quaz30, here's some information on Olympus's Cueing system using both tracks of the tape. Tape recorder with cue processor Abstract A tape recorder with a cue signal recording function is arranged to record input signals on corresponding recording tracks of at least two channels, at least one of which is also utilized as a track for cue signal recording. When the cue signal is not being recorded, the cue signal recording track is utilized for recording a given input signal other than the cue signal, in cooperation with recording of other input signals on recording tracks other than the cue signal recording track. During recording of the cue signal on the cue signal recording track, the given input signal is recorded on one of the other recording tracks. https://patents.google.com/patent/US4420777A/
I've read the booklets in those albums and found the whole available library: I really wonder how few of these must have sold if they are so incredibly rare. Also, have two images of albums I found on the Japanese internet.
I was hoping for The Cars or Van Halen but those are still cool. The Japanese really love packaging so even the boxes look cool!
Finally made a decision, surprise surprise. Being brutally honest I need to spend more time getting my motorbikes sorted than fannying around stuck in the 80's Up for sale. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303676258712
Some random photos found on the internet, the Sony M-80 Japanese Brochure. I get ball park pricing by taking off the last two digits, this would have been around $400.00 USD in 1982, big money back then.
The Sony M-1000, slighty less expensive, these don't have a metal tape selection but had to have been the best seller in the US.
I shared this beaut with my pals and one pal thought it's a video microcassette player. Interesting why did they combine TV and this microcassette deck? just to audiorecord TV programs? Anyway, a nice machine!
I don't have a belt on the tape deck so I don't know if it records either the radio or TV. Interestingly it does have audio inputs for the phone so you can record your phone call. Mini TV and Microcassettes were hot for awhile, there's several examples, I've posted most of them. I think it was cool for an executive to have a mini TV, which was new and expensive, and throw in a microcassette for recording meetings, phone calls, the radio, TV, etc. They must not have been huge sellers, most units are pretty rare and they were only on sale for a short time. The Watchman and Casio most likely killed the TV portion.
The microcassette part was meant for recording audio from TV programs. The KV-4100 was made in the very early 80's, when VCRs were very expensive and chunky. There was a pretty big chunk of people who decided to just make do with recording the audio from their television. It's actually been done widely since the reel to reel became affordable, taping audio from your TV in the 60's wasn't anything odd. In fact, in Poland all television sets made from the 1950s to the 1980s had a DIN plug for plugging in your reel to reel tape recorder.
That's interesting about the DIN plug, as a kid I loved recording TV shows with my little mono deck but it was by placing it next to the TV speaker. VHS and Beta were pretty cheap here by 1982 so I don't think that was the reason, unfortunately there's very few brochures or ads to confirm the target market.
Today's score - the mighty Hitachi Lo-D D-MC50. The ultimate microcassette deck, with the best frequency response and beautiful design. Also the only micro deck ever made with Dolby C. I can't wait to try it out.
Awesome! That might be the first one reported in captivity, I've seen some photos around but none captured. Is it JDM, what's the plug and voltage set up?
It's JDM and I believe it was never sold outside Japan. It's 100v but thankfully 50/60Hz, the plug looks like an old American one.
Yes the Japanese Plugs are identical to USA. Here's some info from that great site Audio Heritage https://audio-heritage.jp/LO-D/player/d-mc50.html I've translated it, this was a very expensive deck and the backbone to stereo microcassette system, you'd have to have some silly money back then to get into the format, I'm sure that had a lot to do with it never taking off....
Yep, look at those specs, though. 12kHz max. freq. response on a normal microcassette! And 14 on a metal, isn't that just super impressive for 1982? The tape speed is half of a cassette and yet Hitachi managed to achieve such impressive performance.
Still over twice the price of the Sears TV Microcassette Boombox and 15 times the price of a Microcassette Dictation machine. Sorry about the poor scan quality. that is the best I have. Actually until the mid 1980s a Multi Program Timer on a VCR was considered to be an upmarket feature, which here in the UK typically added £100 to the price of one. That is why they make a big fuss about it in the headline. Fancy a big screen TV to hook your expensive VCR up to ? Around 1982 I actually spent an entire evening watching a TV like that in the passenger lounge of a ferry which was stuck in port with a broken engine. Our "day trip" to the Isle of Man finished at about 5AM the next morning.
That model Sears is pretty rare around here Longman, I've seen two, I should have grabbed one of them but they always show up when the markets down and bargains are in the air. The General Electric Roadshow is more common, I think there was a Sears Version of it but I may be mistaken. nexfero showed up then disappeared a couple years ago but he had a video or two including the Sony M-1000 with the spec sheet behind it. Even though it's stereo it doesn't do metal tapes, it only goes to 8 kHz with normal tape so 12 kHz is pretty impressive.
Since it is in the Sears catalogue that is the Sears version. In fact looking through the entire catalogue the only branded items I have spotted are Casio music keyboards, Timex and Seiko watches (but no Casiio !), Levi and Wrnngler clothing, and a small number of branded film cameras. When you get to the toys they have "Lindsey and Craig" headlining and "Barbie and Ken" as also rans, several pages later. Similarly Hot Wheels hardly makes it into the catalog with just one set of cars, yet there are numerous "Roadmates" sets. It is almost as if they thought the Sears brand was more powerful than Toshiba and Sanyo (who made their VCRs http://www.betamaxcollectors.com/searsbetavisiongallery.html ) or Mattel.
