BRIEF HISTORY OF TV BROADCASTING TECHNOLOGY
- 1939
- Television introduced at New york World's Fair. Black and white only, no videotape recording.
- 1941
- FCC accepts NTSC standards for black and white broadcast television.
- 1953
- FCC accepts NTSC for color television.
- 1956
- Ampex introduces black and white 2" quadruplex videotape recorder (VTR) at
annual NAB convention, and receives 1,000 orders for machines before the convention ends.
- 1956
- First use of videotape on network television. On November 30, CBS uses Ampex VR 1000
to rebroadcast Douglas Edwards and the News to the West Coast.
- 1966
- Commercial television networks achieve full color prime time schedules.
- 1967
- Sony introduces first ½" portable VTR system, including portable camera and recorder.
- 1968
- Ampex introduces first color VTR.
- 1970
- ½" formats are standardized, and ½" editors are introduced.
- 1972
- Sony introduces the ¾" videocassette recorder (VCR).
- 1972
- Consolidated Video Systems introduces the first time base corrector.
- 1974
- CBS begins electronic news gathering with Ikegami cameras and IVC 1" VTR.
- 1974
- Sony introduces portable ¾" VCR and automated ¾" editing system.
- 1975
- Betamax (½" cassette format) introduced by Sony.
- 1976
- VHS (½" cassette format) introduced.
- 1978
- Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers' standards for type C 1" broadcast
format VTRs are announced. Machines manufactured by Sony and Ampex.
- 1981
- One piece Betacam (Sony) and M format camcorders (RCA Hawkeye and Panasonic RECAM)
introduced. Broadcast quality camera and VCR units utilizing ½" videocassettes and component
recording (incompatible with both home versions of Beta and VHS).
- 1983
- Beta and HiFi introduced to consumer market. VHS hi-fi follows the next year.
- 1983
- United States Supreme Court decides that use of VCRs for off-air recording at home does not violate
the Copyright Act. (Disney vs. Sony Corporation of America.) Sales of home VCRs boom.
- 1984
- FCC approves stereo television broadcasting. First stereo broadcasts of The Tonight Show and the Olympics.
- 1984
- RCA and NEC introduce broadcast quality CCD (charge coupled device) cameras in which vacuum
type pickup tubes are replaced with silicon chips.
- 1985
- Sony 8mm camcorder introduced.
- 1987
- S-VHS (Super VHS) ½" tape format introduced.
- 1989
- First successful experimental broadcast of HDTV (High Definition Television) in the United States.
- 1992
- FCC establishes U.S. standards for HDTV
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