Color of Winds: HR-W5 HD Mode Demo Software (1995) ~ W-VHS Demonstration Tape from Victor (JVC)

A once forgotten private demo tape, now captured for masses!

“Color of Winds” is a very rare example of cataloged content produced for the W-VHS format. The main content runs for 7 minutes and 30 seconds, however, it is repeated 8 times to fill out about 1 hour of videotape runtime. The box for this tape is a generic white one.

W-VHS was a revolutionary baseband analog video tape format that debuted in December of 1993, along with the HR-W1 VTR. The format was designed by Victor with the intent of evolving the VHS to be used in a “Wide” (hence, the “W” of W-VHS) number of applications in Japan at the time, such as:

•HD Mode, recording MUSE-decoded Hi-Vision TV programming (BS9 offerings from NHK, TBS-High, etc). A MUSE decoder would not have been required to play back HD content from the tape, making it a very attractive and convenient feature.

•SD Mode, recording NTSC content with up to a staggering 9 hours of record time on a single tape with a resolution comparable to ED Beta (or even DVD)

•Stereoscopic video recording and playback using SD2 Mode, allowing for up to two NTSC video sources to be recorded in parallel — making 3D video playback possible! AFAIK, only one SD2 deck was produced, and it was a stand-alone model (Victor HR-SD201)

•W-VHS VTRs were designed to retain backwards compatibility with the existing VHS and S-VHS format!!

And while W-VHS saw most use in the Japanese consumer space, JVC did manufacture VTRs and tapes for North America — although entirely geared towards the professional market. Settings such as HD-pioneering TV stations, production houses, and the medical field have utilized W-VHS in one fashion or another

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Fun fact: HD mode is compatible with the modern day 1080i resolution. That means you can very relevantly use a W-VHS VTR today to record 1080i broadcasts from your cable box using component cables!

Funner fact: JVC also produced an HDVS disc that contains many more scenes shot at the same location at the beginning of this tape 🏝️
   • JVC Victor's Sea of Love (1992 Analog HDTV...  

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Media photos:
https://imgur.com/a/eEuFDFF

Catalog: VCT-W0988
Playback equipment: Victor HR-W1

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All video capturing and post-processing stages were done without the use of AI tools. Audio was transcribed for English captioning with the help of WhisperAI and DeepL.