[1] Cartrivision was produced by Frank Stanton's Cartridge Television, Inc. (CTI), a subsidiary of Avco,[2] which also owned Embassy Pictures at the time.

[2] Cartrivision recorders and sets were manufactured by Avco, a company that CTI partnered with to manufacture and develop the format, as well as Admiral, Packard Bell, Emerson, Montgomery Ward, and Sears, the latter two marketing Cartrivision sets under their own brand names in their stores.

The first model of Cartrivision-equipped TV set sold for US $1,350[3] (equivalent to $9,266 in 2023), and was the first videocassette recorder to have pre-recorded tapes of popular movies available for rent.

Citing U.S. patent 3,718,755 "the present invention (of recording and playback) represents an improvement over the prior conventional skip-field systems."

Cassettes of major movies such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Dr. Strangelove, High Noon, It Happened One Night, Divorce Italian Style, The Quiet Man, The Belles of St Trinian's, Two Rode Together and Brother Rat[5] were ordered via the initial 200-movie catalog at a retailer, delivered by parcel mail, and then returned to the retailer after viewing.