being used to record oral and local history. Unlike other histories recorded in this format, this video surveys the area rather than being a static recording in an interviewee’s home. Llew delivers the history of the area directly to camera including information about mining sites and local flora and fauna:
Local resident Alan William 'Llew' Llewellyn talks about the history of the Bendigo Whipstick area in Victoria, 1978, filmed on an early Sony Portapak portable video recorder. Courtesy: Alan Dyall. NFSA title: 622743
Digitising these ½-inch (half-inch) open reel tapes has proved challenging. Many are suffering from 'sticky-shed syndrome'. Over time, the tape absorbs moisture and then the tape layers stick together. The tape is warmed and dried in a scientific oven to remove the moisture and then it is hand-wound onto a modified reel to be cleaned on a professional videotape cleaner. The cleaner removes loose oxide and polishes the tape, ensuring good playback.
We use the larger Sony J-Format (AV-3200CE) as this gives greater playback control. While all the Sony VideoRovers are made to the J-Format standard, it can be hard to replay them, battery problems on the original recording aside. We use a timebase corrector to improve the stability of the playback and allow us to control the picture and sound levels of the tape for the best digitisation results.
At the NFSA, a tape on VTR with oscilloscope showing RF response.
Heads of the Sony Videocorder being cleaned at the NFSA.
Tape from the Sony Videocorder being hand-wound at the NFSA.
Today, the NFSA collection of more than 500 ½-inch open reel videotapes continues to be preserved in-house utilising the specialist knowledge and resources of video services staff. The precious footage captured by the early users of this technology will be digitised to ensure their ongoing accessibility as part of the NFSA’s Deadline 2025 preservation strategy.
Richard Vorobieff is the NFSA’s Senior Video Preservation Specialist.
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Main image: Video camera for the Sony Videocorder, c 1965. Photo by Tony Rowley. NFSA title: 697450
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