Videotape

For Radiohead's song, seeIn Rainbows.

An assortment of video tapes

Videotapeismagnetic tapeused for storingvideoand usuallysoundin addition. Information stored can be in the form of either ananalogordigital signal.Videotape is used in bothvideo tape recorders(VTRs) and, more commonly,videocassette recorders(VCRs) andcamcorders.Videotapes have also been used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by anelectrocardiogram.

Because video signals have a very highbandwidth,andstationary headswould require extremely high tape speeds, in most cases, ahelical-scanvideo head rotates against the moving tape to record the data in two dimensions.

Tape is alinearmethod of storing information and thus imposes delays to access a portion of the tape that is not already against the heads. The early 2000s saw the introduction and rise to prominence of high-quality random-access video recording media such ashard disksandflash memory.Since then, videotape has been increasingly relegated to archival and similar uses.

Early formats

The electronics division of entertainerBing Crosby's production company, Bing Crosby Enterprises (BCE), gave the world's first demonstration of a videotape recording in Los Angeles on November 11, 1951. In development byJohn T. Mullinand Wayne R. Johnson since 1950, the device gave what were described as "blurred and indistinct" images using a modifiedAmpex200 tape recorder and standard quarter-inch (0.635 cm) audio tape moving at 360 inches (9.1 m) per second.A year later, an improved version using one-inch (2.54 cm) magnetic tape was shown to the press, who reportedly expressed amazement at the quality of the images although they had a "persistent grainy quality that looked like a worn motion picture." Overall the picture quality was still considered inferior to the bestkinescoperecordings on film.Bing Crosby Enterprises hoped to have a commercial version available in 1954 but none came forth.

TheBBCexperimented from 1952 to 1958 with a high-speed linear videotape system calledVision Electronic Recording Apparatus(VERA), but this was ultimately dropped in favor ofquadruplex videotape.VERA used half-inch metallized (1.27 cm) tape on 20-inch reels traveling at 200 inches per second (5.1 m/s).

RCAdemonstrated the magnetic tape recording of both black-and-white andcolor televisionprograms at itsPrincetonlaboratories on December 1, 1953.The high-speed longitudinal tape system, called Simplex, in development since 1951, could record and play back only a few minutes of atelevision program.The color system used half-inch (1.27 cm) tape on 10½ inch reels to record five tracks, one each for red, blue, green, synchronization, and audio. The black-and-white system used quarter-inch (0.635 cm) tape also on 10½ inch reels with two tracks, one for video and one for audio. Both systems ran at 360 inches per second (9.1 m/s) with 2,500 feet (760 m) per reel yielding an 83-second capacity.RCA-ownedNBCfirst used it onThe Jonathan Winters Showon October 23, 1956, when a prerecorded song sequence byDorothy Collinsin color was included in the otherwiselive televisionprogram.

In 1953, Norikazu Sawazaki developed a prototypehelical scanvideo tape recorder.

BCE demonstrated a color system in February 1955 using alongitudinal recordingon half-inch (1.27 cm) tape.CBS,RCA's competitor, was about to order BCE machines whenAmpexintroduced the superiorQuadruplex system.BCE was acquired by3MCompany in 1956.

In 1959,Toshibareleased the first commercial helical scan video tape recorder.

Broadcast video

Quad

A 14-inch reel of 2-inch quad videotape compared with a modern-dayMiniDVvideocassette. Both media store one hour of color video.

The first commercial professionalbroadcast qualityvideotape machines capable of replacingkinescopeswere the two-inchquadruplex videotape(Quad) machines introduced byAmpexon April 14, 1956, at theNational Association of Broadcastersconvention inChicago.Quad employed a transverse (scanning the tape across its width) four-head system on a two-inch (5.08 cm) tape and stationary heads for the soundtrack.

CBS Televisionfirst used the Ampex VRX-1000Mark IV at its Television City studios in Hollywood on November 30, 1956, to play a delayed broadcast ofDouglas Edwards and the NewsfromNew York Cityto thePacific Time Zone.On January 22, 1957, theNBC Televisiongame showTruth or Consequences,produced in Hollywood, became the first program to be broadcast in all time zones from a prerecorded videotape.

