Find of the Century! VBT 200 Mint in Box! *PICS*

[electroking]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

What amazes me is that someone could afford to spend US$800 or more on this VCR 30 years ago and just leave it in the box.

Well, I have at least that amount in new, sealed CDs sitting on my shelves,
who doesn't?

[zenith2134]

Sealed CDs? Is it because you are into vinyl and won't even listen to digital?

It is strange that the VBT sat unused for all these years. It does happen though. I read stories here at audiokarma alot where people score new in the box gear from people who bought it and used it once or twice. Makes little sense, and could be a lie some of the time, but again this does happen.

Just tonight I was browsing through old boxes of LPs from a relative who passed away in 1989. These boxes haven't seen the light of day since about 1997. I came across this LP.,.wait let me find it...."Chucho Avellanet's Entre Los Dos" on the UA Latino label. This record was never opened. I opened it and its totally in Spanish. Sounds good, but I don;t understand it.

Point is, there are lots of NIB things left out there!

[firenzeprima]

that fortune you had! however the unit is not built by RCA seems rather Japanese

[andy]

...

[firenzeprima]

Originally Posted by andy

It was made by Panasonic/Matsushita. They made most of the first generation VHS VCRs.

I was sure, but it was not the JVC the first who developed the system VHS?

[bgadow]

One thing I could see would be some big company deciding to outfit each of its locations with the latest technology, and it just never being put to use. Or, a store that didn't turn over the merchandise too quickly and didn't want to take a loss on it-the last time I was in one of our local TV shops he still had some NOS Zenith 13" sets from the early 90s, with faded price tags over $200. I think he finally had a sale and cleared that shelf.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Originally Posted by firenzeprima

I was sure, but it was not the JVC the first who developed the system VHS?

Sony invented all the basic details of what became the VHS and Beta VCR formats, the M-load and U-load tape threading, azimuth recording without guard bands, and other details. After Sony released the Betamax, JVC released the first VHS VCR with two-hour recording time. RCA wanted to sell a VCR that could record a USA football game on one tape, so they got Matsushita (parent company/owner of JVC) to add the slower, poorer-quality four-hour recording mode (LP) to the VHS format, and they built the VBT-200 for RCA. Matsushita also sold essentially the same model as the Panasonic PV-1000 in the USA, and there were several other clones of this machine and the next two years' successor versions, including the PV-1200 with the follow-on, poorer-yet six-hour recording mode (SLP/EP).