Hey there! I'm David, the guy who rescued this from a certain dumpster fate and passed it on to Tom-it was so obscure, weird, and "out there" that it had to be saved! I also managed to locate the original service documentation, and the ensemble stayed together. This unit was found while moving Alpha Tech Electronics to a new location, and while I don't recall where the box was when I found it back in March, the manual was in a location where items were placed in 2000, when the shop moved from the address on the box. I can't believe it works with just a belt replacement-I'll have to ask Zaw (he's the guy who is first talking and messing with the camera) if he remembers the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the Technicolor. Fun fact: when I started working at Alpha, we still had Muntz CVC cartridges in our sales counter. That was 2019. Would it be possible for you to dropbox me any Alpha Tech related content you found? The guys who have been around a while would get a kick out of it.
I'm curious did they ever actually use it? It looks untouched. Tell your coworkers a stranger says hello, and thank you for allowing this history to be shared with us.
Thanks for this, I think you've finally solved a question I've wondered about since 1979. In my first year of high school we had a drama class and our performances used to be recorded on to a tape that looked very much like an audio cassette. I've always wondered what format it was and had thought it was probably an early variant of 8mm, but seeing those tapes and that VCR I am now 100% convinced it was this CVC format as the tapes had a small window just like these, not the larger window of 8mm.
Muntz cashed in on the home video revolution early, and was selling Betamax and VHS machines as early as 1977. They were huge for a few years with their store on Densmore in Van Nuys, California. They also bought Technicolor's entire stock of CVC machines and tried to sell them at steep discounts, even resorting to saying they were "8mm VCRs" when they were not.
This is a Hitachi unit, pretty sure. The most common rebrands were Funai and Technicolor. The Funai version of this is the Funai F612V. The camera that could've gone along with this is the Hitachi VK-C600 (rebrands include Funai F612C & Technicolor 412D), they're really cool tube (Vidicon if I remember correctly) cameras!
@@CompComp 692 bucks in today's money. It's extremely ridiculous to believe that's shipping only. That was not a famous painting being transported to a museum, right?
COD was you paying for the product itself not just shipping. I've talked to UPS delivery people about COD and they told me it wasnt uncommon for them to end up with ten grand in cash a day around the holidays.
The calendar hanging on the wall at Alpha Tech only had 28 days in the month and started on a Sunday, so that narrows this particular test video down to February of 1981 or 1987. Given the age of the recorder, I’d say it is the former. Great video BTW and thanks for representing the STL area with your interesting tech!
Nope, the song they are listening to in the car was released in 1982 -- so it must be that year or later. (The song Electric Eye off of Judas Priest's 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance... which was released in July 1982). It's possible the calendar on the wall just hadn't been changed since the February before? I'd also point out that some calendars used a 28-day grid, but would have the first couple or last couple days overlap with the previous week. So the 23rd/24th would be labelled 23/30 24/31 for example. Hard to see in that shot whether that's the case or not, but good eye either way! Oh, one other thing I noticed -- these shots were almost certainly not filmed in the winter. The name of the month on the calendar doesn't look to me like February either... maybe August?
@@databits Do you happen to have the Grundig VP 100 and NA 100 service manuals? The Grundig microfiche that pertains to the VP 100 and the power supply NA 100 is Grundig microfiche number 50019,if so,I have in my possesion a Canon NP 580 microfiche reader printer machine,and can thus scan and print paper copies of the microfiche,I also found on the net a PDF of the circuit diagram,that helps a little bit,but the actual service manual would be a great help to lots of folks,I also need a NEW CVC cassette and an old CVC cassette to set things up,any help appreciated,Thank you,in advance,Regards,Ray
Interesting video format, the tape goes almost completely around the head. I've read a news article about certain historical police interrogation videos being on obscure reel formats, I wonder if anything of significance was ever stored on this format? I'd imagine that quality was not suitable for broadcast probably just sales videos and such...
