PHILIPS VR2350 STEREO MATCH LINE YEAR 1983.

Video 2000 was developed jointly by Philips and Grundig as a replacement for their ageing VCR, VCR-LP and SVR format machines and as a direct competitor to VHS and BETA.  It boasted a flip-over cassette fractionally bigger than a VHS cassette, which could record up to 4 hours on each side. It also used a system of "Automatic" tracking with it's Dynamic Track Following (DTF) system. This meant that the tracking was always 100% perfect even on still pause and picture search modes. It achieved this by having the video heads mounted on piezo electric actuators which followed the tracks as they were scanned.

The first Video 2000 format machine from Philips was the VR2020 of 1980. This was a pretty basic machine even by 1980 standards, but it sold in reasonable numbers. The first Grundig V2000 machine was the model 700 "2x4", which was launched at pretty much the same time*. The Grundig machine was slightly smaller and lighter than the Philips, but had a virtually identical basic set of features. 

Superficially the first generation Philips Video 2000 machines resembled their earlier relatives, the VCR and VCR-LP machines (N1500, N1700 etc.) They were roughly the same size and weight as their older relatives and had the same "slopey front" styling, however, inside they were far more advanced. 

The new machines were operated with all-electronic soft-touch buttons, and a microprocessor was used to control the tape transport, the clock, the counter and the timer. All the machines featured a "Goto" button whereby a specific tape-counter number could dialled in and the machine would speed off and find it. There was a problem with this because the tape had to have been initially rewound to the beginning if the counter was to be relied on to find a specific program. If the counter had gone backwards beyond zero or had gone past 9999, then the machine would wind the tape the wrong way to get to the specific number. 

Although none of the VR2020, VR2021 or VR2022 had a remote control facility as standard, they could all be converted to remote control with a box that plugged into the back of the machine and a little infra-red receiver which clipped into the front.

Of the Philips VR2020 there were several badge engineered versions from manufacturers such as ITT, Pye etc. Bang and Olufsen made a version of the VR2020 called the 8800, but this looked significantly different from the Philips original. It had a remote control receiver built in as standard, but, strangely, it also had a modified audio response to suit B&O's then current range of televisions.etc.

Soon after the VR2020 came the Philips VR2021 and VR2022.  Although the VR2021 had an identical feature set to the VR2020, it had more in common electronically with the VR2022 which had extra "Trick-play" facilities such as noise-free picture search and still pause. 

 These two newer machines also used much nicer looking chrome on the front panel instead of aluminium which tended to corrode easily. 

There was briefly a stereo version of the VR2022 called the VR2022S but this was only available in certain European countries and not in the UK.

Next came the VR2023 and VR2024.  These machines resembled the 3 Philips Video 2000 machines before them, although some of the timer controls were now covered by a little flap and the search and still pause (and an extra slow-motion button) were on separate buttons below the standard controls. 

These two new machines also featured a remote control interface as standard. The difference between the VR2023 and the VR2024 was that the latter model was a linear stereo version of the VR2023, making it the first (universally-available) stereo Video 2000 machine. Philips soon discovered a problem with the front panels of these two machines: the microprocessor that controlled the buttons would sometimes lock-up if two buttons were pressed in quick succession which meant that if the problem occurred, the machine had to be unplugged from the mains for a few seconds before any further commands could be given.

The next Philips Video 2000 machine to appear was the VR2025 and this was to be Philips' first front loading Video 2000 machine.  However, it was merely a Grundig "2x4 Stereo" with a slightly different colour scheme and a Philips badge.  No real attempt was made to disguise this machine; it even had the classic Grundig unfathomable timer, and peculiar tape transport legends such as "Tape" which meant "Stop" and "Cassette" which meant "Eject". 

Later came a second generation of Philips Video 2000 machines including a battery operated portable model.  These were all much smaller than their first generation relatives and culminated in Philips' top models, the VR2350 "Matchline" and the VR2840 which featured linear stereo audio and a long-play mode (XL or eXtra-Long) to provide a staggering 16 hours from a single tape, before the format was discontinued in 1985.

As a point of interest, Grundig made a very cheap Video 2000 machine (model 1600) which didn't have Dynamic Track Following at all, instead it used an "automatic tracking" system like many VHS machines of the day. This was okay to replay tapes recorded on itself but was famously awful when it came to replaying tapes recorded on another machine.

