Video Cassette Recorder - Essay Example

Name Tutor Course Date Video Cassette Recorder The video cassette recorder (VCR) otherwise called the video recorder is among the many communication technologies that are no longer in widespread use. This electro-mechanical equipment is used for recording analogue video and audio from televisions on a removable video cassette containing a magnetic tape. This is done in order to be able to play back the sound and images later (Straubhaar, LaRose and Davenport 56). Therefore the video recorder was designed to play record and replay audio and video signals. Even though timers and tuners within the device are important parts of the ordinary video recorder, they are not necessary for attaining the original aim which was play back and registration of video and audio. The video cassette recorder has been in use for some time but its use has slowly faded off. This essay will discuss its development and decline from the market. Development of the Video Cassette Recorder Television program time shifting is the name given to the process of using a VCR. Many VCRs used at home are designed with a tuner of television broadcast receiver to be used for reception on televisions. They also have a timer that serves the purposes of unattended recording of a particular TV channel at a given time. The beginning of these features was in the form of simple counter-based mechanical timers for timing single events. Later on they were replaced with digital clock timers for multiple events that provided a lot of flexibility to those using the VCRs (Straubhaar, LaRose and Davenport, 34). In models that were produced later, it was possible to program the multiple timer events via a menu interface whose display could be done on the playback television screen. This made it possible to record multiple programs and this feature became popular among VCR users. It turned out to be an important selling point and a very useful thing to people who worked at odd hours and therefore missed most of the TV broadcasts (Douglas and Enticknap, 23). The VCR was an important way of watching movies and the emergence of the remote control greatly improved it. The usefulness of the VCR intensified because people could control what was on their watch list. They could therefore make personal libraries on whatever they intended to watch. In the 1960s designers developed prototypes of VCR recorders but in 1969, Sony Corporation was one company that developed the first low cost and convenient video cassette recorder. In the 1970s, Matsushita Corporation and Sony developed the VHS and the Betamax formats respectively. The result of this was a drop in the price of video cassette recorders and this made it possible for millions of people to afford them for their domestic uses. Betamax and VHS systems have video tapes that are 0.5 inches in width although both systems have no compatibility. This means that it is not possible to play back a cassette recorded on one of the systems on the second system (Douglas and Enticknap, 37). In 1985, a third system was introduced which made use of an 8 millimeter wide tape. A VCR was developed with two to seven tape heads for reading and inscribing audio tracks and video on the magnetic tape. Many VCRs were developed with reverse and fast forward controls as well as a timer which makes it possible to automatically record TV programs and they are able to record programs on a particular TV channel as a person views program on a different TV channel on the same TV set. One can make color home movies using a camcorder system which comprises of the VCR connected to a simple and lighter video camera. A single camcorder system can use a video tape 8mm long and there are other portable video systems which can be used to take films away from the home or studio (Grant and Medows, 88). Death of the VCR technology The VCR was very popular in households in North America all the way from the 1980s into the 1990s. This happened although there were rival technologies such as the Video CD and the Laserdisc. Although the Laserdisc had audio and video of higher quality the weight of the discs was a great disadvantage weighing approximately a pound each. They were also cumbersome, easily damaged and to make matters worse, there were no LD units made by manufacturers for recording by consumers. The VCR format was popular in film imports to Asia although it never entered the mainstream. Most of the studios in Hollywood never produced feature films on VCD in North America since the VCD format could not prevent the making of unauthorized perfect copies from CD-R discs after CD-R writers had been made popular Ulloth, 49). In the 2000s, the VHS was overtaken by the DVD to become the first successful and most popular optical device for playing back pre-recorded video. In developed countries the DVD recorders as well as other digital video recorders have been seen to drop in price and this to many people is the decline of the VCRs in the markets where DVDs have taken over. In June 2003, the VHS rentals in the US fell below those of the DVD. Many of the