DV video, launched in 1995, democratized digital video recording and editing. It came bundled with a transfer protocol that allowed to copy one tape to another or to upload it on a computer without loss. This communication protocol is officially called IEEE-1394, but is better known as Firewire or i.Link…

The world of television and broadcast-quality video changed forever in 1973 with the introduction of the digital time-base corrector (TBC). Two American companies — Consolidated Video Systems and Television Microtime — announced similar products almost simultaneously. With the digital wide-windowed time base corrector one “could take unstable poor-quality ½-inch videotape…

Rock Video Monthly was a subscription service, inaugurated by Warner Music Enterprises in October 1992. For $3/mo you would receive a videocassette with ten new releases in a chosen genre every month. For perspective, MTV, which Warner sold to Viacom in 1985, did not originally pay for music videos…

This VCR has all the features of a high end consumer-grade machine like Super-VHS capability with Expansion Technology, Hi-Fi audio, jog dial for accurate playback and editing, flying erase head, digital Y/C separation, digital noise reduction. It also has an RS-232 connector and a USB port. For someone who wants…

For quite a while I was considering testing the current generation of Pinnacle Dazzle analog to digital converter. I have a 2006 Pinnacle Dazzle DVC100, and I have been interested in how current product is different from the one Pinnacle released 16 years ago. Last year it was on sale…

Here is a question to fellow tapeheads: do you know what is a bias adjust knob? Do you use it? Do you think it helps? Let’s find out! First, what is bias? It is high-frequency current that shakes up the particles of…

In 2002 George Lucas made history, shooting the first major Hollywood blockbuster on video. It is less known that thirty years earlier, the Hollywood was already making feature movies using 24p HD. In 1971, Image Transform, Inc was formed in the North Hollywood, California to “electronically produce motion picture film…

The 2023 Lexus RX has just been unveiled! It comes with four different powertrains: The base RX350 is powered by a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, which connects to an eight-speed automatic. Front-wheel drive is standard, all-wheel drive is an option. The hybrid RX350h has a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with…

This is the JVC GR-DVL9000 camcorder. It records standard definition video on MiniDV cassettes. Its CCD sensor has global shutter, just like on a film camera, and it can capture a whole frame at once, just like a film camera. There is no combing and no interline twitter, characteristic to…