Editing Video tape recorder (section)

{{short description|Tape recorder designed to record and play back video and audio material on magnetic tape}}
{{Redirect|VTR}}
[[File:Ampex VR1000A (serial 329).jpg|thumb|[[AMPEX]] [[quadruplex videotape|quadruplex]] VR-1000A, the first commercially released video tape recorder in the late 1950s; quadruplex open-reel tape is 2 inches wide]]
[[File:AMPEX 2 ZOLL.jpg|thumb|The first portable VTR, the suitcase-sized 1967 AMPEX quadruplex VR-3000]]
[[File:HITACHI 1 ZOLL C.jpg|thumb|1976 [[Hitachi]] portable VTR, for [[Sony]] [[1" type C videotape|1" type C]]; the source and take-up reels are stacked for compactness. However, only one reel is shown here.]]

A '''video tape recorder''' ('''VTR''') is a [[tape recorder]] designed to record and playback [[video]] and [[audio signal|audio]] material from [[magnetic tape]]. The early VTRs were [[open-reel]] devices that record on individual reels of 2-inch-wide (5.08&nbsp;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 recorder]]s.

An agreement by Japanese manufacturers on a common standard recording format, which allowed cassettes recorded on one manufacturer's machine to play on another's, made a consumer market possible; and the first consumer videocassette recorder, which used the [[U-matic]] format, was introduced by Sony in 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/sonyhistory-d.html|title=Sony Global - Product & Technology Milestones−Recorder & Player|website=www.sony.net}}</ref>