N.V. Philips, the Holland -based electronics giant, has introduced. a completely new home videocassette recording system for the European market and says it will have a U.S. (NTSC color standard) version in about a year. The Video 2000 system was designed for flexibility in adapting to new developments, such as metal tape, stereo sound and special control signals. The cassette, about the same size as a VHS type, contains half-inch tape and can record for up to eight hours on two quarter - inch helically scanned tracks. Like Philips' audio cassette, it is turned over after one track is recorded or played. Future recorder models obviously will have an auto -reverse fea- ture to eliminate the turn -over operation. Perhaps the most noteworthy development in the new system is the inclusion of a Dynamic Track Following circuit that uses auxiliary signals to assure that the head is properly positioned on the tape both for recording and playback for complete compatibility, and to provide clean, noiseless slow -, fast- and stop- motion. The cassette has special indexing tabs to adjust the recorder for either chrome or metal tape (the latter was  not  available.). The tape has two auxiliary signal tracks (not used in the first machines). Philips' first VCR designed for the new system has a micro -processor wireless remote -control system that not only governs the record and play functions, but tunes in broadcast channels, can locate any segment of the tape by dialing up a four -digit figure corresponding to a number on the digital tape counter, and is used to pre-select any five programs over a 16-day period for automatic recording. The system was co developed with Grundig, which is producing its own VCR models. it's incompatible with all other home VCR systems in use, including Philips' previous system. Magnavox, Philips subsidiary in the United States, currently sells VHS video recorders built by Matsushita of Japan. It's not yet clear whether Magnavox will offer a version of the Philips' system in this country. One possibility offered by the Video 2000 system is a compact portable VCR using one -quarter-inch tape -in effect, a single track instead of two parallel tracks. A Philips spokesman conceded that "in the system it is possible" to do this. Although such a shaved -down cassette wouldn't be compatible in size with the home recorder, conceivably an adapter could be made available to let the big machine scan the mini-cassettes.

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics Inc.), most commonly known as Philips, (Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) is a multinational Dutch electronics corporation.

Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2009, its sales were €23.18 billion. The company employs 115,924 people in more than 60 countries.

Philips is organized in a number of sectors: Philips Consumer Lifestyles (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems).
The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs and other electro-technical equipment. Its first factory survives as a museum devoted to light sculpture. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name).
Philips was also instrumental in the revival of the Stirling engine.

As a chip maker, Philips Semiconductors was among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.

In December 2005 Philips announced its intention to make the Semiconductor Division into a separate legal entity. This process of "disentanglement" was completed on 1 October 2006.

On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. The sale completed a process, which began December 2005, with its decision to create a separate legal entity for Semiconductors and to pursue all strategic options. Six weeks before, ahead of its online dialogue, through a letter to 8,000 of Philips managers, it was announced that they were speeding up the transformation of Semiconductors into a stand-alone entity with majority ownership by a third party. It was stated then that "this is much more than just a transaction: it is probably the most significant milestone on a long journey of change for Philips and the beginning of a new chapter for everyone – especially those involved with Semiconductors".

In its more than 115 year history, this counts as a big step that is definitely changing the profile of the company. Philips was one of few companies that successfully made the transition from the electrical world of the 19th century into the electronic age, starting its semiconductor activity in 1953 and building it into a global top 10 player in its industry. As such, Semiconductors was at the heart of many innovations in Philips over the past 50 years.

Agreeing to start a process that would ultimately lead to the decision to sell the Semiconductor Division therefore was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Management ever had to make.

On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the expanded consortium headed by KKR that is to acquire the controlling stake in the Semiconductors Division.

On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new semiconductor company founded by Philips is NXP Semiconductors.

Coinciding with the sale of the Semiconductor Division, Philips also announced that they would drop the word 'Electronics' from the company name, thus becoming simply Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Royal Philips N.V.).

PHILIPS FOUNDATION:

The foundations of Philips were laid in 1891 when Anton and Gerard Philips established Philips & Co. in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company begun manufacturing carbon-filament lamps and by the turn of the century, had become one of the largest producers in Europe. Stimulated by the industrial revolution in Europe, Philips’ first research laboratory started introducing its first innovations in the x-ray and radio technology. Over the years, the list of inventions has only been growing to include many breakthroughs that have continued to enrich people’s everyday lives.



