This is a small shrine to the 'Grundig VS960' Video recorder a market leader well ahead of its time. It has outlasted anything I have bought after it and has never put a worn capstan wrong.

In October 1992 I was moved onto a project at work that had to be completed by the end of that month. To finish this task took most hours of most days. However the next month I had enough extra cash to buy a second video recorder.

My prime - a Mitsubishi was deeply in to credit collection for 'wHom' and was wearing out at a rate of knots. I had my eye on a Philips model that had just been released and went up 'Gadget City' aka TCR (Tottenham Court Road - London UK) to acquire one.

No dealers had this model in stock - none would quote a price - yet all assured me they would have that model that afternoon if I so wanted.

Whilst hopping from shop to shop I spied a bargain on sale The Grundig VS960. I read its spiel and was hooked - I had to have it.

Its had the following notable features

• It has just 5 buttons on the front eject - play - pause - standby and record - no stop button you have to turn it off.
• It has a huge green LCD display 3" by 2".
• The remote talks to the Grundig VS960 and the Grundig VS960 talks back to the remote.
• The Grundig VS960 can switch satellite channels - old hat now but then - wow.
• It has PDC which in the UK was at the time confined to Channel 4.
• It can set its timer from Teletext.
• It gets its time from Teletext - old hat now but then - wow.
• It has the strangest Man Machine Interface since programming the Sinclair Spectrum.
• It offered a yearly payable extended guarantee - much softer than all at once.
• It is unphased by powercuts.
• The manual is 1/4" thick with a proper binding and is in 1 language.
• It doesn't have a counter.
• It has a 'wobble knob' that clicks in and out of flushness.
• The Grundig VS960 details came on a credit card and there was a pocket for it on the back of the recorder.

The concept of archiving is creeping back into modern video technology as all products have become single and the important USP (unique selling point) is missing. Models now offering archiving are:

• Hitachi VT-FX770
• Panasonic HD680
• Sony SLVF900

Setting Up

The Grundig VS960 has its own built in test card

Main Menu

The Grundig VS960 offered the following main functions. Record Programming - see [How the Grundig VS960 times] [telt] [tvst] [sela] Archive - see [How the Grundig VS960 archives] LCD Remote - see [The Grundig VS960 remote RP85 LCD]

The TV programmes are entered as channels and are named and entered with an associated Teletext for recording purposes.

The Grundig VS960 can be setup to one of many languages - I rotate them monthly.

Ironically the project that paid for the Grundig VS960 is still not put to bed yet 6 years later.

The original dream machine of the Philips became my third video that later broke and became unfixable when I turned it upside down and six bits fell out.

My fourth video was a Sony that can only be described as abysmal.

An the fifth was a Mitsubishi replacement for the original one. This is currently in repair "12 weeks and counting".

Where once I had four running simultaneoulsy now I had none so I outted the Grundig VS960 from the stores to hot swap it. The video memory was still intact all ready to go it worked - bit boring really its just so damn reliable.

Grundig VS960 - I salute you.

• [How the Grundig VS960 times]
• [How the Grundig VS960 archives]
• [The Grundig VS960 remote RP85 LCD]