Thankyou Guru, for these awesome scans. I am truly loving the nostalgia. I was only 4 or 5 at the time these were taken, so I certainly can't remember them. I used to love Stevie Wright and William Shakespeare when i was a kid.

So a big thankyou from me!!!

Lee

Always happy to share anything I have, just never know if anyone is actually going to be interested in the same stuff that I collect or happen to discuss. It also depends on the timing. I posted lists of The Factory runsheets about 5 years ago and no one cared, when I did it again last year there was suddenly some interest.

I tend to collect paraphernalia linked to pop culture (and football) of my youth - such as TV Week, Countdown, Smash Hits, Juke, Ram magazines etc, old music charts, old TV footage etc. If I can scan them I will put them here if I think it is relevant, if I can cut and paste lists such as Hitscene, GTK, The Factory, Rock Arena etc I will also post here and if it is rare footage I will put it on YouTube, such as the great episodes of Sweet & Sour that Patrick found for me.

Most of my collection is football related though which means very few on here would care. I have had parts of my collection used in 3 books to date and there is a 4th that will be out later this year. My footage has also been shown on Channels 7, 9, 31 and just recently on 10. Channel 9 and 10 just ripped my YouTube clips but Channel 7 actually asked me if they could use the clip - kind of ironic as it is their footage but they had thrown it out and no longer had it.

Below is the link for the clip of Channel 10 showing my footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-owcDt2yys8&list=UUKGJQ7dZxR0C-Zesk5pMK_Q&index=1&feature=plcp

I got on to a guy in Adelaide a few weeks back who has over 100 Beta videos that he was looking at getting rid of. He found them at a garage sale and said there were movies and some episodes of Countdown on them according to the labels but he didn't have a Betamax machine to play them on. I am hoping that a friend of mine can bring them over in the next few weeks. With my luck it will probably be recordings of Rage repeats from the 90's but you never know, it's always worth a gamble and they only cost me $1 per tape. If there are just movies I might find some interesting ads as most Beta tapes I have found were recorded around the mid 80's.

If there is some Countdown on the tapes - I have often found labels can be wrong or other things got taped over - and it is from episodes that Rage have not shown I will upload it. If it does turn out to be OK footage I will do you copies for the mountain of work you have done for me with all those clips.

An interesting point Guru about TV stations picking up stuff from YouTube. I know that the guy who put up the blooper tape of Peter Russell Clarke gets very upset when it is lifted and rebroadcast by TV. He went over the top after the most recent incident and reposted it on YT with large lettering over the top of the picture.

I find it flattering when the TV stations lift my footage. I posted to YT a story I recorded off the Today show in 1993 about Sydney being awarded the 2000 Olympics. It included footage of Tanya Blencoe which TEN News lifted for a "where is she now" story about Tanya on the tenth anniversary of the Sydney Olympics. I knew the clip came from my YT video because it had the original caption underneath.

OOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGG Guru!!!! beta Tapes with Countdown's????? Can you PLEASE let me know as soon as you go through them!!!!! GEZUUUUSSS!!!

Hoin
That's great regarding your Sydney Olympics clip. As with you, I am flattered if a TV station takes interest in what I have uploaded. I am happy for anyone to take anything of mine from YouTube. A number of people have let me know they have ripped my material, mainly the series of Sweet & Sour, and I think that's great. I didn't create the footage so it is not like anyone is ripping off my talent for their own purpose. YouTube is for sharing footage with others so why would anyone become anal about it if they have decided to upload it in the first place.

As a footage collector I think YouTube is one of the great modern innovations. I used to search the world for music videos as you couldn't find clips anywhere else and since YouTube came along all that has changed.

You can ride the same wave of probable disappointment with me. I have bought 1000's of old tapes over the years and rarely does anything turn up on them. I shall keep you posted.

Out of curiosity....what is the likelihood of 70's Countdowns being an Beta tapes?

I think Beta recorders came here about 77/78 so one assumes even at the earliest a 'lost' Countdown would be from that era. I guess anything from 1974 - 76 would more likely be on a Umatic tape?

Hope you find something on those tapes anyway, would be fantastic.

I probably should have waited until after I get the tapes before mentioning it as I am sure the eventual results will disappoint.

Betamax did predate the VHS by about 2-3 years here in Australia but most of the tapes I find are from 1981-1987 and usually contain movies. Reel to Reel videos appeared in Australia in the late 60's but only rich enthusiasts would have had those. In the early-mid 70's the Philips N1500 models were the first real home videos in Australia but very few working machines survive (although I believe some parts are still obtainable from Holland) so if you found any tapes for those you would need a professional to transfer it. I did get some football footage from 1977-79 via Philips tapes which were like little bricks.

U-Matic's were bigger in the US and it was mostly production houses linked to TV that had them here, it would have been a very expensive domestic machine to have. I have a couple of U-Matic machines (they weigh about 50kg each) and a Betacam (which is nearly as heavy) but rarely find tapes to play on them. To date I have not found any 70's recordings on all the tapes I have looked through over the years so I would think it unlikely on my track history...but it would be a nice surprise if it did occur.

My friend has picked up the tapes and there are 122 of them and over 100 of them indicate movies recorded on them. There is only a couple of tapes that say Countdown on the label, just have to hope that is what is actually on them.

We are both Hawthorn footy fans and will go to the Grand Final if Hawthorn beat Adelaide on Saturday so he will be over next week with them if that occurs. If Hawthorn lose he may not be over until early next footy season. I now have an extra reason to hope for a Hawks' win.

I am being optimistic though and have had my Sony Beta SL HF950ES - which was a top of the range model in it's day - serviced as the Hi-Fi heads had died and I was relying on linear sound tuning - the replacement heads cost $200 but it is a great little machine that I enjoy using. Also had a second Sony Beta SL HF100E serviced as it still has excellent picture heads so I am ready for the tapes when they arrive.

I know how much Jason hates the footy, so I won't ramble on too much. Let's hope Hawthorn win on Saturday night then. Even if there is only 2 countdown tapes and maybe 20 tapes of old music shows like Sounds. Once you get them Guru, please let us know what you got. Mind you you will need a pretty big box for 122 tapes.

Also please keep sharing your awesome TV Week adverts etc, they are certainly a huge source of our history, I for one was only 4 in 1974 and 5 in 1975 when Countdown started, so i don't have a clue what it was like back then.

Thanks again Guru