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The first music videos? No, it's the first commerial use of video recordings to produce a picture synchronized with a coin operated jukebox. Back in the eighties Rowe international produced several models of "video jukeboxes" that for a little extra money you could watch the artist(s) sing, or at least accompany, the music that was playing. For viewing, a large television was mounted on a wall above the crowd. (The jukebox is such a common fixture in American culture that it has even been awarded its own commemorative US Postage stamp.) To accomplish the synchronized video playback Rowe engineers took advantage of the fact that (Sony) Beta machines kept the tape threaded during rewind and fast forward, something VHS didn't do. This threaded condition meant that by using special software blank passages inserted between the control track pulses of the individually recorded video selections could be used for their location. The first models were in monaural but the system worked well enough that there was a second generation that played in BetaHi-Fi stereo. Click through the pictures and examine the various Beta players and how they were altered to make the mechanisms cooperate the jukebox software. Video Jukeboxes have reappeared in England, but of coarse they now use a different technology. To close this panel and go back to the main page click here.
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