Popular Science
The $2,000 Video Phone From 1987
Do you know about VisiTel? Video calling technology is such a mundane feature of smartphones now that it would be weird if a device *didn’t* have it. But the idea for the first FaceTime is buried deep in vintage tech history, all the way back in the 70’s… the 1870’s. And most people hated the…
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@popularscience
May 9, 2024 at 12:38 pm
STORY TIME. I actually wanted to make this video because my uncle bought two Visitels so that my grandparents in Florida could see my cousins in New York. They all used them and they really liked them at the time — but at $399 per unit in 1988, that setup would cost $2,154.20 today.
To give you an idea of what $399 got you in 1988, the cost of each VisiTel could’ve paid for 13% of tuition at a 4yr public university in the US, about 415 gallons of gas, or around 4,000 shares of Apple stock (which probably would’ve been a better investment). –Kevin
@andyvitz
May 9, 2024 at 8:38 pm
Sorry the original FaceTime video calling came out in the 1920s I highly doubt you have one of those
@dylanscalfscalf9488
May 9, 2024 at 10:25 pm
@@andyvitzdo what?
@BillAnt
May 10, 2024 at 1:00 am
These types of “video telephones” were usually found in those amazing 1980’s and 90’s Sharper Image catalogs…. oh the wonders of modern technology. lol
@skipperbentdk
July 8, 2024 at 7:32 pm
Kevin you should get your own channel , would subscribe
@davidgekler
May 10, 2024 at 1:55 am
Ha, I actually did the sound for a TV Commercial for this system in 86. There were a number of companies competing to do this, as you noted.
@thej3799
May 10, 2024 at 2:00 am
I remember reading about this when back to the Future 2 came out. I also remember that you couldn’t actually use your phone
@hyperturbotechnomike
May 10, 2024 at 2:51 am
Germany experimented with CRT TV based video phones during the 1930’s. I saw an obscure presentation film from this time period where they demonstrated a public videophone booth during one segment. It’s called: “Das Auge der Welt” (The eye of the world).
@gamingforfun8662
May 10, 2024 at 3:53 am
Criminally underrated channel
@colt5189
May 10, 2024 at 8:06 am
What would I pay $90 a minute for? I’d give Margo Robbie 5 minutes.
@dapifyyt
May 10, 2024 at 8:23 am
I love these videos they are so much more interesting than 99% of those YouTube shorts
@matchc0635
May 10, 2024 at 9:29 am
They send image via sound? Then it should be possible for someone to just send random funnie pictures by a SBC making precise noises
@kearsarge6658
May 10, 2024 at 10:07 am
Reminds me of the datastream you’d hear from Slow Scan TV
@LivingNomad
May 10, 2024 at 10:13 am
You still see it today with modern creatoins people critique and judge the concept. Like with Elons self landing rockets all i seen were comments complaing that it was bad for the earth. Like the idiots dont know that these self landing rockets will give us the opportunity to live on more then one planet and decrease humans chances on becoming extinct in the future from some random natrual disaster.
@LivingNomad
May 10, 2024 at 10:15 am
From my own experience its always more comfortable being on a phone call or team meeting not being required to show yourself on camera.
@LivingNomad
May 10, 2024 at 10:17 am
Wild $90 per minute. I would pay that to travel back in the past 😂 but nothing else
@LivingNomad
May 10, 2024 at 10:23 am
This was great i love learning about our history
@jasonmead8475
May 10, 2024 at 12:23 pm
This was great. Destin sent me this way.
@bagel29
May 10, 2024 at 12:24 pm
6:27 TABOR MENTIONED‼️‼️
@crazyivan030983
May 10, 2024 at 1:49 pm
Amazing that today we can send dozens of megabits over ordinary phone line 🙂 HD video both ways 🙂
@Derpy1969
May 10, 2024 at 2:54 pm
I don’t use FT for calls. I did do one telehealth call that required it.
