Spectrum Video

Background

Spectrum was a UK sub-label of PolyGram Video that focused on a wide-variety of videos. It was the sister company to the music-related PolyGram Music Video. It was also the name of a former PolyGram Records label that distributed primarily compilations.

1st Logo (November 16, 1981-October 23, 1988)

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Nicknames: "Spectrum Pixie Dust & Red Line"

Logo: It's basically the same as the 1st PolyGram Video logo, but at the very end the logo is extended to make way for a series of rainbow-colored bars with "spectrum" in a jumbled white Helvetica font to form one-by-one from the right side of the screen.

Variants: Same as the 2nd variant of the 1st PolyGram Video logo, but with the Spectrum logo zooming in from the center of the screen instead of the Arena logo wiping in. The spectrum logo was the used on the 1st PolyGram Video logo, It will have the "presents" text only in the normal UK era, It will have the "die Geschenke" "koha" "presente" "parousiazei" "purezento" and "presenta" texts only as well as in the Germany, New Zealand, Brazil, Greece, Japan and Spain eras.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1st PolyGram Video logo, with the Spectrum animation.

Music/Sounds: It uses the 2nd 1980s PolyGram Pictures music which was the normal track was playing only on the Germany, New Zealand, Brazil, Greece, Japan and Spain VHS tapes. However, In case you did only notice that the high-pitched track was played on the UK VHS tapes.

Availability: Extremely rare. Check eBay for tapes that feature this logo, as it primarily appeared on UK VHS tapes of music. One example is The Jam: Video Snap!.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (October 24, 1988-August 26, 1990)

Nickname: "The Rainbow Countdown in Letters"

Logo: In a black background, we see a red line "stretching", then two white arrows, representing rewind, appear in the line and behind it we can see an white oval appearing via a countdown effect, containing the letter "s" (red). The arrows then show the same letter on the line on a black color before they go out of view, then we see another set of white arrows pointing to the right, representing fast-forward, with the countdown effect then inverting the colors of the background and oval at the same time the letter "p" (orange) appears on the oval and then on the line. This process is repeated with the following letters in the same order as the colors of the rainbow alongside other VCR symbols: "e" (yellowish-orange, single arrow (play backwards)), "c" (yellow, two horizontal lines (pause)), "t" (gradient of light green and dark green, two vertical lines), "r" (dark green, triangle), "u" (gradient of green and greenish-blue, square (stop)), and "m" (gradient of greenish-blue, blue and indigo, circle (record)), at the same time adding the rainbow colors with a gradient effect to the line letter by letter. The oval then wipes out of view via the same countdown effect, and the logo fades out seconds afterwards.

FX/SFX: The countdown-like animation and the VCR symbols. Very nice 2D computer animation!

Music/Sounds: A muzak-like synth tune.

Availability: Even rarer than the previous logo. Appeared on later VHS tapes from the company.

Editor's Note: None.