Videocassette recorder

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A typical late-model Philips Magnavox, VHS format VCR Phillips Magnavox VCR.jpg
A typical late-model Philips Magnavox, VHS format VCR
A close-up process of how the magnetic tape in a VHS cassette is being pulled from the cassette shell to the head drum of the VCR

A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as time shifting . VCRs can also play back prerecorded tapes, which were widely available for purchase and rental starting in the 80s and 90s, most popularly in the VHS videocassette format. Blank tapes were sold to make recordings.

Contents

VCRs declined in popularity during the 2000s and in July 2016, Funai Electric, the last manufacturer of them, ceased production.

History

Early machines and formats

Not all video tape recorders use a cassette to contain the videotape. Early models of consumer video tape recorders (VTRs), and most professional broadcast analog videotape machines (e.g. 1-inch Type C) use reel to reel tape spools. AMPEX 2 ZOLL.jpg
Not all video tape recorders use a cassette to contain the videotape. Early models of consumer video tape recorders (VTRs), and most professional broadcast analog videotape machines (e.g. 1-inch Type C) use reel to reel tape spools.

The history of the videocassette recorder follows the history of videotape recording in general.

Ampex introduced the quadruplex videotape professional broadcast standard format with its Ampex VRX-1000 in 1956. It became the world's first commercially successful videotape recorder using two-inch (5.1 cm) wide tape. [1] Due to its high price of US$50,000, the Ampex VRX-1000 could be afforded only by the television networks and the largest individual stations. [2] [3] [4]

In 1959, Toshiba introduced a new method of recording known as helical scan, releasing the first commercial helical scan video tape recorder that year. [5] It was first implemented in reel-to-reel videotape recorders (VTRs), and later used with cassette tapes.[ citation needed ]

In 1963, Philips introduced its EL3400 1-inch helical scan recorder, aimed at the business and domestic user, and Sony marketed the 2" PV-100, its first reel-to-reel VTR, intended for business, medical, airline, and educational use. [6]

First home video recorders

Top-loading cassette mechanisms (such as the one on this VHS model) were common on early domestic VCRs. Nordemende spectra V100.jpg
Top-loading cassette mechanisms (such as the one on this VHS model) were common on early domestic VCRs.

The Telcan (Television in a Can), produced by the UK Nottingham Electronic Valve Company in 1963, was the first home video recorder. It was developed by Michael Turner and Norman Rutherford. It could be purchased as a unit or in kit form for £1,337 (equivalent to £35,363in 2023) today. However, there were several drawbacks as it was expensive, not easy to assemble, and could record only 20 minutes at a time. It recorded in black-and-white, the only format available in the UK at the time as color broadcasts were not available until BBC Two began broadcasting in color in 1967. [7] [8] [9] An original Telcan Domestic Video Recorder can be seen at the Nottingham Industrial Museum.[ citation needed ]

The half-inch tape Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was its first VTR intended for home use. [10] It was the first fully transistorized VCR. [11]

The development of the videocassette followed the replacement by cassette of other open reel systems in consumer items: the Stereo-Pak four-track audio cartridge in 1962, the compact audio cassette and Instamatic film cartridge in 1963, the 8-track cartridge in 1965, and the Super 8 home movie cartridge in 1966. [12]

In 1972, videocassettes of movies became available for home use through Cartrivision. [13] The format never became widely popular because recorders were expensive (retailing for $1,350 [14] (equivalent to $9,266in 2023)) and players were not available as standalone units. Cassettes intended for home use were encased in black plastic, and could be rewound by a home recorder, whereas rental cassettes could not be rewound, and had to be returned to the retailer in order to be rewound.

Sony U-matic

Sony demonstrated a videocassette prototype in October 1969, then set it aside to work out an industry standard by March 1970 with seven fellow manufacturers. The result, the Sony U-matic system, introduced in Tokyo in September 1971, was the world's first commercial videocassette format. Its cartridges, resembling larger versions of the later VHS cassettes, used 3/4-inch (1.9 cm)-wide tape and had a maximum playing time of 60 minutes, later extended to 80 minutes. Sony also introduced two machines (the VP-1100 videocassette player and the VO-1700, also called the VO-1600 video-cassette recorder) to use the new tapes. U-matic, with its ease of use, quickly made other consumer videotape systems obsolete in Japan and North America, where U-matic VCRs were widely used by television newsrooms (Sony BVU-150 and Trinitron DXC 1810 video camera), schools, and businesses. But the high cost – US$1,395equivalent to $10,495in 2023 for a combination TV/VCR – kept it out of most homes. [15]

