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Video 2000 (also known as V2000, with the tape standard Video Compact Cassette, or VCC) is a consumervideocassette system and analogue recordingstandard developed by Philips and Grundig to compete with JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax video technologies.[1] It was designed for the PAL color television standard, but some models additionally handled SECAM. Distribution of Video 2000 products began in 1979 exclusively in Europe, South Africa and Argentina and ended in 1988.[2]
Although some initial models and advertising featured a mirror-image "VCR" badge based on the logo of Philips's earlier Video Cassette Recording (VCR) system, Video 2000 was an entirely new (and incompatible) format, which incorporated many technical innovations.[3] Despite this, the format was not a major success and was eventually discontinued, having lost out to the rival VHS system in the videotape format war.
The Video Compact Cassette
Philips named the videotape standard Video Compact Cassette (VCC) to complement its landmark audio Compact Cassette format introduced in 1963, but the format itself was marketed under the trademark Video 2000.[4]
Despite the name, VCCs are marginally larger than VHS cassettes—shorter, but thicker and deeper.[5][6] They have two co-planar reels containing half-inch (12.5 mm) wide chromium dioxidemagnetic tape. The format used only half (6.25 mm) of the half-inch tape on a given "side", and so it is occasionally referred to erroneously as a quarter-inch tape format, despite its physical tape width. The cassette can then be flipped over to use the other half of the tape, thus doubling playing time.[7]
Format and features
A Video 2000 tape alongside VHS and Beta tapes
Dynamic Track Following (DTF) eliminated the need for a separate control track and enabled the video heads to accurately follow the recorded tracks on the tape during playback. Therefore, by design V2000 machines do not require a video tracking control.[8]
Launch
The Philips VR2020 was the first mass-marketed model for the Video 2000 format sold in the United Kingdom.
A key intention of the V2000 format, thanks to DTF, was tape compatibility. A tape from any machine should play perfectly on any other machine. However, when the VR2020 reached the shops it was discovered that its audio head was 2.5 mm out of position compared to that on Grundig's Video 2×4 (Grundig V1600). This meant that the sound would be out of sync with the picture when played back on the other type of machine. Both manufacturers' hastily moved the audio head 1.25 mm to a common position, but compatibility issues remained for recordings made on the first generation of machines.[9]
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