I had 27 of these with cameras on Mount Everest in the fall of 1982. Never seen it before or since. The camera quality was poor. The tape quality was worse. Once it was a over 26,000 feet the heads froze and wouldn’t spin. We told the cameraman to dump it in the ice if it stop working. That’s why we had 27. The one in my edit suite was fine tuned and worked well but it needed a special TBC to get the image to a professional recorder.
This was an awesome video! I love the vintage video, did you catch that dudes favorite catch phrase? coke smoke and poke.. LOL!! when he was at the Lake. Very cool!
Earl “Madman” Muntz,invested a lot of money in this format and sold Muntz branded versions in his electronics store. He was also marketing his own form of projection tvs around the same time. Muntz was a very colorful guy and his life story is fascinating.
I used to own this model and the TV tuner. It was a pain to use as the heads needing cleaning every few hours. It was very temperamental and I gave up on it.
I'm getting some serious "Napoleon Dynamite" Uncle Rico vibes from Chuck, our actor for today and tomorrow and I don't know however long Jack wants to do this. How much you wanna make a bet he can throw a football over them mountains?
Bellissimo video 👏🏼👏🏼Immagine definizione di video registrato da CVC è come VHS. Bellissima telecamera RCA 💪🏼💪🏼 tubo da ripresa è più colori brillanti ed un po’ meglio di CCD e MOS. Meccanica CVC interna con tamburo è simile Philips Video 2000 (videocassetta reversibile 1/2 pollice). Ho possesso 2 portatili di CVC sistema PAL: 1 Siemens clone da Funai e Technicolor ed 1 Grundig. Magari aggiunge una testina cancellazione nel tamburo rotante di CVC.
Years ago my late friend had the model with the built in TV on his workbench in his electronics repair shop.His techs were using the TV section for a TV monitor. Dont know why they were using it since the size was small or they were using it to check video cameras that come into the shop for repair..He would not part with it when I try to get it from him.He sold the shop to one of his techs and went out of business .Who knows where the set is now.
I have a question, please. I recently bought a canon VC-100. It's impossible to find information about the camera/recorder system. It came with everything including the camera and recorder but without a power supply. It comes with a wire that connects to the recorder but it has a car charging head. Do you think that's how it actually comes or am I missing stuff? Are car charging cables a thing for these portable recorders?
I assume the 5hr specification on the battery is how long it took to charge. Wonder what the battery life was but doubt it was much longer than to be able to record a full tape on continuous shot (but if anybody knows I'll be glad to be corrected).
Wow I never even heard of this one, and I thought I knew about all of the formats. Strange that they would release this when VHS and Betamax were dominating the market. VHS and Betamax movies were already in rental stores in 1980. I guess this was so people had a smaller field video recorder that they would dub the footage to a conventional VCR. Like a precursor to the Video 8 format
I gasped as soon I read the caption. It seems like ignorance too after those remarks he made about not reading the manual. I would've thought he'd keep the top part close by him which had the markings on it. Now it's gone forever! I guess we all make mistakes.
You lied! This video should have been recorded to and captured from a Technicolor tape! I had a chance to get one of these a few years ago but I think they were charging too much. Only 1/4" VTR I have is the b/w Akai, I wish normal audio tape didn't act like sandpaper on the poor thing. Maybe I could split some VHS tapes as others have done but the machine also isn't working vary well.
Will you pleas help me to find one cvc vcr like thus I have a bunch of tapes and Iwould like to see them again, but i havent found a vcr like this in mexico
I have the same machine along with the camera, but I don't have any cassettes (and the belts have turned to goo too). Also the camera died about two years ago due to bad flyback in the viewfinder, sadly that is part of the power supply board so you can't just take it out and operate the camera with an external monitor... I did do some recordings on VHS with that camera though. Once captured a brilliant (Technicolor) sunset with it (probably around 2015). The camera was crap though. Quelle sold these in Germany in 1981.
concerning the burnt dot in the middle of the screen at the end... how could that happen? Well someone pointed the camera at the sun for more than a fraction of a second.
OMG, the aging, wealthy "frat boy-with-Vette-in-mid-life-crisis in the video was a hoot! Lets open our shirts down to our navels to show how manly we are still lol!