In the early years of Philips &; Co., the representation of the company name took many forms: one was an emblem formed by the initial letters of Philips ; Co., and another was the word Philips printed on the glass of metal filament lamps.



One of the very first campaigns was launched in 1898 when Anton Philips used a range of postcards showing the Dutch national costumes as marketing tools. Each letter of the word Philips was printed in a row of light bulbs as at the top of every card. In the late 1920s, the Philips name began to take on the form that we recognize today.



The now familiar Philips waves and stars first appeared in 1926 on the packaging of miniwatt radio valves, as well as on the Philigraph, an early sound recording device. The waves symbolized radio waves, while the stars represented the ether of the evening sky through which the radio waves would travel.



In 1930 it was the first time that the four stars flanking the three waves were placed together in a circle. After that, the stars and waves started appearing on radios and gramophones, featuring this circle as part of their design. Gradually the use of the circle emblem was then extended to advertising materials and other products.



At this time Philips’ business activities were expanding rapidly and the company wanted to find a trademark that would uniquely represent Philips, but one that would also avoid legal problems with the owners of other well-known circular emblems. This wish resulted in the combination of the Philips circle and the wordmark within the shield emblem.



In 1938, the Philips shield made its first appearance. Although modified over the years, the basic design has remained constant ever since and, together with the wordmark, gives Philips the distinctive identity that is still embraced today.

The first steps of CRT production by Philips started in the thirties with the Deutsche Philips Electro-Spezial gesellschaft in Germany and the Philips NatLab (Physics laboratory) in Holland. After the introduction of television in Europe, just after WWII there was a growing demand of television sets and oscilloscope equipment. Philips in Holland was ambitious and started experimental television in 1948. Philips wanted to be the biggest on this market. From 1948 there was a small Philips production of television and oscilloscope tubes in the town of Eindhoven which soon developed in mass production. In 1976 a part of the Philips CRT production went to the town of Heerlen and produced its 500.000'th tube in 1986. In 1994 the company in Heerlen changed from Philips into CRT-Heerlen B.V. specialized in the production of small monochrome CRT's for the professional market and reached 1.000.000 produced tubes in 1996. In this stage the company was able to produce very complicated tubes like storage CRT's.
In 2001 the company merged into Professional Display Systems, PDS worked on LCD and Plasma technology but went bankrupt in 2009. The employees managed a start through as Cathode Ray Technology which now in 2012 has to close it's doors due to the lack of sales in a stressed market. Their main production was small CRT's for oscilloscope, radar and large medical use (X-ray displays). New experimental developments were small Electron Microscopy, 3D-TV displays, X-Ray purposes and Cathode Ray Lithography for wafer production. Unfortunately the time gap to develop these new products was too big.


28 of September 2012, Cathode Ray Technology (the Netherlands), the last Cathode Ray Tube factory in Europe closed. Ironically the company never experienced so much publicity as now, all of the media brought the news in Holland about the closure. In fact this means the end of mass production 115 years after Ferdinand Braun his invention. The rapid introduction and acceptation of LCD and Plasma displays was responsible for a drastic decrease in sales. Despite the replacement market for the next couple of years in the industrial, medical and avionics sector.
The numbers are small and the last few CRT producers worldwide are in heavy competition.

Gerard Philips:

Gerard Leonard Frederik Philips (October 9, 1858, in Zaltbommel – January 27, 1942, in The Hague, Netherlands) was a Dutch industrialist, co-founder (with his father Frederik Philips) of the Philips Company as a family business in 1891. Gerard and his younger brother Anton Philips changed the business to a corporation by founding in 1912 the NV Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken. As the first CEO of the Philips corporation, Gerard laid with Anton the base for the later Philips multinational.



Early life and education

Gerard was the first son of Benjamin Frederik David Philips (1 December 1830 – 12 June 1900) and Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands; he was a first cousin of Karl Marx.



Career

Gerard Philips became interested in electronics and engineering. Frederik was the financier for Gerard's purchase of the old factory building in Eindhoven where he established the first factory in 1891. They operated the Philips Company as a family business for more than a decade.



Marriage and family

On March 19, 1896 Philips married Johanna van der Willigen (30 September 1862 – 1942). They had no children.

