Editing Videotape (section)

== Broadcast video ==

=== Quad ===
[[File:2-inch Quad Tape Reel with miniDV cassette.jpg|thumb|A 14-inch reel of 2-inch quad videotape compared with a modern-day [[MiniDV]] videocassette. Both media store one hour of color video.]]

The first commercial professional [[broadcast quality]] videotape machines capable of replacing [[kinescope]]s were the two-inch [[quadruplex videotape]] (Quad) machines introduced by [[Ampex]] on April 14, 1956, at the [[National Association of Broadcasters]] convention in [[Chicago]]. Quad employed a transverse (scanning the tape across its width) four-head system on a two-inch (5.08&nbsp;cm) tape and stationary heads for the soundtrack.

[[CBS Television]] first used the Ampex VRX-1000<ref name="nasginsburg" /> Mark IV at its Television City studios in Hollywood on November 30, 1956, to play a delayed broadcast of ''[[Douglas Edwards and the News]]'' from [[New York City]] to the [[Pacific Time Zone]].<ref name="nasginsburg" /><ref>Ampex Corporation, [http://www.ampex.com/03corp/03corp.html Ampex Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703164729/http://www.ampex.com/03corp/03corp.html |date=2007-07-03}}.</ref> On January 22, 1957, the [[NBC Television]] game show ''[[Truth or Consequences]]'', produced in Hollywood, became the first program to be broadcast in all time zones from a prerecorded videotape.<ref>"Daily N.B.C. Show Will Be on Tape", ''The New York Times'', Jan. 18, 1957, p. 31.</ref> 

Ampex introduced a color videotape recorder in 1958 in a cross-licensing agreement with RCA, whose engineers had developed it from an Ampex black-and-white recorder.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=ICkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 Industry Agrees to Standardize Tape Recording on Ampex Lines]", ''Billboard'', Oct. 28, 1957, p. 3.</ref>  NBC's special, ''[[An Evening With Fred Astaire]]'' (1958), is the oldest surviving [[television network]] color videotape, and has been restored by the [[UCLA Film and Television Archive]].

On December 7, 1963, [[instant replay]], originally a videotape-based system, was used for the first time during the live transmission of the [[Army–Navy Game]] by its inventor, director [[Tony Verna]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/01/20/378570541/he-invented-instant-replay-the-tv-trick-we-now-take-for-granted |title=He Invented Instant Replay, The TV Trick We Now Take For Granted |date=January 20, 2015 |publisher=[[NPR]] |work=Morning Edition}}</ref>

Although Quad became the industry standard for approximately thirty years, it has drawbacks such as an inability to freeze pictures, and no picture search.{{efn|In fact, the quadruplex format can only reproduce recognizable pictures when the tape is playing at normal speed.<ref>[http://winkhackman.com/blog/gone-quite-forgotten/ Wink Hackman; Expert training for Sony MVS users worldwide] Retrieved September 19, 2015</ref>}} Also, in early machines, a tape could reliably be played back using only the same set of hand-made tape heads, which wore out very quickly.{{efn|Later machines had longer life and used [[Analog delay line|delay lines]] to compensate for the differences in the four heads.}} Despite these problems, Quad is capable of producing excellent images. Subsequent videotape systems have used helical scan, where the video heads record diagonal tracks (of complete fields) onto the tape.

[[List of lost television broadcasts|Many early videotape recordings were not preserved]]. While much less expensive (if repeatedly recycled) and more convenient than kinescope, the high cost of [[3M]] Scotch 179<ref name="nasginsburg">"[http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4779&page=84 Charles P. Ginsburg]". ''Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering'', Vol. 7. 1994: The National Academies Press, Washington DC.</ref> and other early videotapes ($300 per one-hour reel)<ref name="bfi">Elen, Richard G. "[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/technology/technology10.html TV Technology]". BFI Screenonline.</ref> meant that most broadcasters [[Lost television broadcast|erased and reused]] them, and (in the United States) regarded videotape as simply a better and more cost-effective means of time-delaying broadcasts than kinescopes. It was the four time zones of the continental United States which had made the system very desirable in the first place.

Some early broadcast videotapes have survived, including ''[[The Edsel Show]]'', broadcast live on October 13, 1957 and ''[[An Evening With Fred Astaire]]'' which aired on October 18, 1958 and was the oldest color videotape of an entertainment program known to exist until the discovery of the October 8, 1958 episode of the ''[[Kraft Music Hall (TV series)|Kraft Music Hall]]'' hosted by [[Milton Berle]]. The oldest color videotape known to survive is the May 1958 dedication of the [[WRC-TV]] studios in [[Washington, D.C.]]). In 1976, [[NBC]]'s 50th-anniversary special included an excerpt from a 1957 color special starring [[Donald O'Connor]]; despite some obvious technical problems, the color tape was remarkably good. Some classic television programs recorded on studio videotape have been made available on DVD – among them NBC's ''[[Peter Pan (1954 musical)|Peter Pan]]'' (first telecast in 1960) with [[Mary Martin]] as Peter, several episodes of [[The Dinah Shore Chevy Show]] (late 1950s/early 60s), the final [[Howdy Doody Show]] (1960), the television version of [[Hal Holbrook]]'s one-man show ''[[Mark Twain Tonight]]'' (first telecast in 1967), and [[Mikhail Baryshnikov]]'s classic production of the ballet ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' (first telecast in 1977).

