In this chapter, portions that originally appeared in the "1994-NAB Review" for TV Technology are reproduced as they appeared in that issue.

Servers were not quite a reality in 1994, and ATV, HDTV, and a whole lot more was still in flux. Yet, looking back over history, an important fact to place into perspective is that many of the features we take for granted less than four years later were at that time revolutionary concepts for industry.

There was great speculation in the video industry in mid-1994. Concerns that the disk drive was replacing the tape transport and that tape was dead were echoed by many a writer. What is important to recognize is that none of the developments in digital transport and digital recording technology (with the possible exception of D-2) has diminished any of the impact on the future of media server technologies.

Even though formats, such as quad, have fallen into disuse or been discontinued, videotape has and will remain an important part of the video industry for some time. The tape transport and linear tape industry will evolve and formats will go by the wayside. The announced discontinuation of Sony's U-Matic transport manufacturing in...