Ampex introduced a color videotape recorder in 1958 in a cross-licensing agreement with RCA, whose engineers had developed it from an Ampex black-and-white recorder.NBC's special,An Evening With Fred Astaire(1958), is the oldest survivingtelevision networkcolor videotape, and has been restored by theUCLA Film and Television Archive.

On December 7, 1963,instant replay,originally a videotape-based system, was used for the first time during the live transmission of theArmy–Navy Gameby its inventor, directorTony Verna.

Although Quad became the industry standard for approximately thirty years, it has drawbacks such as an inability to freeze pictures, and no picture search.Also, in early machines, a tape could reliably be played back using only the same set of hand-made tape heads, which wore out very quickly.Despite these problems, Quad is capable of producing excellent images. Subsequent videotape systems have used helical scan, where the video heads record diagonal tracks (of complete fields) onto the tape.

Many early videotape recordings were not preserved.While much less expensive (if repeatedly recycled) and more convenient than kinescope, the high cost of3MScotch 179and other early videotapes ($300 per one-hour reel)meant that most broadcasterserased and reusedthem, and (in the United States) regarded videotape as simply a better and more cost-effective means of time-delaying broadcasts than kinescopes. It was the four time zones of the continental United States which had made the system very desirable in the first place.

Some early broadcast videotapes have survived, includingThe Edsel Show,broadcast live on October 13, 1957 andAn Evening With Fred Astairewhich aired on October 18, 1958 and was the oldest color videotape of an entertainment program known to exist until the discovery of the October 8, 1958 episode of theKraft Music Hallhosted byMilton Berle.The oldest color videotape known to survive is the May 1958 dedication of theWRC-TVstudios inWashington, D.C.). In 1976,NBC's 50th-anniversary special included an excerpt from a 1957 color special starringDonald O'Connor;despite some obvious technical problems, the color tape was remarkably good. Some classic television programs recorded on studio videotape have been made available on DVD – among them NBC'sPeter Pan(first telecast in 1960) withMary Martinas Peter, several episodes ofThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show(late 1950s/early 60s), the finalHowdy Doody Show(1960), the television version ofHal Holbrook's one-man showMark Twain Tonight(first telecast in 1967), andMikhail Baryshnikov's classic production of the balletThe Nutcracker(first telecast in 1977).

Types C and B

The next format to gain widespread usage was 1 inch (2.54 cm)Type C videotapeintroduced in 1976. This format introduced features such as shuttling, various-speed playback (including slow-motion), and still framing. Although 1 "Type C's quality was still quite high, the sound and picture reproduction attainable on the format were of slightly lower quality than Quad. However, compared to Quad, 1" Type C machines required much less maintenance, took up less space, and consumed much less electrical power.

In Europe, a similar tape format was developed, called 1 inchType B videotape.Type B machines use the same 1 "tape as Type C but they lacked C's shuttle and slow-motion options. The picture quality is slightly better, though. Type B was the broadcast norm in continental Europe for most of the 1980s.

Professional cassette formats

U-matictape

Avideocassetteis a cartridge containing videotape. In 1969,Sonyintroduced a prototype for the first widespread video cassette, the ¾ʺ (1.905 cm)compositeU-maticsystem, which Sony introduced commercially in September 1971 after working out industry standards with other manufacturers. Sony later refined it toBroadcast Video U-matic(BVU). Sony continued its hold on the professional market with its ever-expanding ½ʺ (1.27 cm)component videoBetacamfamily introduced in 1982. This tape form factor would go on to be used for leading professional digital video formats.Panasonichad some limited success with itsMIIsystem, but never could compare to Betacam in terms of market share.

The next step was thedigitalrevolution. Sony'sD-1was introduced in 1986 and featured uncompressed digital component recording. Because D-1 was extremely expensive, the compositeD-2(Sony, 1988) andD-3(Panasonic, 1991) were introduced soon after. Ampex introduced the first compressed component recording with itsDCTseries in 1992. Panasonic'sD-5format was introduced in 1994. Like D-1, it is uncompressed, but much more affordable.

