Broadcast technology

Fritz Pfleumer, an Austrian-German engineer, invented magnetic tape in the late-1920's.

Magnetic tape, which was the best-known innovation by Fritz Pfleumer, later became the basis for the equally-innovative Magnetophon, developed in the 1930's by AEG.

During the Second World War, magnetic tape was kept secret, but when the Allied forces, including the United States, emerged victorious, they acquired recording equipment from Germany.

After the Allies emerged victorious in WWII, Americans, such as John T. Mullin, John Herbert Orr and Richard H. Ranger, took magnetic tape out of Germany and made it commercially viable formats.

The Ampex Model 200A, an improved American version of the innovative Magnetophon, which was based on Fritz Pfleumer's magnetic tape invention, was introduced in 1948.

For the Ampex Model 200A, it revolutionized both the broadcasting and the recording industries.

With the Ampex Model 200A, prerecorded radio programs provide more schedule flexibility, but also attract established and emerging artists untied to live broadcasts.

Quadruplex videotape is the first practical and commercially successful videotape format, whereas the Ampex VRX-1000 is the first commercially successful videotape recorder.

Both quadruplex and the Ampex VRX-1000 are video responses to the Ampex Model 200A, based on Magnetophon from AEG, in turn based on magnetic tape invented by Fritz Pfleumer.

Kinescope is the process used to film the television screen, but it is cumbersome and expensive; both quadruplex and the Ampex VRX-1000 are solutions to these limitations.

With both quadruplex and the Ampex VRX-1000, television quality improved.

Like radio, prerecorded television programs, on film and videotape, offer more schedule flexibility and attract established and emerging artists celebrities untied to live broadcasts.

Norikazu Sawazaki, who hailed from Toshiba, demonstrated the first videotape recorder using the new helical scan method in the late-1950's.

Ampex introduced the first commercial helical scan video recorder called the VR-8000 in 1961.

Helical scan enabled features, like pause and variable speeds.

Responding to both the quadruplex format and the Ampex VRX-1000 recorder, JVC developed its own two-head video tape recorder in the late-1950's and, by 1960, a colour version.

JVC also created the DV220, once its standard video tape recorder, in the mid-1960's.

In 1969, JVC joined forces with Matsushita Electric (which formerly held a majority stake in JVC) and Sony to build a video recording standard for the Japanese consumer.

U-matic is the world's first videocassette format on a commercial level.

For U-matic, it is among the earliest video formats to use a cassette with the videotape being enclosed inside, replacing the bulky reel-to-reel/open-reel systems made earlier.

This innovative design made for U-matic made video recording more portable and easier to handle.

Key successes for this U-matic format came from industrial and educational markets and the electronic news gathering (ENG) process, as well as professional, non-broadcast video production.

Cartrivision is the first home video format to have prerecorded tapes, specifically feature-length motion pictures, for consumer rental.

Avco, which gained a foothold in the film industry in the late-1960's with Embassy Pictures, also ran its subsidiary Cartridge Television Inc. (CTI), which produced the innovative Cartrivision format.

The film catalog for this Cartrivision format came from its parent company Avco Embassy Pictures, but from major Hollywood studios as well, including 20th Century-Fox, Columbia and others.

Not confined to films, Cartrivision also offered other content, like sports, instructional films, etc.

Unlike later video cassette recorders, Cartrivision was initially integrated into colour television sets.

June 1972 to July 1973 was the period from which Cartivision was available for consumer rental.

Many factors caused Cartrivision's own demise, including high costs, inconvenient mailing and rental processes, large-sized machines and technical issues.

Despite its short lived-run and its demise caused by its problems, Cartrivision's innovative features still continue to live on, leading to the home video revolution.

Ampex also introduced the HS-100 and the HS-200

Soon after the U-matic release, all of its three developers began working on new consumer-grade video recording formats of their own.

For instance, Sony started working on Betamax, Matsushita on VX, JVC on the CR-6060.

Philips designed the Video Cassette Recording (VCR) concept, the first consumer-level home VCR.

Introduced in 1972, the Philips VCR format was used in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia and South Africa.

JVC's own VHS format was released in Japan, one year after Betamax's 1975 release, and in the United States in August 1977.

