RetroTech: The Panapic
This piece of tech is 40 years old, and brand new in box...beyond that I don't want to reveal anything about it here, because I think it would be fun to make this into a game. See how long it takes you to figure out what this is and what it is used for. Good Luck.
UPDATE 1 - A version with an audio fix is being uploaded as I type.
UPDATE 2 - The video above is now the fixed version.
Comments (47)
Neat technology. What's old is new again! I've supported a kickstart project that is a record player, where the "player" moves around the record, which I thought was pretty clever. I've yet to receive it, so I can't tell you how 'groovy' (pun intended) it is, just yet.
wild.. i was kind of off guessing for the longest time... really interesting. i kept thinking it was a ceiling projector that did panoramic photo's and sound when running so you could "immerse" yourself in a scene and lay back to relax.
I am happy to be back here supporting You. Pledge was removed (I dont know why) but its fine now. Keep up the good work ;)
I’m happy to see you’re back. I assumed you’d moved on, plenty of people donate once or twice and then move on to support someone else.
Very cool find, Matt! Fun fact: Panasonic is the "mother" brand of Technics who are quite famous for their direct drive turntables. So this seems like the kind of gadget they would bring out :-) BTW: You did it WRONG! You should have used glue on the records to stop the skipping. But never mind... I'm sure you would have used the wrong quantity of the wrong glue anyway...
I’ve long thought that maybe all the videos should be preceeded by a disclaimer that states ‘everything you are about to see and hear is wrong’
This is quintessential Techmoan - some odd piece of classic tech nobody’s heard of made into a fascinating story. Keep it up man!
Matt my Japanese is rusty, but still great episode I’m one of those triggered by the sorts talk system bit of a flash back yeah but I could have sworn I remember that good call out to us yanks
Oh, I've fallen behind in commenting, but I just wanted to say what a great video, again. What a curious device! I had no idea what it was. But what beautiful design. As I've said before, I'm such a fan of that 1960's-80's era of technology design. Also, I'm starting to believe you do in fact have a time machine, and access to alternate timelines where elcaset was the dominant format of the late 1970's and 80's. :)
Great video. Interestingly, the sticker on the front of your book says "For trial listening/Not for sale" so maybe it was for use in stores to demonstrate the device.
Fascinating stuff! Superb video. The product looked great! That 70s music has a really nice feeling to it. Any tips on what artists that might play this type of music on Spotify? (Although I have had problem finding Japanese music on Spotify, fingers crossed this time).
I’m guessing it’s just some kind of generic house-band that played karaoke backing tracks. Perhaps if you searched for 1970s Japanese Karaoke 8-tracks you might get something similar.
Thanks for trying to clear up the 'National' brand. We had this in Australia a number of years ago, but it's no longer in use here.
The joke at the very end made me spit soda all over the desk!
That one did throw me, I've never heard of such a device. Love all the resurrected obscure tech, please keep it up. When you think of it, the toilet is the best place for a Blackberry.
Quite neat, loved the muppet bit at the end!
Always love the puppets! I always have an Android and an iPhone 📱 so no one can accuse me of fanboyism. 😏
Fascinating device... Also liked the puppets. I also get accused of the "apple fanboy" thing... yet there's really no logic behind it.
I’m just a fan of good tech. I’d hate to have to exclude all past, current and future products from any one manufacturer. Good tech is interesting no matter which company releases it, it’s all down to the engineers rather than the logo on the box.
The images in that book are beautiful, love that wee record with the image of the traditional japanese 'Kobaya' warship printed on it. I think I'd like that 'hardback album' in my book collection more than I would want the panapic in my hifi collections!
Another bit of technology that flew under most folks' radar. It must be a rare device, as a quick eBay search turns up zero active and zero completed listings! Thank you for posting this one. Your Muppets have correctly identified the Apple fan mentality, but they seem a bit challenged in admitting to it!
I’ve had a good laugh at this one. Thanks for the nice video!
Great video and it was a fun challenge. Oh and thank you for the funny sketch at the end. Take care! :D
Very nice find and awesome video. The usage of these for audio books is something that obviously comes to mind, and sure, there were some. I think the only thing that let it down in the end was that you really need to put the book on a table and hold it still, so no messing around with kids having the book in the bed on the lap and reading / listening.
Lovely device/concept, and it was fun trying to guess its function. Thanks for the video! And the puppets -splendid! I recognize some discussions I've had with "not-interested-in-Apple-stuff-persons" that just seem a bit too informed about Apple product details to be all that disinterested. I have the constant war of bickering between Amiga (yay) and Atari (boo) fans fresh in mind (oh, well...) to get wound up by it and just get amused...
Everyone watching may not be aware of this, but the brand "National" is just the home market (Japan) branding that we shlubs elsewhere in the world know as Panasonic. - Much the same scenario as what we know as the brand Kenwood in USA, is called Trio in Japan. There are many other examples of this in consumer electronics, cars, etc. which the same Japanese made device carries a different brand name in Japan.
I didn't go into it in the video because it gets very convoluted - they did use National outside Japan for a while, before dropping it for anywhere outside Japan ...but back then the whole company was Matsushita with Panasonic and National being brands that came under their umbrella... but now the whole company is called Panasonic and National is no longer used....I decided it was best to just avoid bringing it up .
YAY! - The puppets have returned!!
That's a really cool little doo-dad.
From the name "Panapic" I thought it would be some camera. Then I saw the box and immediately recognized a speaker, but didn't know what to do with the picture album. But when you showed the album's pages in greater detail, I said to myself something like "Don't tell me these are some kind of discs in there..."
If something like this came out today if would run with QR codes and you couldn't use it after 5 years because the servers with the music got shut down. :( BTW: Mister Techmuppet is wrong, there are Apple haters out there that only hate the devices made by the Jobs side of the company. Everything made by the Wizard of Woz is cool and i would love a phone in the spirit of the Apple 2. Fully documented and open so that the users can create their own devices to attach to it and write the drivers for their stuff in a simple BASIC. As the Apple 2. ;)
He's always wrong - that's his schtick....he doesn't understand what he's saying and why he's saying it - he just repeats things he's half heard off someone who was quite likely an even bigger buffoon.
Weird device. Would love to own one.
"Nationaru Panapicu". Great!
There is something calming and enjoyable about the music, the book, and the player. Thanks for a great video. PS. As a Apple user I found myself nodding along.
Apparently the audio in the video is only coming out of the left speaker at one point (I’m currently suffering from deafness in my right ear, so I didn’t notice). I’ll have to re-edit it and reupload it, so I’ve turned the comments off on the video on YouTube to prevent anyone getting their comment deleted.
What a fantastic device.
I tried to guess and got it wrong (thought it was going to be a spoken travelogue or similar). Yet again I can't help admire the ingenuity of the engineers some 40 years ago in creating this.
Like duh, it's obviously a camer.. oh...
That was quite interesting. I wonder if the stylus just needs a little lubrication to stop skipping.
If these were songs I wanted to listen to again, I would have made a bit more effort, but my Japanese language Karaoke skills are pretty limited, so I’m just happy that I could demonstrate it working..if only for half of each record. I was concerned any belts would be perished.
I thought it was an electronic mug. Whatever that was ...Nice japonese stuff...They always have..well...ideas!;)
Amazing, brilliant, very entertaining !
I have some limited Japanese capabilities, and even with that I wasn't able to figure out how it works until you showed it. This is a really cool device, and must've been great to own in its day.
Is it a panoramic photo device? I’ll update after viewing...
Hahahaha like scratch and sniff! But for sound
I saw the name and thought well it's obvious what this is. How wrong I was!