Gerard was an uncle of Frits Philips, whom he and his brother brought into the business. Later they brought in his brother's grandson, Franz Otten.


Gerard and his brother Anton supported education and social programs in Eindhoven, including the Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Association), which they founded. From it the professional football (soccer) department developed into the independent Philips Sport Vereniging N.V.



Anton Philips:

Anton Frederik Philips (March 14, 1874, Zaltbommel, Gelderland – October 7, 1951, Eindhoven) co-founded Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He served as CEO of the company from 1922 to 1939.



Early life and education

Anton was born to Maria Heyligers (1836 – 1921) and Benjamin Frederik David Philips (December 1, 1830 – June 12, 1900). His father was active in the tobacco business and a banker at Zaltbommel in the Netherlands. (He was a first cousin to Karl Marx.) Anton's brother Gerard was 16 years older.



Career

In May 1891 the father Frederik was the financier and, with his son Gerard Philips, co-founder of the Philips Company as a family business. In 1912 Anton joined the firm, which they named Royal Philips Electronics N.V.

During World War I, Anton Philips managed to increase sales by taking advantage of a boycott of German goods in several countries. He provided the markets with alternative products.

Anton (and his brother Gerard) are remembered as being civic-minded. In Eindhoven they supported education and social programs and facilities, such as the soccer department of the Philips Sports Association as the best-known example.

Anton Philips brought his son Frits Philips and grandson Franz Otten into the company in their times. Anton took the young Franz Otten with him and other family members to escape the Netherlands just before the Nazi Occupation during World War II; they went to the United States. They returned after the war.

His son Frits Philips chose to stay and manage the company during the occupation; he survived several months at the concentration camp of Vught after his workers went on strike. He saved the lives of 382 Jews by claiming them as indispensable to his factory, and thus helped them evade Nazi roundups and deportation to concentration camps.

Philips died in Eindhoven in 1951.



Marriage and family

Philips married Anne Henriëtte Elisabeth Maria de Jongh (Amersfoort, May 30, 1878 – Eindhoven, March 7, 1970). They had the following children:

* Anna Elisabeth Cornelia Philips (June 19, 1899 – ?), married in 1925 to Pieter Franciscus Sylvester Otten (1895 – 1969), and had:
o Diek Otten
o Franz Otten (b. c. 1928 - d. 1967), manager in the Dutch electronics company Philips
* Frederik Jacques Philips (1905-2005)
* Henriëtte Anna Philips (Eindhoven, October 26, 1906 – ?), married firstly to A. Knappert (d. 1932), without issue; married secondly to G. Jonkheer Sandberg (d. September 5, 1935), without issue; and married thirdly in New York City, New York, on September 29, 1938 to Jonkheer Gerrit van Riemsdijk (Aerdenhout, January 10, 1911 – Eindhoven, November 8, 2005). They had the following children:
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, October 2, 1939), married at Waalre on February 17, 1968 to Johannes Jasper Tuijt (b. Atjeh, Koeta Radja, March 10, 1930), son of Jacobus Tuijt and wife Hedwig Jager, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, April 3, 1946), married firstly at Calvados, Falaise, on June 6, 1974 to Martinus Jan Petrus Vermooten (Utrecht, September 16, 1939 – Falaise, August 29, 1978), son of Martinus Vermooten and wife Anna Pieternella Hendrika Kwantes, without issue; married secondly in Paris on December 12, 1981 to Jean Yves Louis Bedos (Calvados, Rémy, January 9, 1947 – Calvados, Lisieux, October 5, 1982), son of Georges Charles Bedos and wife Henriette Louise Piel, without issue; and married thirdly at Manche, Sartilly, on September 21, 1985 to Arnaud Evain (b. Ardennes, Sedan, July 7, 1952), son of Jean Claude Evain and wife Flore Halleux, without issue
o ..., Jonkheerin Gerrit van Riemsdijk (b. Waalre, September 4, 1948), married at Waalre, October 28, 1972 to Elie Johan François van Dissel (b. Eindhoven, October 9, 1948), son of Willem Pieter

Jacob van Dissel and wife Francisca Frederike Marie Wirtz, without issue.

(To see the Internal Chassis Just click on Older Post Button on bottom page, that's simple !)