Video Tape Recorder Unveiled 50 Years Ago

Argyle writes "50 years ago Ampex unveiled the first video tape recorder. TV Technology has an excellent story about the surprise launch of the video tape recorder, impacting almost every aspect of business, entertainment, and family life as we know it today. The enabler of the entire modern entertainment industry, the video tape recorder was was designed by only six men, Charles Ginsburg, Charles Anderson, Ray Dolby, Shelby Henderson, Alex Maxey, and Fred Pfost."

and now

[Anonymous Coward]

we have TiVo....

Re:Well okay...

[drinkypoo]

Simple concept, complex implementation. If you RTFA you know that other companies were working on the same problem and didn't manage to pull it off. These six guys did the job and won the day for Ampex, which I only previously knew as the company that made the best vt220 clone I've ever used (ignorance abounds.)

Cool article: disruptive technology

[AaronLawrence]

This is cool because it reminds us what can happen when a *real* innovation is created, instead of version X+1 of existing software program with new feature Y.

People go crazy, you make more money than you can dream of, the world changes.

That's what geeks should dream to do...

Re:Waste of time...

[mlewan]

"In an age when video cameras and recording devices are virtually everywhere, it's difficult to believe that it wasn't always possible to walk into a Wal-Mart or Best Buy store with $50 and leave with a new video recorder."

"Yes, difficult to believe... if you're 16 years old. Jesus, it was less than 20 years ago that VCRs became ubiquitous."

I'd guess it wouldn't help to be 16 years old. There were no VCRs around when I was a kid. There are hardly any VCRs around today either, as everything is replaced with DVDs. The only persons agreeing with the article author would be someone born around 1985 who tragically died around 2000, so they never got to see the DVD revolution.

Re:mass media impact

[kaiwai]

Babe, do what I do, choose not to watch it; thats
what an adult would do; you have the power right
there in your hands.

Yes, you made that choice to drop television, BUT
at the same time, what gives you the right to some how
unilaterally start imposing your values on those
who may not share them.

Truly we're at the end of an era.

[johnnywheeze]

Very nostalgic, for those of us who work with broadcast VTR's on a daily basis. I can still thread a quad machine in a pinch, but even I can't wait to get rid of tape completely.

The next generation of broadcasters are going to look at tape like we look at recording on wax cylinders.

Good to see it's beginning, and even better to see its end. It's time has passed.