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The videocassette recorder (or VCR, more commonly known in the British Isles as the video recorder), 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. Many VCRs have their own tuner (for direct TV reception) and a programmable timer (for unattended recording of a certain channel at a particular time).

History

Early machines and formats

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, Sony marketed the PV-100, the first reel-to-reel VTR intended for business, medical, airline, and educational use. The Sony model CV-2000, first marketed in 1965, was the world's first VTR intended for home use. Ampex and RCA followed in 1965 with their own reel-to-reel monochrome VTRs priced under US$1,000 for the home consumer market.

Sony U-matic

The development of the videocassette followed the replacement by cassette of other open reel systems in consumer items: the compact audio cassette and Instamatic film cartridge in 1963, and the Super 8 home movie cartridge in 1966. Sony demonstrated a videocassette prototype in October 1969, then set it aside to work out an industry standard by March 1970 with seven fellow manufacturers. The result, the Sony U-matic system, introduced in Tokyo in September 1971, was the world's first commercial videocassette format. Its cartridges, resembling larger versions of the later VHS cassettes, used 3/4-inch (1.9 cm) tape and had a maximum playing time of 60 minutes, later extended to 90 minutes. Sony also introduced two machines (the VP-1100 videocassette player and the VO-1700 videocassette recorder) to use the new tapes. U-matic, with its ease of use, quickly made other consumer videotape systems obsolete in Japan and North America, where U-matic VCRs were widely used by television newsrooms, schools and businesses. But the cost — US $1,395 for a combination TV/VCR, or $6,362 in 2005 dollars — kept it out of most homes.

Read more at Wikipedia.org