system. Technicolor 212 VCR & 412D camera.
The first ever compact video cassette system. The little known CVC system. The Technicolor 212 Kit. It came
before VHSC and before 8mm but it did not last very long. Introduced in 1980, this little known video
cassette system is based on a quarter-inch tape format in small cassettes. It was designed for use as a
portable video system with a camera. The recorder was light compared to full size (1/2 inch video
cassette tape) VHS shoulder portables which were around at the time. The Technicolor 212E weighed only
3.25kg. A portables VHS unit weighed about 10Kg. The original price of the Technicolour 212E was £500
and dimensions were only 24x26x8cm. It came with a vidicon tube video camera, the Technicolor 412d. The
videotape cassette has the initials CVC on it which stood for Compact Video Cassette. Grundig also produced
a machine using CVC tapes, the VP-100, however, it used a slower tape speed than the Technicolor to
increase the recording time. You can see we have two Technicolour CVC VCRs, a 212 and a 212E and also
see 4 unopened compact cassettes. The camera and camera power supply are all included.
