Technologies
Videocassette Recorder
Also Known As VCR
Broadcast
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An electromechanical device that records and plays back broadcast television or other video onto magnetic tape, enabling the time-shifted viewing that reshaped how households watched television. Sony's Betamax, launched in November 1975 and often judged the more sophisticated format, lost the ensuing format war to JVC's VHS during the 1980s, and by the end of that decade well over half of British households owned a VCR.
Facts
Introduced Year1975 marks Sony Betamax, the first mass-market consumer format in the war VHS went on to win; Sony's earlier U-matic (1971) was a professional, not a home, format. OriginSony's U-matic (1971) was the first commercial videocassette format, aimed at professional and educational use. The consumer VCR market itself became a format war between Sony's Betamax (1975) and JVC's VHS, which VHS won during the 1980s; the last manufacturer, Funai Electric, stopped making VHS recorders in 2016. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationMass Market Adoption sectionQuote, Mass Market Adoption section
By 1982, 10% of households in the United Kingdom owned a VCR. The figure reached 30% in 1985 and by the end of the decade well over half of British homes owned a VCR.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationDecline sectionQuote, Decline section
Funai Electric, the last remaining manufacturer of VHS VCR/DVD combo recorders, announced it would cease production of VHS recorders by the end of the month.
1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationOverview sectionQuote, Overview section
The practice of recording programs for later viewing is called time shifting.
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