TheDVstandard, which debuted in 1995, and was widely used both in its native form asMiniDVand in more robust professional variants.

In digital camcorders, Sony adapted the Betacam system with itsDigital Betacamformat in 1993, and in 1996 following it up with the cheaperBetacam SXand the 2000MPEG IMXformat,The semiprofessional DV-basedDVCAMsystem was introduced in 1996. Panasonic used its DV variant DVCPRO for all professional cameras, with the higher-end formatDVCPRO50being a direct descendant.JVCdeveloped the competingD9/Digital-Sformat, which compresses video data in a way similar to DVCPRO but uses a cassette similar toS-VHSmedia. Many helical scan cassette formats such as VHS and Betacam use a head drum with heads that useazimuth recording,in which the heads in the head drum have a gap that is tilted at an angle, and opposing heads have their gaps tilted so as to oppose each other.

High definition

The introduction ofHDTVvideo productionnecessitated a medium for storinghigh-definition video.In 1997, Sony supplemented its Betacam family with the HD-capableHDCAMstandard and its higher-end cousinHDCAM SRin 2003. Panasonic's competing HD format for its camcorders was based on DVCPRO and calledDVCPRO HD.For VTR and archive use, Panasonic expanded the D-5 specification to store compressed HD streams and called itD-5 HD.

Home video

Video 8(left),VHS(right) andMiniDV(bottom)

Videocassette recorders

The first consumervideocassette recorders(VCRs) used SonyU-matictechnology and were launched in 1971.Philipsentered the domestic market the following year with theN1500.Sony'sBetamax(1975) and JVC'sVHS(1976) created a mass-market for VCRs and the two competing systems battled thevideotape format war,which VHS ultimately won. In Europe, Philips had developed theVideo 2000format, which did not find favor with the TV rental companies in the UK and lost out to VHS.

At first VCRs and videocassettes were very expensive, but by the late 1980s the price had come down enough to make them affordable to a mainstream audience. Videocassettes finally made it possible for consumers to buy or rent a complete film and watch it at home whenever they wished, rather than going to a movie theater or having to wait until it was telecast. It gave birth to video rental stores,Blockbusterthe largest chain, which lasted from 1985 to 2005. It also made it possible for a VCR owner to begintime shiftingtheir viewing of films and othertelevision programs.This caused an enormous change in viewing practices, as one no longer had to wait for a repeat of a program that had been missed. The shift to home viewing also changed the movie industry's revenue streams, because home renting created an additional window of time in which a film could make money. In some cases, films that did only modestly in their theater releases went on to have strong performances in the rental market (e.g.,cult films).

VHS became the leading consumer tape format forhome moviesafter thevideotape format war,though its follow-upsS-VHS,W-VHSandD-VHSnever caught up in popularity. In the early 2000s in the prerecorded video market, VHS began to be displaced byDVD.The DVD format has several advantages over VHS tape. A DVD is much better able to take repeated viewings than VHS tape. Whereas a VHS tape can be erased thoughdegaussing,DVDs and other optical discs are not affected by magnetic fields. DVDs can still be damaged by scratches. DVDs are smaller and take less space to store. DVDs can support both standard 4x3 and widescreen 16x9 screen aspect ratios and DVDs can provide twice the video resolution of VHS. DVD supportsrandom accesswhile a VHS tape is restricted tosequential accessand must be rewound. DVDs can have interactive menus, multiple language tracks, audio commentaries,closed captioningand subtitling (with the option of turning the subtitles on or off, or selecting subtitles in several languages). Moreover, a DVD can be played on a computer.

Due to these advantages, by the mid-2000s, DVDs were the dominant form of prerecorded video movies. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s consumers continued to use VCRs to record over-the-air TV shows, because consumers could not make home recordings onto DVDs. This last barrier to DVD domination was broken in the late 2000s with the advent of inexpensiveDVD recordersanddigital video recorders(DVRs). In July 2016, the last known manufacturer of VCRs,Funai,announced that it was ceasing VCR production.