Philips "VCR" format

Philips N1500 video recorder from the early 1970s N1500 v2.jpg
Philips N1500 video recorder from the early 1970s

In 1970, Philips developed a home video cassette format specially made for a TV station in 1970 and available on the consumer market in 1972. Philips named this format "Video Cassette Recording" (although it is also referred to as "N1500", after the first recorder's model number). [16]

Mass-market success

The industry boomed in the 1980s as more and more customers bought VCRs. By 1982, 10% of households in the United Kingdom owned a VCR. The figure reached 30% in 1985 and by the end of the decade well over half of British homes owned a VCR. [17]

VHS vs. Betamax

A Sony Betamax C7 VCR, c. 1980 Sony-Betamax-Recorder.jpg
A Sony Betamax C7 VCR, c. 1980

The two major standards were Sony's Betamax (also known as Betacord or just Beta), and JVC's VHS (Video Home System), which competed for sales in what became known as the format war. [18]

Betamax was first to market in November 1975, and was argued by many to be technically more sophisticated in recording quality. [19]

A 1982 booth at CES promoting the right to make home recordings. 1982 Consumer Electronics Show Chicago (4507240627).jpg
A 1982 booth at CES promoting the right to make home recordings.

In the early 1980s US film companies fought to suppress the VCR in the consumer market, citing concerns about copyright violations. In Congressional hearings, Motion Picture Association of America head Jack Valenti decried the "savagery and the ravages of this machine" and likened its effect on the film industry and the American public to the Boston strangler:

I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone.

— Hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and the Administration of Justice of the Committee of the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session on H.R. 4783, H.R. 4794 H.R. 4808, H.R. 5250, H.R. 5488, and H.R. 5705, Serial No 97, Part I, Home Recording of Copyrighted Works, April 12, 1982. US Government Printing Office. [20]
A Panasonic DV/MiniDV VCR c. 1998 Panasonic NV-DV10000 20070701.jpg
A Panasonic DV/MiniDV VCR c. 1998

In the case Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. , the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the device was allowable for private use. Subsequently the film companies found that making and selling video recordings of their productions had become a major income source. [21]

Shortcomings

The video cassette recorder is sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. If the machine (or tape) was moved from a hot to a colder environment there could be condensation of moisture on the internal parts, such as the rotating video head drum. Some later models were equipped with a dew warning which would prevent operation in this case, but it could not detect moisture on the surface of a tape. The presence of moisture between the tape and the rotating head drum increases friction which prevents correct operation and can cause damage to both the recording device and the tape. In extreme cases, if the dew sensor fails to function and stop the video recorder, moisture can cause the tape to stick to the spinning video head. This can pull a large amount of tape from the cassette before the head drum stops spinning. The tape will be extensively damaged, the video heads will often become clogged, and the mechanism may be unable to eject the cassette. The dew sensor itself is mounted very close to the video head drum. Contrary to how one might expect this to behave, the sensor increases its resistance when moisture is present. Poor contacts on the sensor can therefore be a cause of random dew sensor warnings. Usually, a "DEW" indicator or error code lights up on the display of most VCRs/camcorders, and on some, a buzzer may sound.[ citation needed ]

Magnetic tapes could be mechanically damaged when ejected from the machine due to moisture or other problems. Rubber drive belts and rollers hardened with age, causing malfunctions. [22]

Decline

A typical VCR toward the end of their popularity. After decades of refinement in design and production, models similar to this Philips VHS format VCR were available for less than US$50. VCR-03.jpg
A typical VCR toward the end of their popularity. After decades of refinement in design and production, models similar to this Philips VHS format VCR were available for less than US$50.