@rrsaga
May 10, 2024 at 2:55 pm
I remember this gadget
@dong6839
May 10, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Didnt AT&T do video over copper in the 1950’s or 1960’s?
@jimmy21584
May 10, 2024 at 3:32 pm
I worked at Nokia in the mid 2000s, and we all had unlimited data and smartphones with cameras. Even then, I only ever made 1 video call: to a workmate to see that it worked. IMO the concept only took off once people’s mums got smartphones.
@Vgp-rp4iu
May 10, 2024 at 4:50 pm
I mean it definitely sucks but me and my girlfriend could have had alot of fun back in the day.
@Ceelvain
May 10, 2024 at 5:52 pm
To whomever might be interested, the text surrounding the picture at 7:57 translates as follow:
Top text: “How will our great nephews live in the year 2012”
Bottom text: “Hello my child… We’re sending you your “LOMBART CHOCOLATE” through the indian aircraft”
@bjy128
May 10, 2024 at 5:59 pm
I wonder if the “video”/Still that you received was distorted do to some audio compression from your cellphone or the landline to cellphone converter. I remember playing with something similar at The Sharper Image at a Mall back in the 80s.
@user-ql6qg7bh3p
May 10, 2024 at 7:52 pm
Women prefer texts now…we’ve reverted back to the telegram
@5nowChain5
May 10, 2024 at 8:36 pm
Nope, the first facetime (pre) prototypes were created and used in Gerry Anderson SPACE 1999 TV series. The Handheld communicators. in 1972
@banksuvladimir
May 11, 2024 at 12:18 am
I remember back when “video phones” were something that was considered as out of reach and impractical as flying cars are just because of the cost and bandwidth of everyone having their own personal little tv channel.
Boy did that change
@3DJapan
May 11, 2024 at 4:26 am
You know it’s OK to call it video calling right? Nobody will punish you.
@3DJapan
May 11, 2024 at 4:32 am
Fun fact: they could send photos over phone lines in the 1930s. That’s how newspapers got photos for a story from across the country.
@colinsphoneemail
May 11, 2024 at 5:04 am
I found it very difficult to communicate with my blind date with sign language then on this.
@guidohavelton6280
May 11, 2024 at 9:19 am
5:15 I remember back in the day sometimes you would misdial and accidentally call someone’s fax machine line and get this same noise
@TedSeeber
May 11, 2024 at 10:41 am
You can recognize faces and read body language?
@ericcarabetta1161
May 11, 2024 at 1:49 pm
I still hate video phones. There’s almost nothing I hate more than getting a surprise FaceTime call.
@DurpMustard
May 11, 2024 at 3:58 pm
Thanks to Apple it still costs thousands of dollars to buy a device that can natively run FaceTime
@JuanWonOne
May 11, 2024 at 4:49 pm
*beep boop* algo food
@pixelitchio
May 11, 2024 at 4:49 pm
the matrix is real; the future appeared to the mind of even the laughers; and this video appeared from nowhere decades after seeing those scifi videophones and wondering how they came to be. Strangely, cellphones never felt like the continuation; the design, maybe, and its multiples options
@robertgaines-tulsa
May 12, 2024 at 2:07 am
When a video phone has 96p and a GameBoy has 144p, a GameBoy kind of looks like high resolution. The video phone has 8 times the monochrome depth, but I doubt it mattered that much when you already couldn’t tell what was on the screen.
@appliedengineering4001
May 12, 2024 at 3:10 am
In case you’re not aware. The reason the pictures on those Visitel units came through corrupted is because cell phones use compression in the voice channel to save bandwidth. This compression is optimized for voice traffic and if you try to send a modem signal through it, it will become corrupted. The same is true for fax, dial-up modems, alarm systems and credit card machines. I know this because about 10 years ago, I bought one of those bluetooth to landline converter (like what you showed in the video) for a business to run their landline based CC machine from their cell phone and it never worked.
