Source: Terra Media Archives.
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The Vidicord teleplayer was first demonstrated in London on 27 October 1969. It took cassette-loaded conventional Super 8 film and displayed it on a conventional television receiver, into which the player was plugged via the aerial socket. It could output in either 625-line 25 fps or 525-line 30 fps standards, with a bandwidth of about 4MHz. A colour version was promised for early 1971 and was still being promised in September 1971 when a new monochrome model—the Projectel series, priced at £360—was announced, featuring automatic threading and automatic rewind to any predetermined point on the film. Instead of feeding only to a television set, this one allowed for direct optical projection of the film onto a screen. A 16mm version, which would have given better quality pictures, was also said to be in the pipeline.
    Because a number of films were available on Super 8 format for the amateur market, there was a ready-made supply of programming. The typewritten catalogue included a number of feature films—among them Stagecoach and To Be Or Not To Be. Most of the list, however, comprised early Charlie Chaplin shorts, travelogues and cartoons, although there were such attractions as the 1966 World Cup Final.
    Kodak came up with a similar teleplayer, announced in October 1971, as did Fuji Photo Film (for launch in June 1972) but the simple idea of playing back global-standard Super 8 film on any TV set did not catch on.

1969

The quest for home video index