The VCR by Victor Osoria

The VCR’s or the videocassette recorder’s first commercially successful machine was made in 1956 named the Ampex VRX-1000. It uses re videotape cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. Then in 1963, The Telcan, produced by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company, was the first home recorder. However, it was expensive, not easy to put together and could only record 20 minutes at a time in black-and-white. In October 1969 Sony demonstrated a videocassette prototype, and then set it aside to work out an industry standard by March 1970 with seven fellow manufacturers. The result was the Sony U-matic system, introduced in Tokyo in September 1971, was the world's first commercial videocassette format and had made other formats obsolete because of how easy it was to use. However the high cost of $1,395 had kept it out of most homes.

In 1970 Philips developed home videocassette format but confusingly named it VCR. At nearly £600, it was expensive and the format was relatively unsuccessful in the home market. This was followed by digital timer version, sold quite well to schools and colleges. The Avco Cartrivision system, a combination television set and VCR from Cartridge Television Inc. that sold for US $1,350, was the first videocassette recorder to have pre-recorded tapes of popular movies available for rent but was abandoned thirteen months later because of poor sales. And it was not until the late-1970s when European and Japanese companies made more technologically advanced machines that the VCR became a Mass-market success.