The full name of VCR is "video recorder", which is called cassette recorder in Chinese. So VCR is a video recorder! According to statistics, there are as many kinds of VHS video recorder software as 1000 billion, and its popularity can be described as follows: where there is a TV, there will be VHS video recorders, so the development and future prospects of video recorders have a certain impact on modern people's lives. You know, the image quality of the new video recorder is already quite good. If you use a more advanced video recorder, its picture quality is even worse than the popular DVD and DVD players, and the video recorder also contains nearly ten specifications and forms. Let's briefly introduce the past and future of video recorders or camcorders. Although video recorders with 1/2-inch tapes are also discussed below, they can be completely different formats, such as VHS, Betamax, Betacam, M Ⅱ, etc. Some formats have played an important role in the history of video recorder development, but they have been eliminated with the passage of time. Before reviewing, make clear the difference between VCR and VTR. Basically, VTR and VCR also stand for video recorders. Let's take a closer look at the difference between "magnetic tape" and "cassette tape". I wonder if the reader has any impression. Many years ago, there was a difference between cassette and cassette. The cassette tape uses two scroll bars. First, a certain length of tape is fixed on the two scroll bars, and then it is rotated by any spindle to achieve the purpose of sequential playback. As long as the tape on the spindle is used up, unless the head and motor are designed to change sides automatically, you must change the tape to the other side or rewind it before you can continue recording or listening. The tapes of the cassette tape are basically connected together like a circle, that is to say, when all the programs are played, the cassette tape will automatically return to the beginning of the program, and it can be played continuously and infinitely as long as the power is not turned off, which is the essential difference between the double-sided mode and the three-sided mode. So is the video recorder. At the beginning, when various manufacturers formulated the specifications of video recorders, there was once a distinction between card type and card type, while magnetic tape contained two meanings of card type and card type, and assette specifically referred to card type. In the end, the cassette recorder didn't survive, so when modern people call a video recorder, some people say it's VTR, and some people say it's vcr. Actually, they all mean the same thing.

The decline of beta

When it comes to reviewing the history of video recorders and video cameras, let's start with the earliest Betamax video recorder. In l975, Sony introduced the world's first home camera BETAmax, also known as β- max, which is translated into BetMax in Chinese and referred to as BETA Video Recorder. Commonly known as small 1/2 video recorder in China. At present, it is difficult to see a Beta video recorder on the market. Now Sony has abandoned this format and turned to VHS format (large 1/2) video recorder. Beta was launched one year earlier than VHS, so it gained the upper hand from the beginning. In fact, its performance and specifications are not worse than VHS. It is also an analog composite signal, color down-conversion and high-density recording. Its technical index is similar to VHS format, and the volume of video tape is smaller than VHS, which is more conducive to general family collection. And when renting VHS, a tape is even more expensive than a small tape (BETA)120 yuan, 0 yuan. Because of the price problem, when buying a video recorder in those days, we would consider buying a large tape or a small tape. Therefore, in terms of mode, hardware and software, it used to be an excellent home video recorder format. However, even if BETA can maintain a certain number and popularity in the Japanese market, do you know that this excellent format was defeated in the fierce market competition, and the BETA video recorder unexpectedly disappeared? Why? Because RCA (a large American audio-visual equipment company) was very optimistic about the video recorder market at that time, and wanted Sony, which was still establishing a brand in the United States, to produce video recorders for it. Of course, this huge opportunity comes at a price: provided that all machines are branded with RCA. Sony, which was quite personalized at that time, flatly rejected this request. It was a big deal, which angered RCA, the largest brand in the United States at that time. So RCA found Panasonic, which was not a big company at that time, and was ready to develop a new machine to squeeze Sony out. In l976, Japanese JVC Company published VHS system, which showed more advantages of recording time and tape size in Bisogni. So a "fierce battle" broke out between VHS and Beta video home system, and then the "war" intensified. In this special historical background, RCA and Panasonic will naturally support the VHS of JVC, and Sony, which was already in full swing at that time, will certainly never give up easily. With Sony's technical advantages in home audio, 1982 developed a HiFi stereo Beta video recorder with an audio dynamic range of over 80dB. Don't laugh, such parameters were quite remarkable at that time. Readers may wonder: it should be popular, why does it decline? Actually, it's worth remembering. Right here.

The main reason for the total collapse of the BETA system was that VHS was launched for two hours (SP), and at that time beta I could only record for one hour, so it quickly seized a place in the American market, so VHS was ahead of Sony when it was launched. And unfortunately, Sony also made a big mistake at that time. There were too few manufacturers in the Beta camp. From the beginning, there were only a few manufacturers such as Sony, Sanyo and Toshiba. Less professional consumers think that the quality of Beta is similar to that of VHS (I personally think that the technology and quality of Beta are better than that of VHS), but the time is twice as bad, which is obviously Sony's loss for consumers who demanded more time than the quality of audio-visual effects at that time. Of course, the β system includes three recording modes: β Ⅰ, β Ⅱ and β Ⅲ. With the development of β Ⅱ, Sony began to wake up. In fact, the recording time has been increased to the same level as VHS. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. When you take a small step, your opponent has taken a big step, because at that time, VHS also introduced the long-time recording and playback mode LP to fight against Sony and consolidate its emperor status. The recording and playback time can be as long as four hours. Wow! Americans think, great, I can finally record an American football game. Since then, Beta has lost more and more, and there is no way to get it back. Even though Beta has always been ahead in the introduction of new technologies, such as watching while searching, Hi-Fi, Super Beta(Hi-Band) and so on. , all show high performance, but the average consumer thinks these are not more attractive than long-term video recording. After that, there was Beta beta βIII, but it was a spent force, and the general trend was gone. Victor(JVC) continued to take the lead in releasing high-quality S-VHS (Super VHS) in April of 1987, and the definition was improved to 400 lines in one fell swoop, which made the VHS, which was already dominant in quantity, technically superior. At that time, VHS was the world. Although Sony soon launched Super Hi-Band, the resolution was only 300 lines, and it was not until nearly 8 months later that Sony launched ED BETA. Although the resolution reached 500 lines, the recording time was short, and S-VHS was released too late, which made the extremely bad situation of Gensonnie and Beta worse.