@coolbro8922
May 12, 2024 at 6:52 am
That explains why I thought Skype was first… and that texting began on AOL.
@NielsNL68
May 12, 2024 at 1:05 pm
I did see this back at the time in the dutch Telephone store. It was just some years after Robocop was released, where the shown a videophone. Back then i was already knowledgeable about computers and electronics etc. And knowing the fastest modems where. At first i was interesting to have but the cost and the way it worked my interest was dampened very fast as well.
I belief for sure when the technic was much better at that time the videophones would had more interest then it did. The landline was never suitable for this kind of communication. Maybe when ISDN was introduced it would have had some change of success, but i think the negative sentiment was already to big to try it again, may be. The bigger companies did not dear to try it again to reintroduce. I know there where some Corporate Solutions between B2B’s etc. But for the normal user, i cant remember of there was something to use. Other then using PC Software etc.
@henryisnotafraid
May 12, 2024 at 1:14 pm
Being able to video chat only became common recently I would say like since it became easier for me to do it in 2018. I’m sure for others it was earlier and I’m sure for some others it was even much earlier but high speed internet believe it or not is still not real common across the US.
@JohnJones-oy3md
May 12, 2024 at 1:29 pm
1980’s era crank call dick pics on your land line would have been a thing had these taken off.
@MultiRobotnik
May 12, 2024 at 2:10 pm
Looks like an iMac G3.
@joshjones3408
May 12, 2024 at 4:24 pm
Werthers greased finger’s 😆😆😆😆
@safetinspector2
May 12, 2024 at 4:55 pm
These were once used by house arrest services! There was a house arrest company in Eastpoint, Michigan that had a bunch in parolee’s homes. A modified 486 server would call each of them up randomly. The parolee would have to pose in front of the camera and blow into a breathalyzer. The server would take a photo and store it for the parole officer to review. I heard the company that designed it had purchase a warehouse full of these at a huge discount which made the system affordable.
@Bcarr122391
May 12, 2024 at 9:46 pm
Growing up, my little brother (who is about 5 years younger than me) would try to show me stuff through the landline phone. “Look at this Brandon”. I always thought he was crazy. Maybe he was a time traveler. 😂
@aetheralmeowstic2392
May 13, 2024 at 12:01 am
RING RING RING, RING RING RING! Phone call! Phone call! RING RING RING, RING RING RING! Phone call! Phone call!
@kriscerosaurus
May 13, 2024 at 2:59 am
I have never used video calling outside of professional setting. Hell, I don’t even like calling if texting will suffice, so I absolutely don’t want to be perceived for a phone call.
@XXX-XX-X-X
May 13, 2024 at 4:09 pm
$90 a minute? Maybe flying through space? Certainly not a grainy zoom call. 😅
@FuelTheConqueror
May 13, 2024 at 4:50 pm
Cool stuff 😎
@DFowleezy
May 14, 2024 at 9:17 am
So you didn’t even come close to 50 shades of gray.
@ChrisHarmon1
May 14, 2024 at 9:47 am
People still criticize those at the forefront today. The media’s relationship with Elon Musk is a perfect example. I am amused they had a “punch magazine”, which makes me think of mads magazine.
@otherssingpuree1779
May 14, 2024 at 1:45 pm
I see Vsauce 2, I click.
@JustWasted3HoursHere
May 14, 2024 at 3:10 pm
Calling in to work sick would be much more of an acting session with a video phone.
@rimhellworth8614
May 14, 2024 at 3:52 pm
I’d imagine AI is going through the exact same thing right now
@lastnamefirstname8655
May 14, 2024 at 4:12 pm
they’re ahead of their times.
@Tiberius22495
May 14, 2024 at 4:15 pm
the way that this device sends a image reminds me of slow scan tv (sstv) that is still active in HAM Radio.
@scaleop4
May 19, 2024 at 3:44 pm
was thinking the same thing.
