INTRODUCTION TO FUNDAMENTALS
OF VIDEO TAPE RECORDERS (VTRS)
Because there are four different sizes of tape format, (2-inch, 1-inch, 3/4-inch,
and 1/2-inch) you should know how each of these popular formats affect the image
quality of your production.
The job of the video tape recorder is to transfer the video signal (with or without
audio) to magnetic tape so that the information that is recorded may be retrieved
at another time. The VTR transfers this information to the video tape by sending
pulses of energy to video heads, which are very small electromagnets.
The magnetic recorder is a major unit, since today mostly everything produced for
television is prerecorded on tape.
In the 1940s, the British Broadcasting
Corporation and Decca in England, also Radio Corporation of America and Ampex in
the United States, began work on VTRs.
Units that were first produced were very
large, they required very high speed tape, were too costly, and needed very large
reels of tape. Some of the first taped programs to be aired in England needed the
use of a reel of tape 5 feet in diameter for a 30-minute program.
This indicated that more research had to be done or the VTR was doomed.
With this
in mind, firms began working on developing a rotating head.
With the introduction on the scene of the rotating head, the quad-head recorder was
later produced by Ampex in 1956. It was quickly adopted by the television industry
throughout the world.
Since then a wide selection of VTRs has been produced, both for home entertainment
and television broadcast, by such names as RCA and Sony.
To develop a complete understanding of television not only requires a knowledge of
receivers and transmitters, but a knowledge of its associated equipment.
One of
those items is the VTR.
This subcourse will enable you to have a better
understanding of video tape recorders and their importance to the television
industry. It is also meant to assist in merger or cross-training of personnel from
any MOS into the 84F Audio Television Specialist career field.
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