It could be tube burn, I had a camera with the same problem. I accidently did it myself on a sunny day with the lens cap off. Something was reflecting a spot of light.
I know that this is not in the subject of this video, but I want to buy an answering machine. Can you review it please? It would not be helpful just for me, but for others to. I will send a link to where I found it in the next comment.
Watch out Crazy Frog, here comes Mr. Cleavage, annoying beyond belief :P Anyways, nice to see this vcr come back to life; I especially liked the external pwr unit, looks pretty well built (would have been interesting to see it's innards, too) :)
@@gavincurtis No, my fixing stuff that ain't broke was (past tense) with cars. More stuff gets broken 100% from trying to make an already working thing 1/10th of 1 percent "better" Now, if the power supply had high ESR caps in it, it's more like preventative maintenance. If there were a brand name known to fail and pee electrolyte all over the place, I would also do it. But there is absolutely no reason to re-cap it because, well, reasons..
@@audiodood You just need to recap it and stop being a nickle shooter at the dollar slots. Put some good Panasonic EB series in there. ....and I am being sarcastic in my comments. Can't transmit that emotion through the text. Don't recap if it does not need it. I DO have a 1986 Radio Shack stereo video monitor that does require recapping. Multiple comb filter unit (Hitachi Chassis perhaps) with very low hours I had since new. Has this flesh tone control system ...color accuracy is astounding. Caps are starting to get green pins on them though.
Hey there!
I'm David, the guy who rescued this from a certain dumpster fate and passed it on to Tom-it was so obscure, weird, and "out there" that it had to be saved! I also managed to locate the original service documentation, and the ensemble stayed together. This unit was found while moving Alpha Tech Electronics to a new location, and while I don't recall where the box was when I found it back in March, the manual was in a location where items were placed in 2000, when the shop moved from the address on the box.
I can't believe it works with just a belt replacement-I'll have to ask Zaw (he's the guy who is first talking and messing with the camera) if he remembers the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the Technicolor.
Fun fact: when I started working at Alpha, we still had Muntz CVC cartridges in our sales counter. That was 2019.
Would it be possible for you to dropbox me any Alpha Tech related content you found? The guys who have been around a while would get a kick out of it.
Well done. This sort of tech should not be thrown in a bin.
I'm curious did they ever actually use it? It looks untouched. Tell your coworkers a stranger says hello, and thank you for allowing this history to be shared with us.
Thanks for this, I think you've finally solved a question I've wondered about since 1979. In my first year of high school we had a drama class and our performances used to be recorded on to a tape that looked very much like an audio cassette. I've always wondered what format it was and had thought it was probably an early variant of 8mm, but seeing those tapes and that VCR I am now 100% convinced it was this CVC format as the tapes had a small window just like these, not the larger window of 8mm.
Muntz cashed in on the home video revolution early, and was selling Betamax and VHS machines as early as 1977. They were huge for a few years with their store on Densmore in Van Nuys, California. They also bought Technicolor's entire stock of CVC machines and tried to sell them at steep discounts, even resorting to saying they were "8mm VCRs" when they were not.
So this is likely a late old stock model?
I guess any machine back then that could record was a win. Until you needed tape.
14:32 - Electric Eye by Judas Priest!!! This video had to have been recorded sometime during or after 1982!
Oil Well Dude's choice of attire all but confirmed that fact. Haha.
Sheesh, never heard of this format. Crazy what lost formats are out there. Simply amazing!
This is a Hitachi unit, pretty sure. The most common rebrands were Funai and Technicolor. The Funai version of this is the Funai F612V. The camera that could've gone along with this is the Hitachi VK-C600 (rebrands include Funai F612C & Technicolor 412D), they're really cool tube (Vidicon if I remember correctly) cameras!
I just found one of these decks new in box in a closet with four cartons of unused tapes. Great video.
The battery connector IS actually a Molex MLX-series :)
I love the fact that Muntz apparently reused the flywheels off of 8-track players !
If the $219 COD was the full purchase price for this machine that's less than half of what a VHS or Beta deck would have cost.
That would be the shipping cost only. 2 day shipping was kinda rare to use back then due to the price.
