Longitudinal Video Recording

Last updated

Longitudinal Video Recording or LVR was a consumer VCR system and videotape standard.

Contents

Comparison with other VCR technologies

LVR differed from other VCR technologies in that instead of running a tape slowly past a pair of rapidly moving recording heads and laying the tracks obliquely across the tape in a helical scan, the LVR ran a tape quickly past a stationary recording head which would step across the tape width and lay down a series of parallel tracks along the tape's length. [1] The head used fixed scanning but moved down the tape to the next track once the end of the quickly moving tape (240 ips with 300 tracks to a ½” tape) had been reached. [2]

Development

Work had begun on longitudinal video recording as early as 1950 by the electronics division of entertainer Bing Crosby's production company, Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), who had pioneered the use of magnetic tape recording for his radio show in the 1940s. [3] BCE gave the world's first demonstration of a videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. Developed by John T. Mullin and Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device gave what were described as "blurred and indistinct" images, using a modified Ampex 200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (0.6 cm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second. [4] [5] A year later, an improved version, using one-inch (2.6 cm) magnetic tape, was shown to the press, who reportedly expressed amazement at the quality of the images, although they had a "persistent grainy quality that looked like a worn motion picture". Overall, the picture quality was still considered inferior to the best kinescope recordings on film. [6] Bing Crosby Enterprises hoped to have a commercial version available in 1954, but none came forth. [7] BCE demonstrated a color model in February 1955, using a longitudinal recording on half-inch (1.3 cm) tape, essentially similar to what RCA had demonstrated in 1953. CBS, RCA's competitor, was about to order BCE machines when Ampex introduced the superior Quadruplex system (see below). [8]

From then it became clear that 'rotating-head' helical scan recorders were the way forward with superior sound and picture quality. However the expense of rotating-head machines ($2000 for a machine in 1956) [9] meant that work continued on developing a consumer stationary-head machine for some time with efforts from Akai, GEC and the BBC. [9] The BBC abandoned their VERA system in 1958 in favor of the Ampex quadruplex system, though further research continued with the BBC Research department demonstrating an experimental digital LVR machine in June 1974 which recorded colour television on 42 tracks on a one-inch tape moving at 120 ips. [10]

The first home VCRs to become widely available were the Sony U-Matic system in 1971 and Philips VCR system, released in 1972. However, the first system to be successful with consumers was Sony's Betamax in 1975. This was quickly followed by the competing VHS (Video Home System) format from JVC, and later by Video 2000 from Philips. BASF had announced a commercial LVR as early as 1974, however it wasn't demonstrated until Autumn 1978 at the Berlin Radio Show. [1] Toshiba first demonstrated their prototype LVR at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in June 1979. [1] Although using the same principle, the tapes developed by BASF and Toshiba were incompatible, with BASF moving a length of tape back and forth over the head, whilst Toshiba used a continuous loop. [1]

One of the advantages touted for the system was the low production cost of both the tapes and the hardware but consumers never had the chance to try it. Problems with the poor picture quality caused by a very brief interruption to the picture as the head moved down led to delays in production. [2] In addition, the uncertainty as European rival Blaupunkt began developing their own system and the quality issues let VHS and Betamax become the dominant formats and the LVR never went to market. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetic tape</span> Medium used to store data in the form of magnetic fields

Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic tape could with relative ease record and playback audio, visual, and binary computer data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VHS</span> Consumer-level analog videotape recording and cassette form standard

VHS is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes invented in 1976 by the Victor Company of Japan and was the competitor to the ill-fated Sony Betamax system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tape recorder</span> Machine for recording sound

An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape deck and the cassette deck, which uses a cassette for storage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videotape</span> Magnetic tape used for storing video and sound simultaneously

Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette recorders (VCRs) and camcorders. Videotapes have also been used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betamax</span> Consumer-level analog video tape recording and cassette form factor standard

Betamax is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, followed by the US in November of the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ampex</span> American company that pioneered the use of videotape

Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name AMPEX is a portmanteau, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence. Ampex operates as Ampex Data Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Delta Information Systems, and consists of two business units. The Silicon Valley unit, known internally as Ampex Data Systems (ADS), manufactures digital data storage systems capable of functioning in harsh environments. The Colorado Springs, Colorado, unit, referred to as Ampex Intelligent Systems (AIS), serves as a laboratory and hub for the company's line of industrial control systems, cyber security products and services and its artificial intelligence/machine learning technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helical scan</span> Method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape

Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape. It is used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video 2000</span> Consumer-level analog video tape recording and cassette form factor standard

Video 2000 is a consumer videocassette system and analogue recording standard developed by Philips and Grundig to compete with JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax video technologies. It was designed for the PAL color television standard, but some models additionally handled SECAM. Distribution of Video 2000 products began in 1979 exclusively in Europe, South Africa and Argentina and ended in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reel-to-reel audio tape recording</span> Audio recording using magnetic tape spooled on open reels

Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the supply reel containing the tape is placed on a spindle or hub. The end of the tape is manually pulled from the reel, threaded through mechanical guides and over a tape head assembly, and attached by friction to the hub of the second, initially empty takeup reel. Reel-to-reel systems use tape that is 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, or 2 inches wide, which normally moves at 3+3⁄4, 7+1⁄2, 15 or 30 inches per second. Domestic consumer machines almost always used 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) or narrower tape and many offered slower speeds such as 1+7⁄8 inches per second (4.762 cm/s). All standard tape speeds are derived as a binary submultiple of 30 inches per second.

Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, "Betacam" singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video tape recorder</span> Tape recorder designed to record and play back video and audio material on magnetic tape

A video tape recorder (VTR) is a tape recorder designed to record and playback video and audio material from magnetic tape. The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape. They were used in television studios, serving as a replacement for motion picture film stock and making recording for television applications cheaper and quicker. Beginning in 1963, videotape machines made instant replay during televised sporting events possible. Improved formats, in which the tape was contained inside a videocassette, were introduced around 1969; the machines which play them are called videocassette recorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video Cassette Recording</span> Magnetic tape-based videocassette format

Video Cassette Recording (VCR) is an early domestic analog recording format designed by Philips. It was the first successful consumer-level home videocassette recorder (VCR) system. Later variants included the VCR-LP and Super Video (SVR) formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videotape format war</span> Period of competition

The videotape format war was a period of competition or "format war" of incompatible models of consumer-level analog video videocassette and video cassette recorders (VCR) in the late 1970s and the 1980s, mainly involving the Betamax and Video Home System (VHS) formats. VHS ultimately emerged as the preeminent format.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type C videotape</span> Broadcast magnetic tape-based videotape format

1–inch Type C is a professional reel-to-reel analog recording helical scan videotape format co-developed and introduced by Ampex and Sony in 1976. It became the replacement in the professional video and broadcast television industries for the then-incumbent 2–inch quadruplex videotape open-reel format. Additionally, it replaced the unsuccessful type A format, also invented by Ampex, and, primarily in mainland Europe, it supplemented the type B format, invented by the Fernseh division of Bosch, but it was replaced by type C format also there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quadruplex videotape</span> First practical, commercially successful analog recording video tape

2-inch quadruplex videotape was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording video tape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex, an American company based in Redwood City, California. The first videotape recorder using this format was built the same year. This format revolutionized broadcast television operations and television production, since the only recording medium available to the TV industry until then was kinescope film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Crosby</span> American publicity director (1895–1975)

Laurence Earl Crosby was the longtime publicity director of his younger brother, Bing Crosby, a manager, a philanthropist, an inventor, and an author. He was the eldest of Bing's six siblings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetophon</span> Tape recorder developed in the 1930s

Magnetophone, or simply Magnetophon, was the brand or model name of the pioneering reel-to-reel tape recorder developed by engineers of the German electronics company AEG in the 1930s, based on the magnetic tape invention by Fritz Pfleumer. AEG created the world's first practical tape recorder, the K1, first demonstrated in Germany in 1935 at the Berlin Radio Show.

V-Cord is an analog recording videocassette format developed and released by Sanyo. V-Cord was released in 1974, and could record 60 minutes on a cassette. V-Cord II, released in 1976, could record 120 minutes on a V-Cord II cassette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videocassette recorder</span> Device designed to record and playback content stored on videocassettes, most commonly VHS

A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. Use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as timeshifting. VCRs can also play back prerecorded tapes. In the 1980s and 1990s, prerecorded videotapes were widely available for purchase and rental, and blank tapes were sold to make recordings.

From 1963 to 1970, Ampex manufactured several models of VTR 2-inch helical VTRs, capable of recording and playing back analog black and white video. Recording employed non-segmented helical scanning, with one wrap of the tape around the video head drum being a little more than 180 degrees, using two video heads. One video drum rotation time was two fields of video. The units had two audio tracks recorded on the top edge of the tape, with a control track recorded on the tape's bottom edge. The 2-inch-wide video tape used was one mil thick. The VTRs were mostly used by industrial companies, educational institutions, and a few for in-flight entertainment.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Long and the short of video confusion". New Scientist. 85: 19. 3 January 1980.
  2. 1 2 "From Baird to MPEG". Transdiffusion.org. Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  3. ↑ Daniel, Mee, Clark (1999), pp. 138
  4. ↑ "Tape Recording Used by Filmless 'Camera'," The New York Times, Nov. 12, 1951, p. 21.
  5. ↑ Eric D. Daniel, C. Denis Mee, and Mark H. Clark (eds.), p. 141.
  6. ↑ "Tape-Recorded TV Nears Perfection," The New York Times, Dec. 31, 1952, p. 10.
  7. ↑ "New Deal on TV Seen at Parley," The New York Times, May 1, 1953, p. 30.
  8. ↑ Daniel et al., p. 148. BCE was acquired by 3M Company in 1956.
  9. 1 2 Daniel, Mee, Clark (1999), pp. 149
  10. ↑ Abramson, Albert. The history of television, 1942 to 2000. McFarland. p. 156. ISBN   978-0-7864-1220-4.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.