Consumer and prosumer camcorders

DV cassettes left to right: DVCAM-L, DVCPRO-M, DVC/MiniDV

Early consumercamcordersused full-size VHS or Betamax cassettes. Later models switched to more compact formats, designed explicitly for smaller camcorder use, likeVHS-CandVideo8.VHS-C is a downsized version of VHS, using the same recording method and the same tape, but in a smaller cassette. It is possible to play VHS-C tapes in a regular VHS tape recorder by using an adapter. After the introduction ofS-VHS,a corresponding compact version, S-VHS-C, was released as well. Video8 is an indirect descendant of Betamax, using narrower tape and a smaller cassette. Because of its narrower tape and other technical differences, it is not possible to develop an adapter from Video8 to Betamax. Video8 was later developed intoHi8,which provides better resolution similar to S-VHS.

The first consumer-level and lower-end professional (prosumer) digital video recording format, introduced in 1995, used a smaller Digital Video Cassette (DVC).The format was later renamedMiniDVto reflect theDVencoding scheme, but the tapes are still markedDVC.Some later formats likeDVC Profrom Panasonic reflect the original name. The DVC or MiniDV format providesbroadcast-qualityvideo and sophisticated nonlinear editing capability on consumer and some professional equipment and has been used on feature films, including Danny Boyle's28 Days Later(2002, shot on a Canon XL1)and David Lynch'sInland Empire(2006, shot on a Sony DSR-PD150).

In 1999 Sony backported the DV recording scheme to 8-mm systems, creatingDigital8.By using the same cassettes as Hi8, many Digital8 camcorders were able to play analog Video8 or Hi8 recordings, preserving compatibility with already recordedanalog videotapes.

Sony introduced another camcorder cassette format calledMicroMVin 2001. Sony was the only electronics manufacturer to sell MicroMV cameras. In 2006, Sony stopped offering new MicroMV camcorder models.In November 2015, Sony announced that shipment of MicroMV cassettes would be discontinued in March 2016.

In the late 2000s,MiniDVand its high-definition cousin,HDV,were the two most popular consumer or prosumer tape-based formats. The formats use different encoding methods, but the same cassette type.

Future of tape

See also:Tapeless production

With advances in technology, videotape has moved past its original uses (original recording, editing, and broadcast playback) and is now primarily an archival medium. The death of tape for video recording was predicted as early as 1995 when the Avid nonlinear editing system was demonstrated storing video clips on hard disks. Yet videotape was still used extensively, especially by consumers, up until about 2004, when DVD-based camcorders became affordable and domestic computers had large enough hard drives to store an acceptable amount of video.

Consumer camcorders have switched from being tape-based totapelessmachines that record video as computer files. Small hard disks and writable optical discs have been used, with solid-state memory such asSD cardsbeing the current market leader. There are two primary advantages: First, copying a tape recording onto a computer or other video machine occurs in real time (e.g. a ten-minute video would take ten minutes to copy); since tapeless camcorders record video as computer-ready data files, the files can copied onto a computer significantly faster than real time. Second, tapeless camcorders, and those using solid-state memory in particular, are far simpler mechanically and so are more reliable.

Despite these conveniences, tape is still used extensively with filmmakers and television networks because of its longevity, low cost, and reliability. Master copies of visual content are often stored on tape for these reasons, particularly by users who cannot afford to move to tapeless machines. Professional users such as broadcast television were still using tape heavily in the mid- to late 2000s, but tapeless formats likeDVCPRO P2,XDCAMandAVCHDare gaining broader acceptance.

While live recording has migrated to solid state (Panasonic P2, Sony SR MASTER or XDCAM-EX), optical disc (Sony's XDCAM) and hard disks, the high cost of solid state and the limited shelf life of hard-disk drives make them less desirable for archival use, for which tape is still used.

External links

• The Loss of Early Video Recordingsat theWayback Machine(archived 1999-10-01)
• History of Recording Technologyat theWayback Machine(archived 2004-06-03)
• History of Magnetic Tapeat theWayback Machine(archived 2004-06-03)
• Tape Servicing