The videocassette recorder

The videocassette recorder or VCR, is a type of video tape recorder that uses removable videotape cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. The history of the videocassette recorder follows the history of videotape recording in general. Ampex introduced the Ampex VRX-1000, the first commercially successful videotape recorder, in 1956. It used the 2" Quadruplex format, using two-inch (5.1 cm) tape. Due to its US $50,000 price, the Ampex VRX-1000 could be afforded only by the television networks and the largest individual stations. In 1963, Philips introduced their EL3400 1" helical scan recorder (aimed at the business and domestic user) and Sony marketed the 2" PV-100, their first reel-to-reel VTR intended for business, medical, airline, and educational use.The first home video recorders the Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was the first VTR intended for home use and was based on half inch tape. Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with their own reel-to-reel monochrome VTRs priced under US $1,000 for the home consumer market. In the 70's two major standards were Sony's Betamax also known as Betacord or just Beta, and JVC's VHS Video Home System, which battled for sales in what has become known as the original and definitive format war. Betamax was first to market in November 1975, and was argued by many to be technically more sophisticated, although many users did not perceive a difference. The first machines required an external timer, and could only record one hour. The timer was later incorporated within the machine as a standard feature. The rival VHS format, introduced in Japan in September 1976 and introduced in the United States in July 1977 by JVC boasted a longer two-hour recording time, with four hours using a "long play" mode RCA SelectaVision models, introduced in September 1977. Because 2 hours and 4 hours was near-ideal for recording movies and sports-games respectively, the consumer naturally flocked towards VHS rather than the 1-hour-limited Betamax. Although Sony later introduced Beta-II and Beta-III to allow a maximum time of 5+ hours, by that time VHS was already boasting 6, 8, or even 9 hours per tape. Thus VHS had a perceived "better value" in the eye of the consumer during the late 1970s.