Philips VKR6847 Explorer Camcorder

 

Moving on from projectors to the things that give the projectors the film they need to be useful, well… not exactly a projector, but a VCR because this post will be looking at the Philips VKR6847 Explorer VHS-C tape Camcorder.

Camcorders are considered to be one of the most important parts of human documentation. Like painted portraits it gives the viewer a glimpse into the past. Everything from how we lived, celebrated events, current events and fashion. Home videos have become part of our evolution, our need and want to capture significant events, so we can possibly relive (even if it is vicariously) the past.

As Videomaker (1995) writes: “Every time you point your camcorder and push the record button, you’re recording history. Seriously. Even though you may think it’s just another birthday video full of screaming children, there’s more to it than that. You are (perhaps unwittingly) helping to document the age in which we live. In just a few decades, if those tiny magnetic particles on the tape manage to hold their charge, the stuff that’s on that birthday video could make a social historian search through a dozen archives just for the chance to take a look.”

Over time the camcorder has become more compact and accessible.

As Warren (2021) points out: “Camcorders were once considered a rare luxury, and there were only a few models from which to choose. Now there are dozens of models for everyone, ranging from no-frills to semi-professional. (The Canon E70 reviewed in the accompanying story falls right in the middle.) Three camcorder systems continue to battle it out. You can choose among full-sized VHS, miniature VHS-C and 8 mm. If you choose VHS, you must select between standard VHS and Super-VHS. A video store now provokes the same indecision as a multiflavor ice cream parlor.”

And this is exactly what Philips has done with the VKR 6847 camcorder. The Philips company was founded in the Netherlands 1891 by Frederick Philips and Gerald Philips, his son. The started by supplying cheap and reliable light bulbs. From there they became the largest private employers in the Netherlands and expanded their electrical catalogue. Everything from technology to help hospitals, electric razors, radios, televisions and the VCR. (Philips 2024)

Philips made the N1500 in 1972. Which used a tape cassette that changed the industry because it meant that it was easier to record and play said recordings, while also having the tape protected from dust and dirt. (Europeana)

But with the launch of Sony’s VHS and Betamax, Philips created the N1700, which the Japanese copied and made cheaper. Philips then created the Video 2000 in PAL format, that was only sold in Europe, whereas the Japanese where global. This forced Philips to join the VHS gang. (Companies History 2024)

Then, like the film, people wanted to film their own stuff in VHS. Companies obliged them and then just like the 16mm becoming smaller and leading to the 8mm, the VHS tapes took a similar route.

In 1982 a more compact version of the VHS was created by JVC, called the VHS-C tapes (Wallace), and because Philips was part of the VHS train, they jumped on board, with this object as proof.

This object is part of the Philips VKR Explorer series. The date is a bit tricky, but I suspect that this camera came out between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Evidence of this is that the manual (Page 11), uses the year 1990 and 1991 as examples to explain how to set the time and date. Another piece of evidence is that later models, like the VKR 6853 (which looks similar to the VKR 6847), released in 1993 (Catawiki 2020).

This camera, the Philips VKR6847 Explorer, is powered by either a VQL6235 6-volt nickel cadmium battery or an Ac adaptor SBC5420, with a power source of 100-240V. 

Unfortunately, this camera has neither. In fact, this camera is missing a whole list of things:   

Camcorder accessories. Image Source: Philips Explorer VKR6847 Operating Instructions Manual

The camera has auto focus and an 8x zoom capabilities as well as macro close-ups. It has a built in microphone, but also external jacks for headphones and an external microphone. A time and date display, tracking, manual focus, shutter speed and white balance adjustment.

   

                                         

                                            

It also gives the user the option to review the footage shot with its built in VCR. This also allows the user to find any part that they want to reshoot and just record over it. The camcorder can also be connected to a regular VCR to copy (also known as dubbing) the footage to another tape.

 

Then there is my favourite feature which is the fade-in and fade-out effects that can be added in real time as you are recording, with the Fade button, for a real home cinematic experience.

To learn more about these options, you can read the manual here: 

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/176687/Philips-Explorer-Vkr6847.html?page=1#manual

This camera is part of the era of compact camcorders and films on a VHS-C tape. This tape is like the VHS tape except more compact, which is where the C comes in (stands for compact, how do they come up with these abbreviations?). It was also a direct competitor to the Video8 and Hi8 tapes (these are briefly mentioned in my It’s Cragstan 8mm Portable Projector post) and the VHS-C tapes with a third of the size smaller of a normal VHS tape. (Wallace).