dealers in consumer electronics especially in the United States stock very few VCRs which are often in the form of the VCR-DVD recorder hybrid. Because of economies of scale and the simplicity in construction the price for DVD players has always been lower than that of VCRs (Grant and Meadows, 112). Due to the lack of market many manufacturers cut down their VCR productions to only consumer models and did away with professional models and S-VHS models or even totally did away with production. The models under production did not have certain features deemed to be standards at an earlier time (Barlow, 90). This included the built in digital clock and the front panel controls. Manufacturers of electronic devices have altogether stopped producing stand alone units for the market in the United States because of a decline in the market and the mandate of the Federal Communications Commission which requires that all television tuners be ATSC tuners. The affected electronics makers include Panasonic, JVC and Funai. So as to avoid the expensive mandate many of the new standalone video cassette recorders only record from composite videos. After wining the format battle against HD DVD, the high definition optical disc format Blu-ray Disc could slowly take the place of DVD format. It is believed that this change will occur in a similar manner to the transition from the VHS to the DVD (Ulloth, 67). However, since many homes still have many VHS tapes as well as Blu-ray players that can play regular CDs and DVDs, certain manufacturers are in the process of making VCR/Blu-ray combo players. Blu-ray has not been able to enjoy the rates of adoption that DVD enjoyed in the 2000s since physical media may be replaced by the streaming video on the internet. Even though consumers all over graduated from using videocassettes for playback of videos at home to DVDs since the year 2000, VCRs still maintained a big share in recording videos at home in the whole of that decade. The movement from VCRs to DVDs has been very rapid although the use of DVD recorders in home theater has picked up very slowly (Winston, 78). However, DVD drives are very standard equipment fro use in personal computers since the 2000s.The adoption of DVDs was slowed by certain drawbacks that affected it. By the end of the 2000s when the prices of DVD formats could be afforded and the incompatibilities in their format taken care of, the process of supplanting them with the latest technologies began. The introduction of Blu-ray recorders for use at home was done in 2009 although the Blu-ray format may not be in use for long. The decline of the VCRs has been brought about by the fact that the DVD overcomes many of the limitations existing in the VCR. There are fewer moving parts in VCRs than in DVDs and this increases the reliability of DVDs (Lyn and Atkin, 28). The production costs are lower for DVDs and the quality of images is much better than that of VHSs and this endears them to consumers. The costs of production for a disc are extremely lower than that of pre-recorded tapes and therefore some distributors have decided to shift to DVD. In the recent years it has therefore been very much possible to replace VCRs with affordable DVDs. By the year 2009, it had become very hard to purchase VCRs from major retailers and their production has therefore gone down. The ‘death’ of VCR technology may mean that VCR stocks may be sold at a premium since users having big video tape libraries look for ways of replacing their failing units (Dhir, 46). Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has discussed the Video Cassette Technology as one of the communication technologies that have “died.” This electro-mechanical equipment is used for recording analogue video and audio from televisions on a removable video cassette containing a magnetic tape. This is done in order to be able to play back the sound and images later. The VCR had certain shortcomings that people were forced to bear with. The decline of the VCR technology was brought about by the emergence of DVDs which were regarded more superior than VCRs. Since the early 2000s DVDs have been taking over the market and many manufacturers have abandoned the production of VCRs. Works Cited Barlow Aaron. The DVD revolution: movies, Culture and Technology. GreenWood Publishing Group, 2005. Dhir Amit. A digital Consumer Technology Handbook. A comprehensive Guide to Devices, Standards, Future Directions and Programmable Logic Solutions. Elsevier, 2004. Douglas Leo and Graham Enticknap. Moving Image Technology: From Zoetrope to Digital. Wallflower Press, 2005. Grant August and Jennifer Meadows. Communication Technology Update. CRC Press, 2013. Lin Carolyn, David J. Atkin. Communication Technology and Social Change: Theory and Applications. Routledge, 2007. Straubhaar Joseph, Robert LaRose, Lucinda Davenport. Media Now 2012 Update, 7th edition, Understanding Media, Culture and Technology. Cengage Learning, 2012.  Ulloth Dana. Communication Technology: A survey. University Press of America,1992. Winston Brian. Media Technology and Society. Routledge, 2004. Read More