Flatbacker (1986 Victor AHD High Quality Japanese Heavy Metal Digital Video Disc Album)

This is "Flatbacker" (AHM-10) from the extremely rare Victor AHD format. The AHD was developed in the late 1970's along with the Compact Disc audio format. AHD discs had a 2.54GB capacity with the ability to play either 4-channels of 44.1kHz PCM digital audio or a 2-channel 44.1kHz PCM stream like a CD with simultaneous digital pictures at a 456 x 572 resolution with 16 million colors. Furthermore, each side of the disc could hold up to 59 minutes and 59 seconds of audio data for up to a two hour play time. While this does not seem impressive now, this was cutting edge consumer technology in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
The system used the Victor/JVC VHD video disc system as a transport and required a separate AHD decoder for any of these digital streams. The VHD system, unlike the CD, used an extremely-low mass needle to read discs like an advanced vinyl record. Unfortunately, the VHD system was delayed in Japan until about 1983 at which point the already established Laserdisc began to seamlessly implement digital audio tracks. Also, by 1985, advancements in data storage/retrieval on the CD paved the way towards CD+G which is functionally equivalent to AHD (albeit at 16 colors instead of 16 million colors). Finally, VHD was only released in Japan and never released internationally (except for educational purposes in Europe) due to lack of interest & competition.

It was rumored that since VHD was delayed for many years, the AHD decoder was never released. In reality, the AHD decoder was released in very limited numbers in late 1985 thru 1986 and it cost much more than the VHD players themselves. That means AHD was the first consumer digital "video" disc format! It even slightly beat the D-1 professional video format out of the gate!

"Flatbacker" features the songs of the Japanese heavy-metal band Flatbacker, that was later reimagined as "Ezo" by none-other than Kiss's Gene Simmons. The accompanying photos appear to be pictures of the band playing from a live concert. All song selections are from their 餌 - Esa - & 戦争 - Accident - albums.

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Track List:
00:00 - INTRO
00:35 - Banishment
05:42 - Mi-Mi-Zu
09:39 - Deathwish
13:43 - Nervous Disturbance
17:08 - Cut Me Dead
21:06 - Deep Insert
24:18 - CREDITS

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Please note that due to the grooveless, electronically-tracked nature of the VHD/AHD format (along with the affinity of the discs to mold), it is very difficult to get a perfect recording of the disc. Please excuse the small audio & visual glitches that may appear.

This was played back using a Victor HD-9500 VHD player with a Victor AD-7000 AHD decoder. Captured in analog RGB!

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For more Victor AHD footage, check out this playlist:    • World's First Digital Videodisc Forma...  

More of my vintage rock, punk, & metal uploads can be found in this playlist:    • Rock, Punk, & Metal  

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