We're having a resurgence of obsolete formats!

[barfle]

The thing I hate in the music and video industry is forced obsolescence. They want to make you buy the same titles again by making the old versions unplayable.

There are some wackos who have to have the latest in technology and throw out their old stuff because it is old technology. They are like the ones who throw out last year's music because it is old. But I want to keep ALL of the recordings I have, not just the newest.

I have records as old as 1908. I need the ability to play all recordings, not just the latest stuff. We do not need any more new formats. And I already have to have way too many players.

These are all of the formats that I know
...
There are others I didn't list, plus a myriad of computer formats.

In addition to many of those formats, I have a significant collection of Magnavox Teleplayer (EVR) films. Everybody gets to be a little crazy when it comes to formats.

 

[Beefalo]

My dad had one of these
Sony EVC100 Hi8 VCR

 

[Sonik Wiz]

My dad had one of these
Sony EVC100 Hi8 VCR
View attachment 51444

A-Ha well from Gigantor VHS cam to C-VHS to Sony Digital 8 for me & then whatever the digital Sony video mini-disc was called. No Hi8 for me in between. My marriage & family have been documented prolificly in so many formats.

Edit: I guess I should also mention, as obsolete formats go, quite a lot of pic shooting was done on ImageTech 3D. Lenticular screening no glasses required:
Lomography - ImageTech 3D fx: Three-Eyed Alien Mutant Camera

 

[winopener]

DivX (I have no discs, but have a player that will play them. Likely too far deteriorated.)

Do you want one (007 TND)? Deteriorated, no, it still looks very shiny, unplayable, yes, because there isn't anymore the server that will allow the content to be descrambled. Got it only as a testimony of a failure format in SF back in the short days of that crap.

 

[Beefalo]

The most bizarre obsolete format.
https://www.npr.org/2016/01/09/4622...es-weird-secret-history-of-soviet-x-ray-music

 

[azdandan]

And I still display it proudly! (Although it really just makes the Oppo easier to reach.)

View attachment 51405

You, sir, need to quit peeking into my bedroom...

 

[DaveLaPorte53]

I was watching NHK tv and there is a growing demand for old Boom Boxes, they are the new collectible item. The people like the sound quality of analog tape, go figure

 

[MidiMagic]

When you think about it, isn't the conversion of anything to a digital format lossy? It takes a continuum and breaks it into little discrete pieces.

Likewise, any moving picture is by nature lossy because it needs a frame rate.

 

[Soundfield]

When you think about it, isn't the conversion of anything to a digital format lossy?

Not if you employ Nyquist sampling.

 

[Philip Spinner]

I used to have a stack of Cook Binaural lp's that required a special turntable with 2 cartridges to play each track. I was only able to play one track at a time. Never figured out which track was left channel and which was right channel. Probably would have been a good format for discrete quad.

 

[Soundfield]

I used to have a stack of Cook Binaural lp's that required a special turntable with 2 cartridges to play each track. I was only able to play one track at a time. Never figured out which track was left channel and which was right channel. Probably would have been a good format for discrete quad.

I've no idea why such an elegant solution to putting two channels on a disc didn't catch on (!)....

although the halving of the playing time of a mono LP probably didn't help!! If you wanted to use the method for quad you'd need four tone arms!

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I've no idea why such an elegant solution to putting two channels on a disc didn't catch on (!)....
View attachment 51483

although the halving of the playing time of a mono LP probably didn't help!! If you wanted to use the method for quad you'd need four tone arms!

48 inch Quad LPs anyone?

 

[Quad Linda]

I've been working on a 5.1 analog surround tonearm. 5 tonearms integrated into one has been easy to orchestrate. I've wasted a lot of tonearms trying to get .1 sawed off one of them.

Drs. Hugo T. and Loof Lirpa have offered their technical expertise.

I'll keep trying, 'cause it's a million $$$ idea!

 

[4-earredwonder]

My dad had one of these
Sony EVC100 Hi8 VCR
View attachment 51444

Yep, had one of these too only a different version and even had a slew of pre~recorded Hi8 tapes [like Teen Wolf] Yikes! At best, Hi8 boasted 400 lines of resolution comparable at the time to Laserdisc.

https://www.ebay.com/i/254186973669...1291&msclkid=62937c27c01c1561f10d22efdcfd86b0

 

[soundboy]

Just released by Hong Kong Universal Music....their latest batch of CD singles reissues on 3" CDs....

 

[JonUrban]

I still have a set of Beatles 3" CDs, all sealed in longboxes, including Strawberry Fields which is allegedly the hard one to get. I figured they might be worth something some day. Well, not so much. Oh well.........

Since they were Beatles I would have bought them anyway!

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Just released by Hong Kong Universal Music....their latest batch of CD singles reissues on 3" CDs....

It seems that 3" CD's are still a going thing in Japan & SoKo also. Over there the norm is for an artist to release mini-albums. It will always be available streaming but if released as physical media it will always be the mini-CD. And then at some point you'll read a press release announcing whatever band/group is releasing their first new full album in 5 years! Sounds like a big deal but they probably released two full albums worth on the little CD's prior to that.

They also have an interesting marketing ploy for these mini-albums. The band & managers think ahead & essentially plan to release, say, 12 mini-albums that are conected by art work in the time span of 2 years. Buy all 12 & they can be arranged puzzle like to form a complete larger picture. Does this ploy work? Oh yeah streaming and physical sales.

 

[Sal1950]

I kinda regret dumping all my multich vinyl along with the rest of it. When I retired and sold my house in Chicago I had ripped everything to the computer so I sold all my LP's and CD's. I hadn't used them in years, preferring to play my computer files but now you guys are making me nostalgic for the old quad stuff.

 

[jamoke]

Maybe cereal records could make a comeback?

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Maybe cereal records could make a comeback?

I dunno. What RPM? I can only eat so fast.