VHS won the videotape format war over Betamax, becoming the most popular media format for VCRs.

For Type C videotape, it is smaller, easier to operate and provides slightly higher video quality than the quadruplex videotape.

Plus, Type C videotape has functions that quadruplex has not, like still and slow-motion playback.

Whereas Type C videotape was successfully adopted on both sides of the Atlantic (making it the global leader), Type B videotape was successfully adopted in mainland Europe.

The RCA TK cameras are the first cameras being made for colour television on a practical, commercial and fully electronic basis.

Before the RCA TK cameras, colour television systems were attempted, but relied on semi-mechanical methods.

Also in RCA's innovation list is the image orthicon video camera tube, utilized during the post-WWII period until the 1960's.

Besides, the Iconoscope, the Emitron and Image Dissector are early television camera tubes.

Vidicons are video camera tubes which became a commercial success, due to its simplicity, smaller size and lower cost, making small-sized video cameras what they were.

Plumbicons are variants of the Vidicon, developed by the Dutch-based multinational company Philips.

In contrast to Vidicons, which caused problems, particularly in low-light conditions, producing noisy pictures and lag effects, Plumbicons have higher resolution, better image quality and others.

Solid-state sensor technology like CCD and CMOS replace Vidicons and Plumbicons in the 1990's.

Norelco cameras use advanced Plumbicon tubes, positioning them as an alternative to the RCA colour television cameras.

Responding to the success of the Norelco camera designs with Plumbicons, RCA abandoned its older television camera designs and incorporated Plumbicon tubes into its next-generation cameras.

Trinitron is the brand name for Sony's system of television sets.

Some of the notable innovations for Sony's Trinitron system of television sets include vertical bars, one electron gun, an aperture grille and a flatter screen surface in design.

With these innovations, Trinition is an advancement in colour television technology.

Before Sony's Trinitron system, early television sets featured dots, three electron guns, a curved screen surface in design and a shadow mask; these resulted in a dimmed and grainy picture quality.

However, with Sony's Trinitron system, television sets have found solutions to these issues.

FD Trinitron/WEGA is Sony's flat incarnation of this Trinitron system, which featured a flatter screen surface and further improvements to the electron gun, the aperture grille and the deflection yoke.

The Ikegami HL-33 is the first compact hand-held video camera made in colour for ENG and the first broadcast camera to use 1-inch Plumbicon tubes.

Introduced in 1972 (or 1973, sources vary), the Ikegami HL-33 gave birth to ENG.

Before ENG, film was the primary medium for recording and broadcasting news footage.

With ENG, news footage was done on a smooth and fast-paced basis, using portable, lightweight and mobile equipment like video cameras and microwave systems.

Sony's Portapak is an innovative video camera using a 1/2-inch reel-to-reel format.

Contrasting to bulky studio cameras requiring crews and transport, Sony's Portapak is the first portable system to allow one person to shoot and record video easily outside studios.

Furthermore, in contrast to film or telecine, the Portapak has video played back on location.

Having been introduced in the late-1960's, the Sony Portapak was the catalyst for ENG, doubling as a precursor to the Ikegami HL-33.

Whereas the Sony Portapak is a monochrome video camera being designed for non-broadcast use, the Ikegami HL-33 is a colour video camera being made for the ENG process.

Plus, Ikegami introduced both the TK-301 and the TK-301A colour cameras, both of which resulted in huge improvements over other cameras.

Ikegami also introduced the DNS-11, one of the first portable, tapeless and non-linear camcorders.

The CMX-6000 is the first non-linear video editing system.

Before the CMX-6000, videotape editing had linear constraints.

With the CMX-6000, videotape editing became non-linear.

C-band is used for TVRO systems, and Ku-band 

Primestar DirecTV, USSB and Dish Network.

Philco Radio Time, the first program on a major American broadcaster to be prerecorded, has endured innovations.

For its first season, Philco Radio Time used poor-quality, unedited and live transcription discs.

The second Philco Radio Time season pioneered prerecorded broadcasts using AEG's Magnetophon machine; its third and last season featured Ampex Model 200A recorders with 3M.

All in all, Philco Radio Time brought film technology to radio and set new broadcast standards.