@@CompComp 692 bucks in today's money. It's extremely ridiculous to believe that's shipping only. That was not a famous painting being transported to a museum, right?
COD was you paying for the product itself not just shipping. I've talked to UPS delivery people about COD and they told me it wasnt uncommon for them to end up with ten grand in cash a day around the holidays.
The calendar hanging on the wall at Alpha Tech only had 28 days in the month and started on a Sunday, so that narrows this particular test video down to February of 1981 or 1987. Given the age of the recorder, I’d say it is the former.
Great video BTW and thanks for representing the STL area with your interesting tech!
Fun fact. I was born in February 1981.
You're welcome!
Nope, the song they are listening to in the car was released in 1982 -- so it must be that year or later. (The song Electric Eye off of Judas Priest's 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance... which was released in July 1982). It's possible the calendar on the wall just hadn't been changed since the February before? I'd also point out that some calendars used a 28-day grid, but would have the first couple or last couple days overlap with the previous week. So the 23rd/24th would be labelled 23/30 24/31 for example. Hard to see in that shot whether that's the case or not, but good eye either way!
Oh, one other thing I noticed -- these shots were almost certainly not filmed in the winter. The name of the month on the calendar doesn't look to me like February either... maybe August?
@@databits Do you happen to have the Grundig VP 100 and NA 100 service manuals? The Grundig microfiche that pertains to the VP 100 and the power supply NA 100 is Grundig microfiche number 50019,if so,I have in my possesion a Canon NP 580 microfiche reader printer machine,and can thus scan and print paper copies of the microfiche,I also found on the net a PDF of the circuit diagram,that helps a little bit,but the actual service manual would be a great help to lots of folks,I also need a NEW CVC cassette and an old CVC cassette to set things up,any help appreciated,Thank you,in advance,Regards,Ray
The service chart mentions CD.. it has to be 1987
I enjoyed watching this. I had a shop and did VCR repair in the 80s and early 90s.
Really cool to see those old cars when they were recent.
The way the tape wraps around the heads really reminds me of Philips Video 2000 machines of that era.
Interesting video format, the tape goes almost completely around the head. I've read a news article about certain historical police interrogation videos being on obscure reel formats, I wonder if anything of significance was ever stored on this format? I'd imagine that quality was not suitable for broadcast probably just sales videos and such...
Wow - had to comment again. I'm really surprised how good the video quality is from this 'home' recording.
Muntz? On a completely unheard of failed format? Why am I surprised in the slightest?
It’s cool that Muntz even had the cassette box custom made so it had the “madman” logo from his days as a used car salesman on it!
Whoa Shasta lake is my neck of the woods! Bridge Bay really has not changed since the early 80s wow.
I had 27 of these with cameras on Mount Everest in the fall of 1982. Never seen it before or since. The camera quality was poor. The tape quality was worse. Once it was a over 26,000 feet the heads froze and wouldn’t spin. We told the cameraman to dump it in the ice if it stop working. That’s why we had 27. The one in my edit suite was fine tuned and worked well but it needed a special TBC to get the image to a professional recorder.
Hello Eric,I am an enthusiast,may I buy new,or used cassettes ior machines/paperwork etc. Thanks,RSVP,Regards,Ray
This was an awesome video! I love the vintage video, did you catch that dudes favorite catch phrase? coke smoke and poke.. LOL!! when he was at the Lake. Very cool!
Thanks you Mr Ostertag!
“The oldest living name in video”. Muntz had a tv that sold for $99.99 back in 1949!
I read owner’s manuals ‼️
beta spotted
@@Formulka 😂
I don't 😬
MUNTZ?! They were still around in 1980?!
All that branding worked!
I rented a video camera like the one in this video from Muntz in Van Nuys in 1981, even then I was surprised they were still around.
They´re still around! www.muntzav.com/
Earl “Madman” Muntz,invested a lot of money in this format and sold Muntz branded versions in his electronics store. He was also marketing his own form of projection tvs around the same time. Muntz was a very colorful guy and his life story is fascinating.
