Social and Cultural Aspects of VCR Use by Julia R. Dobrow

consumer electronics companies function almost exclusively as promoters and distributors of Japanese and Korean products bearing such familiar brand names as RCA, Zenith, and General Electric (“Home VTRs under,” 1977). Today, in the largest and richest consumer market in the world, U.S. This trend, established in the 1960s, would ultimately cause the United States to lose its position as the dominant force in consumer electronics technical development. began positioning themselves primarily as marketers of video recorders manufactured for them by their Japanese competitors (“Two more VTRs,” 1966). Instead of responding with aggressive research and development programs (as the Japanese were doing) to create patented home video technology, companies like General Electric and Concord Electronics Corp.

However, the helical scanning system, developed in Japan during the 1950s, remains the conceptual basis for virtually all videocassette recorders currently being produced (Lardner, 1987).Īs increasing numbers of Japanese and European consumer electronics companies began exploring the prospects of the untapped American home video market, many major U.S. Continuous improvements have been made in videotape recording since that time. Called the helical scanning system, this method rejected Ampex's 2-inch wide standard and allowed more information to be recorded on the tape. By 1959, Sony, Matsushita Electric Corporation (Sony's chief rival), and other Japanese companies had developed working prototypes of home videotape recorders using a different method than that established by Ampex. Sony and other Japanese manufacturers were directly supported in this endeavor when the Japanese government organized an industry- wide approach to further research and development in the field. In the early 1950s, The Sony Corporation, led by chairman Akio Morita, established a goal of producing and marketing home video recorders. Whereas Ampex concentrated on producing and selling professional equipment, other electronics companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan began to pursue videotape recording for the consumer market.

Social and Cultural Aspects of VCR Use by Julia R. Dobrow