Editing Video tape recorder (section)

== History ==
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.  Mullin said that he thought that it could be done.  Bing asked [[Ampex]] to build one and also set up a laboratory for Mullin in Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE) to build one.<ref name="IEEE">{{Cite web|url=https://ethw.org/First-Hand:Bing_Crosby_and_the_Recording_Revolution|title=First-Hand:Bing Crosby and the Recording Revolution - Engineering and Technology History Wiki|website=ethw.org|date=15 September 2022 }}</ref>  In 1951 it was believed that if the tape was run at a very high speed it could provide the necessary [[bandwidth (signal processing)|bandwidth]] to record the video signal.  The problem was that a video signal has a much wider bandwidth than an audio signal does (6&nbsp;MHz vs 20&nbsp;kHz), requiring extremely high tape speeds to record it.  However, there was another problem: the magnetic head design would not permit bandwidths over 1 megahertz to be recorded regardless of the tape speed.

The first efforts at video recording, using recorders similar to audio recorders with fixed heads, were unsuccessful.  The first such demonstration of this technique was done by BCE on 11 November 1951.  The result was a very poor picture.  Another of the early efforts was the [[Vision Electronic Recording Apparatus]], a high-speed multi-track machine developed by the [[BBC]] in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3224936|title=The History of Magnetic Recording|publisher=BBC 20 December 2004|access-date=15 March 2011}}</ref> This machine used a thin steel tape on a 21-inch (53.5&nbsp;cm) reel traveling at over 200 inches (510&nbsp;cm) per second. 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 1953 BCE discovered that the magnetic head design was the problem.  This problem was corrected and bandwidths exceeding the 1 megahertz limit were able to be recorded.<ref name="IEEE" />  Since BCE and AMPEX were working together on the video recorder the new head design was shared with them, and AMPEX used it in their recorder.  In 1955 BCE demonstrated a broadcast-quality color recorder that operated at 100 inches per second and CBS ordered three of them.   Many other fixed-head recording systems were tried but all required an impractically high tape speed. It became clear that practical video recording technology depended on finding some way of recording the wide-bandwidth video signal without the high tape speed required by linear-scan machines.

In 1953 [[Eduard Schüller]] of [[Telefunken]] patented the [[helical scan]] technology. Another solution was transverse-scan technology, developed by [[Ampex]] around 1954, in which the recording heads are mounted on a spinning drum and record tracks in the transverse direction, across the tape. By recording on the full width of the tape rather than just a narrow track down the center, this technique achieved a much higher density of data per linear centimeter of tape, allowing a lower tape speed of 15 inches per second to be used. The Ampex VRX-1000 became the world's first commercially successful videotape recorder in 1956. It uses the [[quadruplex videotape|2″ quadruplex]] format, using two-inch (5.1&nbsp;cm) tape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cedmagic.com/history/ampex-commercial-vtr-1956.html |title=Ampex VRX-1000 - The first commercial videotape recorder in 1956 |publisher=Cedmagic.com |date=1956-04-14 |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref> Because of its {{US$|50,000}} price, the Ampex VRX-1000 could be afforded only by the television networks and the largest individual stations.<ref>{{cite web|author=Richard N. Diehl |url=http://www.labguysworld.com/VTR_BirthOf.htm |title=Labguy'S World: The Birth Of Video Recording |publisher=Labguysworld.com |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref>

By early 1957 the only successful manufacturer of videotape was [[3M]], the product being exceedingly difficult to manufacture to the necessary quality. The three U.S. networks officially inaugurated use of videotape on 28 April 1957, "with the changeover to daylight saving time," at which time there were "probably not more than 50 useable rolls of tape among them—it was that critical."<ref> Gavin, Arthur. "Video Tape—A Threat to Films?" American Cinematographer 38:8 (August 1957), 504-05.</ref>

Ampex's [[quadruplex videotape|quadruplex]] magnetic tape video recording system has certain limitations, such as the lack of clean pause, or still-frame, capability, because when tape motion is stopped, only a single segment of the picture recording is present at the playback heads (only 16 lines of the picture in each segment), so it can only reproduce recognizable pictures when the tape is playing at normal speed.<ref>[http://winkhackman.com/blog/gone-quite-forgotten/ Wink Hackman; Expert training for Sony MVS users worldwide] Retrieved Christmas, December 25, 2015</ref>) But in spite of its drawbacks it remained the broadcasting studio standard until about 1980. The [[helical scan]] system overcame this limitation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wc00DwAAQBAJ&dq=helical+scan+video+longitudinal&pg=PA119|title=Portable Moving Images: A Media History of Storage Formats|first=Ricardo Cedeño|last=Montaña|date=August 21, 2017|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG|isbn=9783110553925 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1959 [[JVC]] demonstrated its first helical scan VTR named KV-1.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Videorekorder-Ein-Bild-von-einem-Band-6011251.html | title=Videorekorder: Ein Bild von einem Band | date=14 April 2021 }}</ref> In 1963, [[Philips]] introduced its EL3400 1" helical scan recorder (aimed at the business and domestic user), and [[Sony]] marketed the 2" PV-100, its first [[open-reel]] [[VTR]] intended for business, medical, airline, and educational use.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-11/h1.html |title=Sony Global - Sony History |publisher=Sony.net |access-date=2010-05-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907081817/http://sony.net/Fun/SH/1-11/h1.html |archive-date=September 7, 2009 }}</ref>

The Telcan, produced by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and demonstrated on [[June 1963|June 24, 1963]],<ref>Albert Abramson, ''The History of Television, 1942 to 2000'' (McFarland, 2003) p99</ref> was the first home video recorder. It could be bought as a unit or in kit form for £60. However, there were several drawbacks: it was expensive, not easy to put together, and can record for only 20 minutes at a time in black-and-white.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.terramedia.co.uk/media/video/telcan.htm |title=The quest for home video: Telcan home video recorder |publisher=Terramedia.co.uk |date=2001-10-22 |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.totalrewind.org/revolution/R_telwes.htm |title=Total Rewind |publisher=Total Rewind |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/aNhfBgCgSByEMns5XPxXqA |title=BBC History |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=1963-06-24 |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref>

The Sony model [[CV-2000]], first marketed in 1965, is their first VTR intended for home use and is based on half-inch tape.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smecc.org/sony_cv_series_video.htm |title=Sony CV Series Video |publisher=Smecc.org |access-date=2010-05-31}}</ref> Ampex and [[RCA]] followed in 1965 with their own open-reel [[monochrome]] VTRs priced under [[United States dollar|US]] $1,000 for the home consumer market. Prerecorded videos for home replay became available in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/timeline-fun-facts/112619|title=Timeline & Fun Facts|website=broadcastingcable.com|date=21 November 2011}}</ref>

The [[EIAJ-1|EIAJ]] format is a standard half-inch format used by various manufacturers. EIAJ-1 is an open-reel format. EIAJ-2 uses a cartridge that contains a supply reel, but not the take-up reel. 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.

The development of the videocassette followed other replacements of open-reel systems with a cassette or cartridge in consumer items: the [[Stereo-Pak]] 4-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 mm film|Super 8]] home motion picture film cartridge in 1966.
Before the invention of the video tape recorder, live video was recorded onto motion picture [[film stock]] in a process known as [[telerecording]] or kinescoping. Although the first quadruplex VTRs recorded with good quality, the recordings could not be slowed or [[freeze frame television|freeze-framed]], so kinescoping processes continued to be used for about a decade after the development of the first VTRs.