How would you compare the CVC quality vs. VHS of the era? Mr. 80's oil field man drives a yellow Vette, who would have thought haha.
I wondered what kind of video quality this obscure format had. It looks similar to U-Matic in a smaller package.
My father didn't read owner's manuals. I learned to *always* read owner's manuals because he ruined everything he bought because he never read.
Love that awesome 70s-80s video tape.
I used to own this model and the TV tuner. It was a pain to use as the heads needing cleaning every few hours. It was very temperamental and I gave up on it.
I'm getting some serious "Napoleon Dynamite" Uncle Rico vibes from Chuck, our actor for today and tomorrow and I don't know however long Jack wants to do this. How much you wanna make a bet he can throw a football over them mountains?
The recorded picture was pretty good for a 40 year old recorded tape.
Don’t need to read the manual; doesn’t even need to read the button labels. Just press random buttons and 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤!
Fascinating !
It hurts to see that burn spot on the tube. I've been there more than once.
The yellow C3 corvette is an added bonus
Bellissimo video 👏🏼👏🏼Immagine definizione di video registrato da CVC è come VHS. Bellissima telecamera RCA 💪🏼💪🏼 tubo da ripresa è più colori brillanti ed un po’ meglio di CCD e MOS. Meccanica CVC interna con tamburo è simile Philips Video 2000 (videocassetta reversibile 1/2 pollice). Ho possesso 2 portatili di CVC sistema PAL: 1 Siemens clone da Funai e Technicolor ed 1 Grundig. Magari aggiunge una testina cancellazione nel tamburo rotante di CVC.
Scusa l'intrusione. Io avrei bisogno di alcuni riversaggi da cvc a file. Conosci qualcuno a cui possa rivolgermi? Grazie e scusa ancora il disturbo
Years ago my late friend had the model with the built in TV on his workbench in his electronics repair shop.His techs were using the TV section for a TV monitor. Dont know why they were using it since the size was small or they were using it to check video cameras that come into the shop for repair..He would not part with it when I try to get it from him.He sold the shop to one of his techs and went out of business .Who knows where the set is now.
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner is the best stuff for removing British Petroleum - Gulf Coast Division belt residue...
Awesome to see the 80s again.
And Big Bend Blvd!
I have a question, please. I recently bought a canon VC-100. It's impossible to find information about the camera/recorder system. It came with everything including the camera and recorder but without a power supply. It comes with a wire that connects to the recorder but it has a car charging head. Do you think that's how it actually comes or am I missing stuff? Are car charging cables a thing for these portable recorders?
I assume the 5hr specification on the battery is how long it took to charge. Wonder what the battery life was but doubt it was much longer than to be able to record a full tape on continuous shot (but if anybody knows I'll be glad to be corrected).
7:46 " -A GRAND- An excellent pinout"
Fantastic idea and cool content bro
Thanks for the visit
Wow I never even heard of this one, and I thought I knew about all of the formats.
Strange that they would release this when VHS and Betamax were dominating the market. VHS and Betamax movies were already in rental stores in 1980. I guess this was so people had a smaller field video recorder that they would dub the footage to a conventional VCR. Like a precursor to the Video 8 format
Your videos are cool
Man, I really wanted to know what was on those tapes. Too bad you recorded over some of it.
I gasped as soon I read the caption. It seems like ignorance too after those remarks he made about not reading the manual. I would've thought he'd keep the top part close by him which had the markings on it. Now it's gone forever! I guess we all make mistakes.
@@nooneinpart 😬 Yikes! I guess it goes to show mistakes can happen to anyone. I hope there was nothing too sentimental on that card.
You lied! This video should have been recorded to and captured from a Technicolor tape!
I had a chance to get one of these a few years ago but I think they were charging too much. Only 1/4" VTR I have is the b/w Akai, I wish normal audio tape didn't act like sandpaper on the poor thing. Maybe I could split some VHS tapes as others have done but the machine also isn't working vary well.
It still has some tracking issues, I believe the capstan belt is too elastic, try a firm belt and see if it fixes the problem.
