Video tape recorder

The early VTRs were open-reel devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08 cm) tape.

[1] In early 1951, Bing Crosby asked his Chief Engineer John T. (Jack) Mullin if television could be recorded on tape as was the case for audio.

[2] In 1951 it was believed that if the tape was run at a very high speed it could provide the necessary bandwidth to record the video signal.

However, there was another problem: the magnetic head design would not permit bandwidths over 1 megahertz to be recorded regardless of the tape speed.

Another of the early efforts was the Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus, a high-speed multi-track machine developed by the BBC in 1952.

Despite 10 years of research and improvements, it was never widely used due to the immense length of tape required for each minute of recorded video.

By 1952 BCE also had moved on to multi-track machines, but found limitations in recording bandwidth even at the high speeds.

In 1955 BCE demonstrated a broadcast-quality color recorder that operated at 100 inches per second and CBS ordered three of them.

[10] The Telcan, produced by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and demonstrated on June 24, 1963,[11] was the first home video recorder.

[12][13][14] The Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, is their first VTR intended for home use and is based on half-inch tape.

[15] Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with their own open-reel monochrome VTRs priced under US $1,000 for the home consumer market.

Since the take-up reel is part of the recorder, the tape has to be fully rewound before removing the cartridge, which is a relatively slow procedure.

Transverse error (error arising from effects in the cross-tape direction) can be caused by variations in the rotational speed of the scanning drum and differences in the angle between the tape and the scanning heads (usually addressed by video tracking controls).

Betamax sales eventually began to dwindle, and after several years VHS emerged as the winner of the format war.

In 1988, Sony began to market its own VHS machines, and despite claims that it was still backing Beta, it was clear that the format was no longer viable in most parts of the world.

In parts of South America and in Japan, Betamax continued to be popular and was still in production up to the end of 2002.

Following this, much of the VTR market, in particular videocassettes and VCRs popular at the consumer level, were also replaced by non-tape media, such as DVD and later Blu-ray optical discs.