Considering that quite a few members of the forum are from Eastern Europe, I wonder whether there were any VCRs made in your country, and if they were, did they have a format other than VHS? I know that the Soviets copied the Panasonic NV-2000 and were making it well into the late 1980s. This was just one of the two VCRs that they made, another one was basically a Samsung assembled from parts. Both were VHS, and no other format of home video was ever considered in the USSR. They did not even bother to put "VHS" label on the machine, it was self-evident. So, I wonder whether any Eastern European country ever made a non-VHS machine. The question is somewhat related to the Chuck Norris vs. Communism movie The Panasonic/National NV-2000: The Soviet Electronica VM-12:
I have looked for before, and failed to find, a news article about them starting to sell VCRs in the USSR. The only reason this was newsworthy was that it was so late timewise. I bought my first VCR in 1984, and even then it seemed obvious that Betamax was in decline. They did continue to sell them until at least 1989. My boss, who was a Betamax hold out, bought a top of the range Sony C9 back then, possibly because he realised it might be his last chance to buy a new one to play all his tapes on. I am sure that the news article was later than that. Probably around the same time that the USSR got its first MacDonald's. https://bridgetomoscow.com/curious-fact-moscow-mcdonalds That was reported around the world, and is still used as a clue on the Wave105 guess the year "Golden Hour". Of course I am sure VCRs were available to chosen party officials far earlier. I'm thinking of the year in which anyone could walk into a shop and come out with a VCR. If you were rich enough that would have been 1972 in Europe, before Betamax or VHS even launched. https://www.rewindmuseum.com/philips.htm
From the tuning wheels under the flap above them I would say presets. I can't speak for Eastern Europe but until 1997 the U.K. only had four terrestrial TV channels, so having even eight presets seemed excessive. That was probably the reason VCRs and Satellite TV became so popular so quickly over here. What cable TV there was, died out completely here in the 1980s as VCRs and satellite (which needed a stand-alone tuner) took over.