Around the late '90s and early 2000s, DVDs became the first universally successful optical medium for playback of pre-recorded video, as it gradually overtook VHS to become the most popular consumer format. DVD recorders and other digital video recorders dropped rapidly in price, making the VCR obsolete. DVD rentals in the United States first exceeded those of VHS in June 2003. [23]

The declining market, combined with a US FCC mandate effective March 1, 2007, that all new TV tuners in the US include ATSC and QAM support, encouraged major electronics manufacturers to end production of standalone units, with VCR/DVD combo decks being made since then; most of them then can only record from external baseband sources (usually composite video), including CECBs which (by NTIA mandate) all have composite outputs, as well as those ATSC tuners (including TVs) and cable boxes that come with composite outputs; some combo units that allow recording to DVD do include an ATSC tuner built into them. JVC did ship one model of D-VHS deck with a built-in ATSC tuner, the HM-DT100U, but it remains extremely rare, and therefore expensive. In July 2016, Funai Electric, the last remaining manufacturer of VHS VCR/DVD combo recorders, announced it would cease production of VHS recorders by the end of the month. [24] [25]

Panasonic DMP-BD70V, a VHS and Blu-Ray combo machine. Panasonic DMP-BD70V.jpg
Panasonic DMP-BD70V, a VHS and Blu-Ray combo machine.

As a result of winning the format war over HD DVD, the new high definition optical disc format Blu-ray Disc was expected to replace the DVD format. However, with many homes still having a large supply of VHS tapes and with all Blu-ray players designed to play regular DVDs and CDs by default, some manufacturers began to make VCR/Blu-ray combo players. [26]

Quality

Due to the path followed by the video and Hi-Fi audio heads being striped and discontinuous—unlike that of the linear audio track—head-switching is required to provide a continuous audio signal. While the video signal can easily hide the head-switching point in the invisible vertical retrace section of the signal, so that the exact switching point is not very important, the same is obviously not possible with a continuous audio signal that has no inaudible sections. Hi-Fi audio is thus dependent on a much more exact alignment of the head switching point than is required for non-HiFi VHS machines. Misalignments may lead to imperfect joining of the signal, resulting in low-pitched buzzing. [27]

Variants

Most camcorders produced in the 20th century also feature an integrated VCR. Generally, they include neither a timer nor a TV tuner. Most of these use smaller format videocassettes, such as 8 mm, VHS-C, or MiniDV, although some early models supported full-size VHS and Betamax. In the 21st century, digital recording became the norm while videocassette tapes dwindled away gradually; tapeless camcorders use other storage media such as DVDs, or internal flash memory, hard drive, and SD card. [28]

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

The VHS is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, invented in 1976 by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC). It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period in the 1980s and 1990s.

<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">JVC</span> Japanese international electronics corporation

JVC is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as Victor Company of Japan, Ltd., the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developing the Video Home System (VHS) video recorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S-VHS</span> Improved version of VHS

S-VHS (スーパー・ヴィエイチエス), the common initialism for Super VHS, is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer-level video recording. Victor Company of Japan introduced S-VHS in Japan in April 1987, with their JVC-branded HR-S7000 VCR, and in certain overseas markets soon afterward. By the end of 1987, the first S-VHS VCR models from other competitors included Hitachi VT-2700A, Mitsubishi HS-423UR, Panasonic PV-S4764, RCA VPT-695HF, and Toshiba SV-950. It has been standardized as IEC 60774-3 and IEC 60774-4.

<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">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">Camcorder</span> Video camera with built-in video recorder

A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swappable battery facing towards the user, hot-swappable recording media, and an internally contained quiet optical zoom lens.

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">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">8 mm video format</span> Magnetic tape-based videocassette format for camcorders

The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 format and its improved successor Hi8, as well as a more recent digital recording format known as Digital8. Their user base consisted mainly of amateur camcorder users, although they also saw important use in the professional television production field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VHS-C</span> Magnetic tape-based format

VHS-C is the compact variant of the VHS videocassette format, introduced by Victor Company of Japan (JVC) in 1982, and used primarily for consumer-grade compact analog recording camcorders. The format is based on the same video tape as is used in VHS, and can be played back in a standard VHS VCR with an adapter. An improved version named S-VHS-C was also developed. S-VHS's main competitor was Video8; however both became obsolete in the marketplace by the digital video formats MiniDV and MiniDVD, which have smaller form factors.

A DVD recorder is an optical disc recorder that uses optical disc recording technologies to digitally record analog or digital signals onto blank writable DVD media. Such devices are available as either installable drives for computers or as standalone components for use in television studios or home theater systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U-matic</span> Videocassette format; the first of its kind

U-matic or 3⁄4-inch Type E Helical Scan or SMPTE E is an analogue recording videocassette format first shown by Sony in prototype in October 1969, and introduced to the market in September 1971. It was among the first video formats to contain the videotape inside a cassette, as opposed to the various reel-to-reel or open-reel formats of the time. The videotape is 3⁄4 in (19 mm) wide, so the format is often known as "three-quarter-inch" or simply "three-quarter", compared to open reel videotape formats in use, such as 1 in (25 mm) type C videotape and 2 in (51 mm) quadruplex videotape.