=== Types C and B ===
The next format to gain widespread usage was 1 inch (2.54 cm) [[Type C videotape]] introduced in 1976. This format introduced features such as shuttling, various-speed playback (including slow-motion), and still framing. Although 1" Type C's quality was still quite high, the sound and picture reproduction attainable on the format were of slightly lower quality than Quad. However, compared to Quad, 1" Type C machines required much less maintenance, took up less space, and consumed much less electrical power.

In Europe, a similar tape format was developed, called 1 inch [[Type B videotape]]. Type B machines use the same 1" tape as Type C but they lacked C's shuttle and slow-motion options. The picture quality is slightly better, though. Type B was the broadcast norm in continental Europe for most of the 1980s.

=== Professional cassette formats ===
[[File:U-matic.jpg|thumb|[[U-matic]] tape]]
A '''videocassette''' is a case containing videotape. In 1969, [[Sony]] introduced a prototype for the first widespread video cassette, the ¾ʺ (1.905&nbsp;cm) [[composite video|composite]] [[U-matic]] system, which Sony introduced commercially in September 1971 after working out industry standards with other manufacturers. Sony later refined it to ''Broadcast Video U-matic'' (BVU). Sony continued its hold on the professional market with its ever-expanding ½ʺ (1.27&nbsp;cm) [[component video]] [[Betacam]] family introduced in 1982. This tape form factor would go on to be used for leading professional digital video formats. [[Panasonic]] had some limited success with its [[Panasonic MII|MII]] system, but never could compare to Betacam in terms of market share.

The next step was the [[Digital data|digital]] revolution. Sony's [[D-1 (Sony)|D-1]] was introduced in 1986 and featured uncompressed digital component recording. Because D-1 was extremely expensive, the composite [[D-2 (video)|D-2]] (Sony, 1988) and [[D-3 (video)|D-3]] (Panasonic, 1991) were introduced soon after. Ampex introduced the first compressed component recording with its [[DCT (videocassette format)|DCT]] series in 1992. Panasonic's [[D5 HD|D-5]] format was introduced in 1994. Like D-1, it is uncompressed, but much more affordable.

The [[DV (video format)|DV]] standard, which debuted in 1995, and was widely used both in its native form as [[MiniDV]] and in more robust professional variants.

In digital camcorders, Sony adapted the Betacam system with its [[Digital Betacam]] format in 1993, and in 1996 following it up with the cheaper [[Betacam SX]] and the 2000 [[MPEG IMX]] format,<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews/5163/sony_unveils_latest_products_at_ibc |title=Sony Unveils Latest Products at IBC |access-date=2023-05-22}}</ref> The semiprofessional DV-based [[DVCAM]] system was introduced in 1996. Panasonic used its DV variant DVCPRO for all professional cameras, with the higher-end format [[DVCPRO50]] being a direct descendant. [[JVC]] developed the competing [[Digital-S|D9/Digital-S]] format, which compresses video data in a way similar to DVCPRO but uses a cassette similar to [[S-VHS]] media. Many helical scan cassette formats such as VHS and Betacam use a head drum with heads that use [[azimuth recording]], in which the heads in the head drum have a gap that is tilted at an angle, and opposing heads have their gaps tilted so as to oppose each other.<ref name="poptronics">{{Cite magazine |last=Goldwasser |first=Sam |date=January 2000 |title=VCRs |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=2782584&site=eds-live&scope=site |magazine=[[Poptronics]] |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=77–79 |issn=1526-3681}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YDOAwAAQBAJ&dq=dv+9000+rpm&pg=PA473|title=Broadcast Engineer's Reference Book|first=E. P. J.|last=Tozer|date=November 12, 2012|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781136024184 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

=== High definition ===
The introduction of [[HDTV]] [[video production]] necessitated a medium for storing [[high-definition video]]. In 1997, Sony supplemented its Betacam family with the HD-capable [[HDCAM]] standard and its higher-end cousin [[HDCAM SR]] in 2003. Panasonic's competing HD format for its camcorders was based on DVCPRO and called [[DVCPRO HD]]. For VTR and archive use, Panasonic expanded the D-5 specification to store compressed HD streams and called it [[D-5 HD]].