Who Invented The VCR?

In the world of home entertainment, there have been many great strides in improving the experience of the consumer. These developments include such things as the inventions of the television, home video game systems, and much more.

One key development that has been a big part in the advancement of home entertainment has been in the ability to record and watch pre-recorded shows and movies. The first major step in this technology came in the form of the reel-to-reel video recorder. It was created in 1956 by Charles Ginsburg and Ray Dolby. They were working for the Ampex Corporation at the time. This invention would spawn a whole new form of home entertainment.

The next stage was in the development of the first inexpensive VCR system in 1969 by Sony. This allowed for this technology to eventually become commonplace in many homes across the world. In 1976, the development of the VHS tape format helped to complete the technology that has gained so much popularity. This concept has recently seen new life with the creation of the DVD format and player. With all of the continuous growth in the area of home entertainment, this can make a lot of people wonder what the next stage to come will be in this ever-changing industry.

The earliest type of realistic specialized videotape machines known as the Quadruplex machines, were also called Quad machines. The Quadruplex or Quad machines were introduced by Ampex in the United States of America in the year 1956.

The Quadruplex or Quad videotapes employed a transverse system which had four heads, which meant that the Quadruplex or Quad could be used by scanning the tape across the width of the videotape. The tape measured only about two inches, which means that they were approximately 5.08 centimetres long.

Quadruplex or Quad videotapes also have linear heads for the soundtrack. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is abbreviated as the BBC, experimented with the use of a high-speed linear videotape system, which was called VERA. It was not feasible, as it had a half-inch (or 1.27 centimetres) long tape which travelled at a speed of about 200 inches (or about 5.08 metres) per second.

Video tape is generally a magnetic tape which is a non-volatile storage medium. This is made by putting a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. This is used for nearly all types of recording tape irrespective of whether video, audio, or digital data storage on a computer.

This type of magnetic tape was invented by Fritz Pfleumer in 1926 in Germany and was used for recording sound. It was patented by Pfleumer in 1928. It is the next step to magnetic wire recording which was invented by Valdemar Poulsen in the year1898. Fabrication of a magnetic tape was done by putting iron oxide powder coating on a long strip of paper. Further development to this technique was done by AEG (A German electronics manufacturing company) in the year 1932. This company also made the recording machines called magnetophon along with the tape.

Magnetophon was first used for public recording on Nov. 19, 1936. This was done when the London Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham performed in Ludwigshaven.

Charles Ginsburg and Ray Dolby