M is the name of a professional analog videocassette format created around 1982 by Matsushita and RCA. Developed as a competitor to Sony's Betacam format, M used the same videocassette as VHS, much the same way that Betacam was designed to take advantage of cheap and readily available Betamax videocassettes,

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">Compact Video Cassette</span> Magnetic tape-based consumer videocassette format

Compact Video Cassette (CVC) was one of the first analog recording videocassette formats to use a tape smaller than its earlier predecessors of VHS and Betamax, and was developed by Funai Electronics of Japan for portable use. The first model of VCR for the format was the Model 212, introduced in 1980 by both Funai and Technicolor as they had created a joint venture to manufacture and introduce the format to the home movie market. The system, which included the VCR and a hand held video camera, was very small and lightweight for its time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JVC HR-3300</span> Worlds first VHS-based VCR

The JVC HR-3300 VIDSTAR is the world's first VHS-based VCR to be released to the market, introduced by the president of JVC at the Okura Hotel on September 9, 1976. Sales started in Japan under the name Victor HR-3300 on 31 October 1976. Foreign sales followed in 1977 with the HR-3300U in the United States, and HR-3300EK in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. ↑ "Ampex VRX-1000 – The First Commercial Videotape Recorder in 1956". Cedmagic.com. 14 April 1956. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  2. ↑ Richard N. Diehl. "Labguy's World: The Birth of Video Recording". Labguysworld.com. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "50 Years of the Video Cassette Recorder". www.wipo.int. November 2006.
  4. ↑ "The History of Video and Related Innovations". inventors.about.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012.
  5. ↑ World's First Helical Scan Video Tape Recorder, Toshiba
  6. ↑ "Sony Global – Sony History". Sony.net. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  7. ↑ "The quest for home video: Telcan home video recorder". Terramedia.co.uk. 22 October 2001. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  8. ↑ "Total Rewind". Total Rewind. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  9. ↑ "BBC History". BBC.co.uk. 24 June 1963. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "Sony CV Series Video". Smecc.org. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  11. ↑ "Trends in the Semiconductor Industry: 1970s". Semiconductor History Museum of Japan. Archived from the original on March 14, 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "Vintage Kodak home movie cameras from the '60s: Instamatics, Super 8 & more". clickamericana.com. 22 February 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
  13. ↑ Howe, Tom. "Cartrivision – The First VCR with Prerecorded Sale/Rental Tapes in 1972" . Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  14. ↑ Television on a Disk, Time , Sept. 18, 1972. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  15. ↑ Sony sold 15,000 U-matic machines in the U.S. in its first year. "Television on a Disk", Time , 18 September 1972. Nicknamed in latter years "Betamax-VHS" The U-matic vcr Format was manufactured to as soon as 1990 arrived (VP means video player, VO means recorder "Video Office")
  16. ↑ "VCR". www.computerhope.com.
  17. ↑ "In Pictures | Thatcher years in graphics". BBC News. 18 November 2005. p. 15. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "The Betamax vs VHS Format War, Author: Dave Owen, Originally published: 2005". Mediacollege.com. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  19. ↑ "Why is Beta better". 8 June 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  20. ↑ "Jack Valenti Testimony at 1982 House Hearing on Home Recording of Copyrighted Works". Cryptome.org. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
  21. ↑ "A Look Back At How The Content Industry Almost Killed Blockbuster And Netflix (And The VCR)". Tech Crunch. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
  22. ↑ "VCR eats tapes". The Sci.Electronics.Repair (S.E.R) FAQ. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  23. ↑ "DVDs pass VHS in rental revenues". Deseret News. 2003-03-29. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
  24. ↑ Samuel Gibbs (22 July 2016). "VHS is dead, but at least it outlived Betamax tapes by nine months". Guardian. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "VHS, Beloved Home Video Format, Dies at 40". ScreenCrush. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  26. ↑ SquareTrade. "Panasonic DMP-BD70V Blu-ray Disc/VHS Multimedia Player: Electronics". Amazon. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  27. ↑ Stas Bekman. "14.18 Is VHS Hi-Fi sound perfect? Is Beta Hi-Fi sound perfect?" . Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  28. ↑ "CES 2011 Camcorder Coverage". CamcorderInfo.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2012.


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