This format war between the VHS-C and Video8 tapes lead to companies to make higher quality tapes. Video8 lead to High8 and to keep up JVC released the S-VHS-C tapes (can you guess what the S in S-VHS-C stood for?). But these where completely obliterated by the arrival of the MiniDV in 1995 and then that format was destroyed by the rise of digital camcorders. (Sommerfeld 2023)

The VHS-C tapes came out in 1982 and where built by the JVC in Japan (more specifically Panasonic, according to Everpresent 2016). It can be played on both the camcorder and VCRs, but because it is smaller than a regular VSH tape it needs and adapter to be used in a VCR. (Sommerfeld 2023)

This adapter is basically as Roemer writes:

“It was like the Russian Nesting Dolls of filming. These little boogers were small tapes that went into the camera, then to play the tape back, you would put the little tape into a regular sized tape and pop it in the VCR.”

VHS-C tape & VHS adapter. Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Super-VHS-Compact001-Mini-Version.JPG

Although the size of the VHS-C made it easier to carry around, it had the drawback of also having less recording space. Where the normal VHS could record up to 120min, the VHS-C could only go up to 30min (Everpresent 2016) and if compared to its completion the Video8, it still fails. For the Video8 could record up to 60min (Sommerfeld 2023). But the VHS-C could be pushed to 60-90min if recorded in “extended play mode” (Harris 2024).

The VHS-C tape uses a magnetic tape, just like a regular VHS tape to record video and sound and encountered a problem known as tape slackening when converted to digital (Everpresent 2016). Also as mention conversion could be done by making a copy of what is on the VHS-C tape onto a VHS, through a VCR. But the manual does warn that the quality on the VHS tape will be inferior to the original copy on the VHS-C tape. This magnetic tape is approximately 12.7mm film (PSAP) and is called an oxide-coated Mylar tape, that was held in place by a spring to prevent it from coming undone in the polypropylene plastic case (Burr).

Here is a brief explanation from Bensinger (1981) on how footage it produced onto the tape in the camcorder:

“a recording head produces a magnetic field which stimulates the magnetically-sensitive material on the videotape in such a way as to record…”

This one was a bit tricky to do research for, but I hope that it was interesting, informative and most importantly: that it makes sense. The Philips VKR6847 Explorer camcorder, is an interesting piece of film history. Not only in documenting the past of private families, but also what impact this could have on filmmaking for the next generations looking for new and innovative ways to tell stories.

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did researching it.

List of sources:

Bensinger, C. All about Videotape. https://cool.culturalheritage.org/videopreservation/vid_guide/6/6.html

Burr, S. Inner Working of the VHS Tape. https://kodakdigitizing.com/blogs/news/inner-working-of-the-vhs-tape

Catawiki. 2020. Philips Explorer VKR-6853. https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/33589279-philips-explorer-vkr-6853

Companies History. 2024. Philips. https://www.companieshistory.com/philips/

Europeana. Home Video. https://www.europeana.eu/en/exhibitions/life-in-motion/home-video

Everpresent. 2016. Understanding Your Video Formats: VHS-C Tapes. https://everpresent.com/understanding-video-formats-vhs-c-tapes/

Harris, T. 2024. How Camcorders work. https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/camcorder4.htm

Philips. 2024. More than a century of innovation and entrepreneurship. https://www.philips.com/a-w/about/our-history.html

PSAP. Videotape. https://psap.library.illinois.edu/collection-id-guide/videotape#:~:text=VHS%20is%20a%20magnetic%20tape,both%20VHS%20and%20S%2DVHS

Roemer, C. Camcorders and their Tapes. https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/camcorders-and-their-tapes

Sommerfeld, K. 2023. History of the VHS-C. https://southtree.com/blogs/artifact/history-of-the-vhs-c

Videomaker. 1995. Indy Media: The Camcorder’s Impact. https://www.videomaker.com/article/f10/2026-indy-media-the-camcorders-impact/

Wallace, D. VSH vs. VHS-C.  https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/vhs-vs-vhs-c#:~:text=If%20it's%20not%20clear%20by,of%20a%20normal%20VHS%20tape