50 Years of the Video Cassette Recorder
| Author | Sylvie Castonguay, |
| Position | WIPO Magazine Editorial Staff, Communications and Public Outreach Division |
Invented in 1956, the technology which produced the video cassette recorder (VCR) is already at the end of its days. But in its 50 years life span the VCR revolutionized the movie industry, changed television-watching habits, triggered the first "format wars," and raised new copyright questions, establishing jurisprudence on fair use.
When television first took off in the 1950s, the only means of preserving video footage was through kinescope, a process in which a special motion picture camera photographed a television monitor. Kinescope film took hours to develop and made for poor quality broadcasts. So most television networks just made live broadcasts direct from the studio. But in countries with several time zones, live broadcast was a problem. In the U.S., for example, the 6 p.m. news broadcast in New York, if aired direct, would be on at 3 p.m. Pacific time in Los Angeles. The only solutions were to repeat the live broadcast three hours later for LA, or to develop the kinescope film of the first broadcast and rush to air it on time. There was a pressing need for new recording technology.
The big electronic companies of the day raced to develop the technology, working on recorders that used magnetic tape. The Ampex Corporation, however, working in secrecy, based its research on a rotating head design, which had been patented by an Italian inventor in 1938 for use in audio recordings. After several failed attempts, and having abandoned the project altogether at one point, Ampex released the world’s first magnetic tape video recorder, the VRX-1000, in April 1956. It caused a sensation. But with a price tag of US$50,000 (equivalent to some US$325,000 today), expensive rotating heads that had to be changed every few hundred hours, and the need for a highly skilled operator, it was far from a consumer item.
The orders from the television networks, however, came pouring in. CBS was the first to use the new technology, airing Douglas Edwards and the News on November 30, 1956, from New York then replaying the broadcast from its Hollywood studios a few hours later. From that day on, Edwards never had to repeat a broadcast, and television changed forever.
The other companies abandoned their research and followed Ampex’s lead. RCA pooled patents with Ampex and licensed in the Ampex technology. The new goal was to develop a video machine for home use. It had to be solid, low-cost and easy to operate.
Sony released a first home model in 1964, followed by...
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