Discussion
Not a bereavement unless like me you enjoy older rallying farm ore than current in many ways.
the superb VHS Rallies is being wound down.
Partly due to someone coming in (unknown but highly likely to be a bigger firm) and making a lot of this stuff better quality and no doubt then charging for it, which will mean the channel will probably close down. Although i hope not.
And also I think as fatigue came in plus there as not as much stuff left to transfer over from VHS to digital. I do know the guy who did it was very careful not to step on existing toes hence why the channel lasted so long, but it seems as though some of it has been either purchased or is gong to be put out with better quality which probably means a price tag.
the superb VHS Rallies is being wound down.
Partly due to someone coming in (unknown but highly likely to be a bigger firm) and making a lot of this stuff better quality and no doubt then charging for it, which will mean the channel will probably close down. Although i hope not.
And also I think as fatigue came in plus there as not as much stuff left to transfer over from VHS to digital. I do know the guy who did it was very careful not to step on existing toes hence why the channel lasted so long, but it seems as though some of it has been either purchased or is gong to be put out with better quality which probably means a price tag.
So I know the person behind the channel, and in fact met with him just before Christmas - whereby he returned my VHS tapes, some of which he used to transfer onto YouTUBE.
The back story is as follows:
Barrie Hinchliffe owned (as he is now passed) the rights to the films he made that were broadcast on the TV channels at the time. He had a back catalogue of some 900 boxes of tapes from the cameras he used to record events. His MO, was to turn up at a stage and film continuously until he left to get to the next filming location. SO on average he would film an hours worth of cars going by.
Most of his films were sub 20 mins, therefore there remains the exciting possibility that there are hours and hours of unseen footage from events in the 70's and 80 and 90's.
DirtFish have bought the tapes and paid a lot of money for them, Steve Rider has been involved as well ( as he was once a director of BHP). The man behind VHS rallies has been upfront and worked with the new owners to take down any content that might breach copyright, and this was done about 12 months ago. If you visit the site today it's got about half the videos it used to have.
DirtFish's issue now is: how do they monetise what they have bought? It's likely to be behind a paywall of some sort, maybe patreon, but it does give them the opportunity to create 'director's cut version of rallies, or long form films of events like the 1985 Manx.
More excitingly however, is that there is a fair chance that the on board cameras of the day, will have recorded many hours of in car stuff not broadcast. So for example, those familiar with BHP's Manx 85 report will know that the opening 90 secs is of the onboard of Tony Pond in a Rover Vitesse. Is it possible that the rest of the stage survives, or indeed other stages? I think if this is the case then there is significant value in that.
Overall then, whilst it's sad that the channel is winding down, what it has done is act as a catalyst to maybe get more and previously unseen content onto a media channel of some sort. But you might have to pay for it.
I don't have a problem with that if it allows me to luxuriate in 80's rallying.
The back story is as follows:
Barrie Hinchliffe owned (as he is now passed) the rights to the films he made that were broadcast on the TV channels at the time. He had a back catalogue of some 900 boxes of tapes from the cameras he used to record events. His MO, was to turn up at a stage and film continuously until he left to get to the next filming location. SO on average he would film an hours worth of cars going by.
Most of his films were sub 20 mins, therefore there remains the exciting possibility that there are hours and hours of unseen footage from events in the 70's and 80 and 90's.
DirtFish have bought the tapes and paid a lot of money for them, Steve Rider has been involved as well ( as he was once a director of BHP). The man behind VHS rallies has been upfront and worked with the new owners to take down any content that might breach copyright, and this was done about 12 months ago. If you visit the site today it's got about half the videos it used to have.
DirtFish's issue now is: how do they monetise what they have bought? It's likely to be behind a paywall of some sort, maybe patreon, but it does give them the opportunity to create 'director's cut version of rallies, or long form films of events like the 1985 Manx.
More excitingly however, is that there is a fair chance that the on board cameras of the day, will have recorded many hours of in car stuff not broadcast. So for example, those familiar with BHP's Manx 85 report will know that the opening 90 secs is of the onboard of Tony Pond in a Rover Vitesse. Is it possible that the rest of the stage survives, or indeed other stages? I think if this is the case then there is significant value in that.
Overall then, whilst it's sad that the channel is winding down, what it has done is act as a catalyst to maybe get more and previously unseen content onto a media channel of some sort. But you might have to pay for it.
I don't have a problem with that if it allows me to luxuriate in 80's rallying.
Tony Pond in the fog in his Vitesse is as good as the Ari Vatanen/Terry Harryman "Dear God" moment in the Rothmans Manta! I remember watching it the first time and being amazed at how quickly he was going with visibility down to a few metres. Awesome driver.
So much better than the current tedium offered up on WRC in my opinion. Cancelled my subscription 3 years ago and not regretted it.
Thanks for Dirtfish info, will keep an eye on developments. Revisiting the 80's and 90's would definitely get my interest up.
So much better than the current tedium offered up on WRC in my opinion. Cancelled my subscription 3 years ago and not regretted it.
Thanks for Dirtfish info, will keep an eye on developments. Revisiting the 80's and 90's would definitely get my interest up.
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