About
The VideoNow was released in 2003 as a portable video player for children, produced by Hasbro and released under Tiger Electronics. VideoNow discs were coded as Personal Video Discs, or PVDs, which would only function in their respective players. Each PVD had a storage capacity of 450 Mega Bytes and could hold 22-25 minutes of video content.
The first VideoNow player output video in greyscale, it did not have a backlight and had a small 80 x 80 pixel screen. In the following year saw the release of the VideoNow Color and the VideoNow Jr.
The VideoNow Color had a bigger 216 x 160 pixel screen and was able to play color PVDs as well as greyscale PVDs, it also featured a backlit screen. The VideoNow Jr. was a VideoNow Color released by Playskool specifically for toddlers, the PVDs were flexible which prevented the child from breaking them.
In 2005 the VideoNow XP was released. Similar in design to the Gameboy Advance SP, it had a 288 x 288 pixel screen and able to play PVD games as well as video discs. In 2006 the VideoNow Color FX was released, which was a VideoNow Color with a transparent case.
VideoNow players and PVDs were discontinued in 2007 when Tiger Electronics went bankrupt.
Hasbro released a software to go with the VideoNow which gave users the ability to make their own PVD video discs. It came with recordable PVDs. A camcorder for the VideoNow was also released called the VCamNow, which children could use with the recordable PVDs to create their own movies.
pictures
videos
Oddity Archive: Episode 52.4 - Ben's Junk: The Rejected Pilot (VideoNow PVD Player)
VideoNow - the worst quality pre-recorded video format ever?
Commercial for the original VideoNow, uploaded by Brooke Freeman
Commercials for the VideoNow Jr., uploaded by PlayhouseSproutlet Jr.
Compilation of logos directly ripped from various VideoNow discs, uploaded by Rugrats, The Brothers Flub & Catscratch Lover 2000. Note that this footage is supposed to be watched on a tiny screen, but gives you an idea of how much it had to be compressed.
A video recorded with the VCamNow, uploaded by mnemennth