Showing posts with label VHD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VHD. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

VHD discs revisited

Do you remember my post about my two VHD discs? If not, take a look at it before you continue reading.

I finally got an answer, and without purchasing a VHD player! The good news: It's sort of arcade related. Bad news: ...and at the same time it's not.

I have had an auto search on eBay for more than a year now, but I only found one VHD player, and it would have been very expensive with shipping.
A local classifieds site had an advert from a guy who could transfer various video formats to DVD. Much to my surprise, VHD was one of them, so I contacted him.
Before even getting to the point of sending him the discs, he had found out what they are. The discs' labels gave him the information he needed, and it turned out he actually has the very same discs himself.

They come from a video jukebox system which was produced in England in the 80s, called ThornEMI Videodisc Jukebox. That explains 'VJBE' on the label, where the E stands for Europe. My two discs were a part of a set which consisted of disc numbers 76, 77 and 78, and contain music videos. These specific discs were produced in the end of 1986, and each of them contains approximately one hour of video, which means they only utilized one side of the disc.

The Videodisc Jukebox had three VHD players and an interface which enabled you to choose songs, much like in regular jukeboxes, a monitor and speakers. They existed from about 1985 to 1988, and were often placed in game arcades and similar locations.
At least that explains why I got them from an old op.

I was very lucky to bump into a VHD expert locally, and I thank him for all his help. One of my few arcade related mysteries has been solved.

It wasn't easy finding a picture of the jukebox, but I believe this is it:

Sunday, November 16, 2008

VHD video discs mystery

I acquired two VHD video discs from an operator, along with a bunch of game boards. I had never heard about the VHD format before, and frankly I find them quite intriguing.


The labels are quite cryptic, and don't tell much about the contents. 




I can't find any information on KLOV about games which used VHD discs, although there are a bunch of laserdisc games. I still feel that these must be arcade related in some way. As I said, they came from an operator, and they were in between game boards, MVS carts and manuals. There were absolutely no movies, music or non-arcade material in their vicinity. 

I am seriously considering to look for a VHD player, if for nothing else then to tame my curiosity.
And who knows.. Maybe this is some unknown little arcade treasure?

Any hints or ideas about the contents will be highly appreciated, to say the least.

Edit: I found a page describing a special MSX2 machine which utilized VHD discs. At least that proves that VHD discs were indeed used for games.

 
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