Magnetic video tape recording began serious development after broadcast television became commonplace following World War II. Several systems were attempted by various inventors. The major technical challenge that had to be overcome was that the high frequencies of the video signal required a lot of real estate on a magnetic tape. Linear tape movement past a fixed pickup head required super-fast speed (120 inches per second). Engineers solved this problem by using a rotating head drum with multiple heads painting each individual video line on a magnetic tape in a slanted pattern that would allow a more manageable 15 inches per second tape speed.
Ampex Corporation of Redwood City, California, a manufacturer of audio tape recorders, developed the first practical VTR in 1956 for use by broadcasting companies. The first production VTR easily took up the entire space of a typical home bedroom. As years went by, inventors improved the technology, reducing the size of the machine and the recording tape. By the 1960's, Philips was offering a low-resolution reel-to-reel video recorder with a miniature black and white camera that recorded on a 1/4" tape.
Sony Corporation of Japan introduced a cassette-based video recorder, the UMatic, in 1971. These machines reduced the size of video recorders to that of a large travel suitcase, and they were capable of recording and playing color on a cassette the size of large paperback book. Television broadcasters adopted the technology for news gathering in the mid-nineteen seventies. Sony then reduced the tape size by one-third to offer the Betamax Cassette Video Recorder for home use. Sony had been working on the half-inch tape format since the late fifties. Their goal was to do for television what the transistor radio did for radio in the first half of the nineteen-fifties.
Years earlier, Sony engineers discarded a previous system, VHS, because the quality was not quite as good as the Betamax. They sold the VHS system patent to JVC, the RCA Victor spinoff company formed in Japan after WW II. Initially, the Betamax enjoyed excellent sales in the United States, but the VHS design that was capable of recording 2 hours (and later 6 hours) on a single cassette, soon overtook the Betamax (90 minutes record time), and by 1980 the Sony product was withdrawn from the U.S. market for home recording. (The Betamax lived on in South America, Mexico and Europe where their higher quality was appreciated more. Later, Sony would reboot Beta cassettes (Rebranded as BetaCart) and adapt them to broadcast usage for news gathering.)
Other developments such as miniature Video Cameras that were color capable and the eventual availability of Hollywood movies for rental and purchase spurred the growth of the Home Video industry that has endured for 40 years and is only now moving away from mechanical playback methods towards Internet Video Streaming.
By the 1990's, other technologies came on the scene. DVD disks supplanted VHS tapes for movie rentals in the mid-nineteen nineties. Smaller tape formats such as Hi-8, Digital 8, and DV replaced VHS tape for home video recording. High-Definition TV appeared in the first years of the new millennium, all but spelling the end for VHS. Funai, the last factory to produce VHS VCRs, ceased production in July of 2016.
These days, the best place to find a VCR is on Ebay, or at a local pawn shop. Years of home movies were recorded on the format. Users will have to transfer their content to digital media such as a hard drive or upload to the cloud--or face losing their family archives.
Alas, the poor VCR, we knew it well.
Sony Corporation of Japan introduced a cassette-based video recorder, the UMatic, in 1971. These machines reduced the size of video recorders to that of a large travel suitcase, and they were capable of recording and playing color on a cassette the size of large paperback book. Television broadcasters adopted the technology for news gathering in the mid-nineteen seventies. Sony then reduced the tape size by one-third to offer the Betamax Cassette Video Recorder for home use. Sony had been working on the half-inch tape format since the late fifties. Their goal was to do for television what the transistor radio did for radio in the first half of the nineteen-fifties.
Years earlier, Sony engineers discarded a previous system, VHS, because the quality was not quite as good as the Betamax. They sold the VHS system patent to JVC, the RCA Victor spinoff company formed in Japan after WW II. Initially, the Betamax enjoyed excellent sales in the United States, but the VHS design that was capable of recording 2 hours (and later 6 hours) on a single cassette, soon overtook the Betamax (90 minutes record time), and by 1980 the Sony product was withdrawn from the U.S. market for home recording. (The Betamax lived on in South America, Mexico and Europe where their higher quality was appreciated more. Later, Sony would reboot Beta cassettes (Rebranded as BetaCart) and adapt them to broadcast usage for news gathering.)
Other developments such as miniature Video Cameras that were color capable and the eventual availability of Hollywood movies for rental and purchase spurred the growth of the Home Video industry that has endured for 40 years and is only now moving away from mechanical playback methods towards Internet Video Streaming.
By the 1990's, other technologies came on the scene. DVD disks supplanted VHS tapes for movie rentals in the mid-nineteen nineties. Smaller tape formats such as Hi-8, Digital 8, and DV replaced VHS tape for home video recording. High-Definition TV appeared in the first years of the new millennium, all but spelling the end for VHS. Funai, the last factory to produce VHS VCRs, ceased production in July of 2016.
These days, the best place to find a VCR is on Ebay, or at a local pawn shop. Years of home movies were recorded on the format. Users will have to transfer their content to digital media such as a hard drive or upload to the cloud--or face losing their family archives.
Alas, the poor VCR, we knew it well.
LINKS To Television History Series
Oprah
Winfrey Makes TV History August 1978 (ophra-winfrey-tv-history.blogspot.com)
Alas, the
VCR, We Knew it Well (vcrdeadatfortyone.blogspot.com)
ABC-TV: 1st Color Telecast-Jetsons Sept. 23, 1962 (abc-jetsons-1stcolorprogram.blogspot.com)
Television History: FCC Bans Color Television (tv-history-fcc-bans-color-1951.blogspot.com)
CBS
Network Formed in 1927 (cbs-network-radio-history.blogspot.com)
CBS Television City Inaugurated Nov. 15, 1952 (tv-history-cbs-television-city.blogspot.com)
Did the Bee
Gees Create the Disco Music Genre? (the-brothers-gibb-barry-robin-maurice.blogspot.com)
TV History: I Love Lucy (tv-history-i-love-lucy.blogspot.com)