Will you pleas help me to find one cvc vcr like thus I have a bunch of tapes and Iwould like to see them again, but i havent found a vcr like this in mexico
Awesome video!
I have the same machine along with the camera, but I don't have any cassettes (and the belts have turned to goo too). Also the camera died about two years ago due to bad flyback in the viewfinder, sadly that is part of the power supply board so you can't just take it out and operate the camera with an external monitor... I did do some recordings on VHS with that camera though. Once captured a brilliant (Technicolor) sunset with it (probably around 2015). The camera was crap though.
Quelle sold these in Germany in 1981.
Well I was not gonna say Oil Well Dude looked like he did a lot of cocaine but he pretty much confirmed it with that one comment.
concerning the burnt dot in the middle of the screen at the end... how could that happen? Well someone pointed the camera at the sun for more than a fraction of a second.
OMG, the aging, wealthy "frat boy-with-Vette-in-mid-life-crisis in the video was a hoot! Lets open our shirts down to our navels to show how manly we are still lol!
i wish this was more popular
I wonder if the folks in the outro ever figured out that the dot was just plain dirt on the actual tube surface, behind the lens.
It could be tube burn, I had a camera with the same problem. I accidently did it myself on a sunny day with the lens cap off. Something was reflecting a spot of light.
Weird that AV/RF out is in the same DIN as power.
I know that this is not in the subject of this video, but I want to buy an answering machine. Can you review it please? It would not be helpful just for me, but for others to. I will send a link to where I found it in the next comment.
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Your video is interesting
Thank you for the shoutout 😄
No problem 😊
A pin out diagram on the power unit isn't much good if you don't have the power unit :)
Was this used for professional production or was it just a fancy consumer machine?
Fancy consumer machine.
That was cool electron..icks!
I suspect it was actually made by Funai in Japan.
So many belts. Why did manufacturers do such a thing.
It was the only real way to make a steady speed drive mechanism
How are good at fixing this stuff
It takes weeks to make Muntz!
I have 2 of these units with power supplies if you are interested
The cassette looks like mini V2000
yes!
Is that guy in the video lol is he Burt Reynolds 😊
CVC was only NTSC, and was never sold in Europe?
There are PAL and SECAM models out there, SECAM being the rarest of them all.
I remember seeing them for sale in video magazines in the UK circa 1985
😲 wow🤗
OK , so that's what Mustie1 was doing 40 years ago !
(I am not being serious)
so now nelson muntz from the simpsons makes vcr's? lol
Groovy!
Nice video. You use vintage camera to capture image. What the image quality if you use modern camera?
Probably much better. It was the cameras that was the weak link in those times. The recording was actually pretty good.
You have same TV as me
Watch out Crazy Frog, here comes Mr. Cleavage, annoying beyond belief :P
Anyways, nice to see this vcr come back to life; I especially liked the external pwr unit, looks pretty well built (would have been interesting to see it's innards, too) :)
Did this man just really say “ Im getting burned out, too much sun, too much smoke,coke and poke 🥴
@17:00
oml 13:50
Might as well recap it while you are in there, Covid home-bound and all that....
Uh, NO. If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!
@@christo930 you are being untruthful. You know you want to recap that chass.
@@gavincurtis No, my fixing stuff that ain't broke was (past tense) with cars. More stuff gets broken 100% from trying to make an already working thing 1/10th of 1 percent "better"
Now, if the power supply had high ESR caps in it, it's more like preventative maintenance. If there were a brand name known to fail and pee electrolyte all over the place, I would also do it. But there is absolutely no reason to re-cap it because, well, reasons..
It ruins the originality. You can never un-recap something. No longer a true vintage
@@audiodood You just need to recap it and stop being a nickle shooter at the dollar slots. Put some good Panasonic EB series in there.
....and I am being sarcastic in my comments. Can't transmit that emotion through the text. Don't recap if it does not need it.
I DO have a 1986 Radio Shack stereo video monitor that does require recapping. Multiple comb filter unit (Hitachi Chassis perhaps) with very low hours I had since new. Has this flesh tone control system ...color accuracy is astounding.
Caps are starting to get green pins on them though.