TABLE OF CONTENTS The video tape recorders that first went on the air in 1956 were notable in their ability to store programs for later release with a picture quality not available from kinescope recording. Nevertheless, the recorders then were extremely simple in comparison with today s machines. Even in this age of high technology, the progress that has taken place in video tape recording is quite remarkable and may be attributed to two factors. One was the evolution in the field of electronics: transistor technology; integrated circuits and then large-scale integrated circuits first in digital and then in linear devices; digital signal processing, and microprocessors. The second was the combination of foresight and creativity applied by engineers involved in improvements in the art after 1956 (and in user operations as well) in anticipating the need for improved or new capabilities, and then bringing them to pass.
Most of the advances made in the field could be classified either as further development or as innovation of methods and techniques for meeting new requirements. Neither of the categories predominated over the other in milestones. For example, the high-band standard for video tape recording, which was introduced in the mid-1960s, and to which essentially all video tape recorders in broadcast use were eventually converted, definitely fell into the first group, but was without any...