@imark7777777
May 14, 2024 at 5:55 pm
haha meanwhile here in 2024 we have apples FaceTime Nettwerk zooms net work that defunct Skype net work and then sends whatever Microsoft’s calling it now Nettwerk and we can’t even get text messages to interoperate. And everybody keeps pushing towards segmented things like all the streaming services that keep popping up for their own unique content but then gets pulled off of the other services.
@MarshaCollier
May 14, 2024 at 7:14 pm
I actually bought two of these so my daughter and I could talk to her Grandma in Florida. I set it up for her when I was on a visit. When we got home, we were never able to receive a picture. Why? My mother didn’t want us to see her without make up. To her it was more of an intrusion than a communication device. But at least she could see the pictures that we sent.
@tschak909
May 14, 2024 at 8:57 pm
This tech was purchased from Atari Inc. in 1984 after Jack Tramiel bought the company from Warner and sold off everything except the home computer division. (it was one of the planned products from the AtariTel division)
@TheJeremyHolloway
May 17, 2024 at 4:30 pm
Warner sold AtariTel to Mitsubishi prior to selling the assets of Atari Inc’s Consumer Division to Jack Tramiel’s TTL company [which renamed itself as the Atari Corporation] and the majority stake of the Atari Coin [arcade] division – the original Atari – to Namco. Atari Coin renamed itself as the Atari Games Corporation and used the “Tengen” sub-brand in the consumer market since they could only use the Atari name on their arcade games.
@oldmoviesinbwwithsubtitles3501
May 14, 2024 at 10:22 pm
I had this back in 92
@oldmoviesinbwwithsubtitles3501
May 14, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Punch was a great magazine from England.
@JustSomeAsianDude
May 15, 2024 at 12:53 am
Why do you look so much like Kevin from Vsauce and sound like him sort of too?😂😂
@desklaser
May 16, 2024 at 2:56 am
The “brown splatter” is probably just the paint/ink coming off the cardboard.
@malixcrash4126
May 16, 2024 at 2:24 pm
I love how this original video phone is just a fax machine with extra steps
@KentuckyRanger
May 16, 2024 at 8:08 pm
It was so funny, when I was a kid, I remember all the hoopla over video phones.
Problem was, it was just a goofy thing, that only Dick Tracy used, LOL!
The prospect of video phone calls, was, well, dumb…
Even today, my iPhone, while it has the capability of video calls, I’ve only used it once, to show my wife something at the store, LOL!
It was a feature, nobody really wanted then, and really don’t use it much now.
@twistidclowns
May 17, 2024 at 2:32 pm
The retro future was great but the current future kinda sucks, just because I have a cell phone doesn’t mean im always available.
@shaider1982
May 17, 2024 at 8:13 pm
8:35 sounds like present day people’s reaction to LL. AI like ChatGPT
@jimbotron70
May 18, 2024 at 7:15 am
Kubrick came first. Space:1999 second.
@HumblElephant
May 18, 2024 at 11:34 am
Incredible production that was still so informative + entertaining – great upload
@VSteam81
May 18, 2024 at 7:59 pm
get this man out! he doesnt need to be trapped inside!!! (just kidding lol)
@diyeana
May 18, 2024 at 9:05 pm
What would I pay $90/minute for? To go into space. For 5 minutes.
@Olkv3D
May 19, 2024 at 12:20 am
AT&T had also released one called the VideoPhone in the early 90’s
@OhFuckItsOlkv
May 19, 2024 at 12:20 am
AT&T had also released one called the VideoPhone in the early 90’s
@maaadkat
May 19, 2024 at 10:26 am
I have the same view on talking to devices. Cortana’s amazing success demonstrates that I’m not the only one who doesn’t want to talk to my PC. I barely ever talk to Google if at all. People I talk to say they rarely use Siri. Alexa is useful only because it avoids having to clean hands or otherwise make room to perform a few simple functions – if I’m stood by the light switch it’s easier to just hit the light switch than to shout an instruction into the ether.
