© Mark Ollig
In June 1977, a new videotape format was presented during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Chicago.
The JVC VCR model HR-3300U was the first consumer VHS-based (video home system) using a VCR (videocassette recorder) in the United States.
JVC is the abbreviation of the Japan Victor Company.
The HR-3300U weighed 30 pounds and used a half-inch magnetic tape wound between two spools inside a plastic cartridge or videocassette, commonly called a VHS tape.
VHS tapes were available in 30, 60, and 120-minute lengths.
I found a Nov. 25, 1977 newspaper ad showing “The JVC Vidstar HR-3300U Videocassette Recorder” selling for $999, which today equals $4,665.
Although available in the US in 1977, people in Japan used the same VHS-based videocassette recorder under the name “Victor HR-3300” the previous year. There was no “U” in the Japanese model number.
In 1975, before the JVC Vidstar HR-3300U, the Sony Betamax video recording/playback machines and their proprietary Betamax tape format were sold in the US.
Betamax machines and their videotape format became the premier videotape recording/playback system.
In high school, we earned extra credit in AV (audiovisual) class recording television educational programs off the public broadcasting system channels using Betamax recording machines and tapes, which we considered high-tech devices — it was the ’70s.
I spent many hours in the AV room videotaping and cataloging videos to be added to the school’s library.
The audio and picture quality of those Betamax videotape recordings were pretty darn good.
At that time, standard Betamax videotape lengths ranged from 15 minutes (L-125), 60 minutes (L-500), to 100 minutes (L-830).
Minnesota’s own 3M company manufactured Betamax videotapes, in addition to Sony.
And so, starting in 1977, the competition between the tape format and video recording systems using Betamax and VHS began in earnest here in the US. Many were calling this the time of the “Format War.”
During the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, even though the Betamax model used a compact tape cartridge with superior video and audio quality, the public embraced VHS tapes and VCRs.
And the winner of the Format War is VHS.
I attribute this mainly because VHS tapes provided a longer playing time and cost less than Betamax. A VCR player weighed much less and was priced slightly lower than a Betamax recording system, especially when replacing parts.
Another advantage VHS had over Betamax: their tapes rewound and fast-forwarded quicker.
It was easy for people to videotape shows and movies off their TV, which led to the start of movie and television programming copyright disputes becoming a popular discussion topic.
In addition to the VCR player, the June 1977 CES displayed new 23 and 40-channel CB (citizens band) radios.
Yes, I had a CB radio in my 1975 green metallic Plymouth Duster. My CB handle was the Green Hornet. I sure miss those days.
Before home VCRs, the first commercially-used videotape recorder was invented in 1956 by the research department at Ampex, an American electronics company in Hayward, CA.
Charles P. Ginsberg, who holds seven US patents, led the Ampex research department during their development of the videotape recorder, named the AMPEX VR-1000.
The AMPEX VR-1000 uses a 2-inch wide quadruplex open-reel tape and recorded the television video in black and white, initially with a time of 60 minutes per reel. The images were recorded across the videotape from top to bottom using four metal electromagnet read/write heads on a rotating drum (quadruplex recording).
The following is an interesting story related to today’s topic.
On April 10, 1956, during the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (NARTB) Convention in Chicago, the VR-1000 commercial video recorder was first demonstrated to 200 CBS television executives and partners.
Ampex engineers set up the VR-1000 video recorder behind the curtain so the audience would not see it.
The convention began with a presentation by CBS executives about the new Ampex video recorder, as an Ampex engineer discreetly pressed the videorecorder’s record button.
The audience members watched the presentation on television monitors.
When the presentation concluded, the Ampex engineer pressed the rewind and the play button on the video recorder.
As the audience watched the instant replay over the same monitors the CBS executives were just on, they were shocked.
When the curtains opened, showing the Ampex videotape recorder, the television folks in the audience understood what happened and cheered and applauded.
Remember, this was 1956, and they were seeing technology considered revolutionary. The Ampex VR-1000 recorded and instantly replayed a television broadcast for the first time.
Major television networks worldwide soon learned of this demonstration, and within a week, Ampex received 45 orders for their model VR-1000 quadruplex commercial video recorder.
The cost for one Ampex VR-1000 video recording system in April 1956 was a pricey $50,000, which today would equal $527,000, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator: https://bit.ly/3z2OaNQ.
On Nov. 30, 1956, The CBS television network first used an Ampex VR-1000 video recorder in a coast-to-coast broadcast of “Douglas Edwards and the News.”
This month 45 years ago, the start of the VCR era began in earnest, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I still have a working VCR player and plastic bins filled with VHS tapes — no Betamax.
I took a photograph of my (working) combo CRT/VCR/VHS
player with an old NASA VHS tape playing on its screen.
(Another NASA VHS tape lies in front of the VCR player)