The reason I ask is because I'd love to get hold of a DVD recorder-sourced (analogue signal or otherwise) copy of the solo Deborah Harry videos after Blondie guest programmed on 6 September 2003.

I don't mean a VHS recording transferred to DVD recorder - I've already got one of those.

Not me unfortunately.

My first step away from analog was with my first digital set top box in late 2002 (it was HD capable too, even before any TV stations were broadcasting in HD, and it cost a small fortune). However I still recorded the output of that box to VHS, and had to decide each time I recorded rage whether to record in 4:3 or 16:9 and that drove me nuts. However obviously the quality was greatly improved from analog reception.

I didn't go fully digital until January 2006, when I purchased a digital tuner that plugged straight into the firewire port on my Mac so that I could record the native digital TV stream straight to disk, and from then on I could forget about whether to record in "4:3" or "16:9" because it was irrelevant. 12 years later, it is still going strong.

Hi Nathan, i've got that special but like yourself it was recorded on VHS and transferred to disc. I started recording rage on DVD recorder in May 2004 - all Top 50 stuff and some Sat night specials.

I'm trying to remember if there's anything I 'need' that aired in 2004... Did you catch the Cyndi Lauper programming? I wouldn't say no to her post-80s clips if you kept them (I have rage copies of all of the 80s ones now... oh, other than 'Blue Boy', which I think they aired a live performance for) as analogue DVD Recorder recordings.

Wanda Dee, supposedly of The KLF, had a classic guest programming too, around June 2004 from memory. I loved her video introductions, if you kept any of those. And also rage aired Brilliant's 'It's a Man's Man's Man's World' after the KLF clips shown at the end. I didn't even know who Brilliant were at the time, so didn't record or sit up until then. If you captured that, that would be great, as they've never aired it again.

Here's a Wanda Dee snippet I have (thanks to someone else) to jog your memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbLKDrfPohQ

Hi Nathan, I definitely have both! I've even done a few copies of Cyndi's video playlist for people on this forum. It was def recorded on DVD with analogue signal. One bonus of recording in analogue was the sound was so much louder and almost sounding in stereo. Her talking snippets in between the vids were classic....'I'm Cyndi Lauper and you're not and your watching rage'. Happy to do you a full copy or past 80's of it. Give me an excuse to watch it again. Itwas that good i evev burnt it on CD to play in th car.

I also have the full Wanda Dee special recorded ondisc but recorded it in LP to get the whole lot on the disc. I should check out the playlist again for it on the rage website. Can dothis oneforyou too!

Michael! That would be amazing! Though I hardly deserve it, given how long I have made you wait for discs... (said still with a pile here for you I haven't sent yet).

LP for Wanda Dee is still better than nothing. I would love a copy of that, too.

And yes, the analogue signal was louder than most digital reception signals I've encountered. But the best thing about it, back then, was that they didn't tamper with the aspect ratios on the analogue signal, as everything was broadcast in 4:3... until 2010 or thereabouts.

Long weekend in Canberra, so you might be in luck getting it next week!

Long weekend in Vic too.

"But the best thing about it, back then, was that they didn't tamper with the aspect ratios on the analogue signal, as everything was broadcast in 4:3... until 2010 or thereabouts."

That's not quite right. Analogue remained 4:3 until it was switched off. The timing varied around the country, but the final analogue signals got turned off in Melbourne on 9 Dec 2013. Any letterboxed 4:3 clip was broadcast on the analogue signal as-is, and any widescreen 16:9 clip was letterboxed to be broadcast 4:3.

However ever since 2002, rage un-letterboxed all clips on the digital signal to maximise their presentation on a widescreen TV. I got my first widescreen TV in June 2006, and I clearly remember turning rage on for the first time and seeing Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun" in full screen, even though it was originally a letterboxed 4:3 clip. I initially thought maybe Aerosmith also made a widescreen version and rage had updated their library, but then I realised what rage had done. I was blown away.

^ What I meant by the untampered-with aspect ratios was that, before about early-mid 2010, rage would air letterboxed 4:3 videos in their original, intended aspect ratios. However, from that point onwards, such videos aired as though they were 16:9 being letterboxed to 4:3. So, for example, a letterboxed 4:3 video containing slim horizontal black bars would now be aired as though it was the 16:9 enlarged signal being squashed back into 4:3, with thicker horizontal bars. Before then, it would have aired with the original, thinner bars.

I know this as I used to ask someone I traded with who still recorded the analogue signal to grab some letterboxed 4:3 videos for me.