@jatigre1
May 19, 2024 at 3:06 pm
“all the way back in the 70’s… the 1870’s. ” No apostrophe, please.
@cannibalbananas
May 19, 2024 at 4:46 pm
Who didn’t want video phones? Cuz I know I’m happy they exist. You lose so much in words alone – both spoken and written. Body language, and seeing the other person is so important to communication imo, especially when you miss someone. It’s as close to having them in the room w/ you as we can get right now. Letters take forever, emails get left unopened, and texts are are quick and sometimes impersonal.
Personally, I can’t wait for hologram calls… that or true teleportation so I can just visit family and friends that don’t live nearby.
@mfbfreak
May 20, 2024 at 3:54 am
And still – i barely ever video call someone, despite it being effectively free today, with perfect connection and high res color images.
@Deafkid97
May 20, 2024 at 4:26 am
As a deaf person who hates Alexander Graham Bell I’m so glad that Bell Labs flopped in this area lol
@abegiesbrecht1148
May 20, 2024 at 10:40 am
11:52 true story. Just finished my morning coffee ☕.
@notamorningdragon
May 20, 2024 at 1:09 pm
10:39 I mean
was he wrong?
@foolunderscore
May 21, 2024 at 10:24 am
The reason why the picture turn out like “Satan’s sonogram” is probably due to the fact that cellular service compresses your audio to around 8khz at the towers so your phones don’t have to process the audio when it’s being received. Back in the early 2000s when cell phones were becoming a hit, they were only powerful enough to decode an audio signal around 8khz. Now with a regular POTS line, the limit is gone.
@EinSwitzer
May 22, 2024 at 4:02 pm
😎👽🤓🧐😈😇
@EinSwitzer
May 22, 2024 at 4:03 pm
Mitsubishi mighty max for dodge ram 50 4g63 2.0 super fun mini truck
@sondrayork6317
May 27, 2024 at 2:55 am
Lol I have FaceTime right on the iPad I’m using to view this video LOL. And it’s in color unlike that box you have there.
@sondrayork6317
May 27, 2024 at 3:03 am
You’d be better off sending a picture using SSTV on HF. It’s basically like an SSTV signal anyway. AND the sound is also akin to the header sent with an SSTV signal. I have apps I use for capturing SSTV So I’ve heard that sound before. Telephone wasn’t really designed for sending SSTV signals as it was anyway. Let alone data over telephone protocol. Dial up that is.was a great concept though but because it was over the phone, it failed immensely.
@sondrayork6317
May 27, 2024 at 3:12 am
Again, you would be better off getting your ham license. Then you can send pictures for free. Or if radio is not your avenue, get an iPad and use FaceTime or zoom to transmit video LOL.
@DanaTheInsane
May 28, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Yes now. In 1987 I was 22 and it was a little more difficult.
@DanaTheInsane
May 28, 2024 at 1:27 pm
Video calling is great when you’re half a continent from your spouse and feeling lonely, or when you need to talk to your doctor/therapist. Other than that I would rather not.
@FerintoshFarmsPhotography
May 29, 2024 at 1:48 am
I like the history but you spend not enough time on the actual using of the devices.
@huseman21
May 30, 2024 at 9:17 pm
Many many different forms of video chat existed before facetime. Apple Facetime should not even be mentioned in this.
@dougalsii
June 1, 2024 at 11:33 am
And now, I’m annoyed when someone calls or sends a voice message instead of just sending a text message.
@wii166
June 7, 2024 at 7:40 pm
With modern compression we might be able to send video through dial-up now
@jayhays8267
June 9, 2024 at 12:21 pm
I remember the movie critics Siskel & Ebert did a show on this a long, long time ago. I thought at that time “Boy, that is really bad quality and only still images… that sucks”. I found this video here on youtube, too bad I can’t link it. If you search for “Siskel & Ebert Classics – 1988 Holiday Video Gift Guide” and go to the 33min, 22sec mark the VisiTel is featured.
