New readers start here! That includes you so welcome to "Working with Video". We've called it that because if you have taken the trouble to buy this magazine you must have a fairly creative interest in building, making and modifying things, not just connecting together black box systems bought straight off the shelf in the High Street. So if your interest in video extends beyond taping "The Professionals" so that you can watch "Shoestring" as well, or taping a whole week's "Coronation Street" while you take your winter sports holiday this column should appeal to you.

The idea is to take an active view of video and describe some of the things you can get up to without having to apply for a second credit card. In other words we will be taking a fairly sane and value for money approach to what you can do with video. From time to time we will review new machines and report on accessories: we will tell you if they are worth buying and whether they really do represent the first major advance since the Philips 1500. Value for money will be discussed and no doubt names will be named.

We will not adopt a pseudo-intellectual approach but neither will we insult your intelligence by leaving out every technical fact. Three of the newest video magazines have averred that they will not confuse their readers with technical jargon, but half the reason why people buy technical products is to feel that they are participating in "Tomorrow's World"! So we won't shy away from volts and megahertz when necessary. And by the way, we assume you are reading this column to find out about video, so we won't waste your time with writeups about home computers, citizens band or programmable calculators which are all very nice but nothing to do with video.

Right, having got that over with, what have we left to write about? Let's start with something contentious, like cheap tapes. Are they worth buying, will they damage your machine's health? If you have a VHS machine (and according to the ads, seventy per cent of you do) you will probably have taken more than a cursory glance at a recent statement issued by JVC Ltd. It warned buyers that there were 'pirate' VHS cassettes being imported from countries like Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan which were not licenced by JVC (the originators of the VHS system) and that these unlicenced blank tapes might damage your machine. What it failed to say was they were considerably cheaper than 'legit' VHS tapes, even at discount prices, and might damage the profits on blank tapes made by the 'proper' manufacturers. Fundamentally the statement is true. These 'non licenced' tapes may be diabolical, but I wouldn't say they all are. For instance, there is a brand on sale in some areas which has a name ending in "...rex" (no, not Memorex, but that's the brand of tape in them!). These blank tapes retail at £6 for an E-180 which is not bad when some provincial monopolists are still charging £14 for the same article (someone will write in and say he knows a shop charging £15). Are the 'pirate' tapes any good? Well, the distributor claims the tape in them is Memorex (a job lot, of course) and the plastic shells, marked made in Japan, are the same as you see on many other tapes. Results are just slightly poorer than best branded tapes, i.e. a few more dropouts (tiny spots of missing picture) and a slightly noisier (grainier) picture. If you don't buy many tapes I'd leave them well alone; on the other hand, if you use a lot of tape and want to save £3 or £4 a tape you can probably put up with a slightly poorer picture.

Not to be confused with 'pirate' cassettes are the USA imports which have been around for several months. When the first VHS video recorders arrived in this country there were some local shortages of blank tape and some enterprising people imported tapes from the United States. Whether the tape now on sale is still the remnants of these imports I don't know - I doubt it - but several shops have them, including a large national discount store whose name would appeal to astronomers. Most of the tapes carry the RCA trademark and they are of top quality. The only thing which may confuse you is the numbering, VK250 and the like. I don't know what these numbers mean unless they relate to the physical length of tape inside, but the VK250 actually lasts for about 3 hours and ten minutes. One shop in London's Tottenham Court Road sells them for £7.90 which is a very reasonable price, so look out for these.

While on the subject of tapes, it's pleasant to see the price of prerecorded material coming down. It's still got a long way to go to reach a sufficiently realistic level where you and I will go out and buy a film a month, but the latest IPC Video catalogue shows a welcome step in that direction. They sell all sorts of tapes, not only their own company's offerings, and they have knocked off several pounds from the price of most. The only snag is that by the time you have added on a hefty post and packing charge you're almost back to recommended selling price! Not quite though, and it probably indicates there is a fair old margin in the price ready to be cut if sales start to take off or someone starts a price war. It is tempting (but somewhat misleading) to look across the pond and make comparisons with the United States where virtually all hit feature films are available on tape more or less immediately, and at sensible prices. Very few big-name films cost more than the equivalent of £30, many are less, and many shops will get you the film of your choice within a couple of days, that is if it is not already in stock. There are several mail order tape clubs (like book and record clubs over here) but the difference is that you are not committed to buying merchandise you don't want and the introductory offers really are a bargain. Such is life!

By the way, don't ask your friend in the States to send you across one of these tapes unless you happen to have a multistandard TV set and video recorder. It won't work, so save the disappointment. I know people who have been sent really 'exotic' material which they couldn't play back. While they seethed because they couldn't watch their films somebody else was probably grinning, because a significant proportion of tapes are now inspected by our customs, and, yes, they do have viewing equipment for foreign TV standards. You can tell when your tapes have been inspected: the parcels are resealed and to cap it all, they don't bother to rewind the tape afterwards! Bit of a nerve isn't it? A friend rang them up about this and also complained he had been 'stung' quite heavily on some blank tapes he had been sent as a gift. To have to pay VAT and customs duty on four blank tapes sent as a gift didn't seem fair to him. Well, it did to the customs, who were just carrying out instructions, but they did suggest that if you were having tapes sent regularly, they would be less likely to attract duty if they were sent in ones or two . I daresay not many of you are, but in fact a multistandard machine need cost no more than £100 over the price of a normal videorecorder if you go to the right place. Of course you will need a dual standard TV set as well, but careful study of the small advertisements in 'Exchange & Mart' might find you a bargain. I myself got a beautiful six month old Sony 18" dual standard set for £230 in this way, which is far cheaper than the list price. In a future column we will discuss the pleasures and pitfalls of secondhand purchases in greater detail.

Well, that's it for the first issue. Look forward to seeing you again in the next issue, and if you have any comments, queries, or nasty video problems drop us a line at the magazine. We cannot answer technical problems individually (unless they are written on the back of a five pound note) or we'd never find time to write the magazine, but if we feel the problem will be of interest to many readers we'll answer it on this page. Meanwhile, if you have had any funny dealings with mail order traders or good secondhand buys why not share the news?