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| FORMAT: VHS | ||||||
DATE: 1981 PRICE: £? [2005: £?] 40x27x15cm 10kg | |||||||
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| The 2300 is not particularly unusual as a VCR - it's a typical VHS deck from 1981. The odd thing about it is the design, which is best described as "Ghetto Blaster". | |
| Although all portables have a carrying handle at the front, most are designed to be actually used in a horizontal position, laid down flat. But a few manufacturers tried a vertical approach, making the machine more like the radio or cassette players of the day. The vertical layout never caught on - perhaps because it's really only useful if the deck is moved around a lot, and although early eighties ghetto blasters were huge, they weren't nearly as heavy as this monster! |  |
| At this time, VCR mechanisms were huge and heavy - a thick steel chassis with lots of solenoids and motors. To make things worse, this isn't a separates system -- you need to carry around the tuner, timer and PSU, as well as the lead-acid battery. Useful in theory, but how many places could you carry it to where you could plug it into an aerial and TV? | |
| One disconcerting thing about this layout is that you look at the tape and control buttons from the opposite direction to usual -- so the tape and function arrows appear to go the wrong way - from right to left: | |
 The odd backwards buttons of the 2300 Notice also the "video search" function, which has it's own button rather than sharing the FF button like modern VCRs - and there's no reverse picture search at all! | |
| A final odd feature of this machine is the very unusual head drum. Most obviously it's a dark gold colour, unlike the bright silver of all other VHS drums I've seen. It also has a strange upper assembly, making it look more like a V2000 drum -- but there's no auto tracking or other extra circuitry in this machine, so I don't know what's in there! |  |