@erikyerdon3248
June 9, 2024 at 1:29 pm
Lmao I am actually sitting on the toilet on my phone 😂
@johnnakulski7743
June 10, 2024 at 1:34 pm
I enjoyed watching this. The video goes well beyond a product review! It delves into the history of video phones, talks about what was possible in the day, discusses the use cases and…. Does it with nostalgia and emotion. Well done! Konnekt 😊 makes our own Videophone since about 2015 for people who can’t use a modern device but despite being in the industry for ten years, I hadn’t heard of this invention!
@ericwilson9457
June 12, 2024 at 1:52 pm
I’m a long haul trucker and I video call with my kids.
@MemoGrafix
June 14, 2024 at 10:59 am
I recall seeing the *_VisiTel_*_ (or similar Video Phone)_ being sold on *_QVC Shopping TV Channel_* for *_$5000_* in 1992. My Auntie – a _QVC Junkie_ started to buy it. My Uncle told her *_”!!HELL NO!! You ain’t paying $5000 for a phone I don’t care if You could call some on Planet Jupiter with it, I DON’T CARE how much MONEY WE HAVE to buy ten of them!!!.”_*
@staticfanatic
June 20, 2024 at 5:28 am
17:48 this map is fucked lmao
@bigt4135
June 20, 2024 at 11:59 am
I remember when these came out.
@johndaniels404
June 24, 2024 at 9:11 am
All that work on video phones and in the end we have mostly gone back to what the telegraph provided lol.
@kylewarren5268
June 24, 2024 at 5:24 pm
Oh so the RoboCop phones were based on actual existing phones of the time. Cool. This is basically just dial up internet
@kylewarren5268
June 24, 2024 at 5:28 pm
Modern tech did change our lives for the worse. It’s made EVERYONE a complete fucking moron that don’t even know how to use something so basic as a phone book. Everyone is just wrapped up in stupid ass videos then taking 5min to learn something. So that was a very accurate assessment
@NikaHollywood
June 25, 2024 at 3:31 pm
I’m at a bar here now, down in the 4th sector. Taffey Lewis is on the line, why don’t you come on down here and have a drink?
@samuelmeasa9283
June 26, 2024 at 3:59 pm
Reminds me of the Jetson’s episode where Jane had a mask of her face. For when she needed to answer the phone but didn’t have 39 minutes to apply make up.
@Chilling4Shillings
June 26, 2024 at 5:57 pm
I still don’t want video calls. Fuck that shit. They store that shit forever on offshore servers
@Tom-cn4cm
June 27, 2024 at 1:03 pm
So… it’s a picture phone instead of a video phone…? I’m so confused.
@theodanielwollff
June 28, 2024 at 5:49 pm
This was in a bunch of 80 sci-fi movies
@Melissa0774
June 29, 2024 at 1:35 pm
I can imagine deaf people who used ASL were super excited about this back then.
@SO_DIGITAL
June 30, 2024 at 7:33 am
21:35 Modem sounds confuse the voice codecs used over the IP link emulating your landline. Modems don’t sound like voices so the codecs give up, sending rubbish.
@fiend4129
June 30, 2024 at 9:24 am
search more… in Biarritz/france, it existed live with fiber…
@Whickedlee
July 5, 2024 at 12:33 pm
Punch was the MAD of its time
@Fivefortymuhkids
July 8, 2024 at 6:39 pm
Fantastic video although I found the demonstration of the device rather short and lacking.
@skipperbentdk
July 8, 2024 at 7:13 pm
Is this a msm channel larping as a viral one? Past videos seems suspicious
@skipperbentdk
July 8, 2024 at 7:22 pm
It’s almost like Hollywood has always been predictive programming