science · 03 October 1952 · 73 years ago
In 1952, the first U.S. video recording on magnetic tape giving credible results of off-air black and white recordings was made by John T. Mullin at the electronics division of Bing Crosby Enterprises, Inc., Los Angeles, Cal. Using a Video Tape Recorder, the images on magnetic tape were not only one-third less costly than photographic methods, but were also immediately available to reproduce on a standard TV monitor tube as soon as the tape was rewound. The 12-head VTR used one-inch tape running at 120 inches per second to record ten tracks of monochrome video information, a clock track to control synchronization and an FM audio track. The basic theory was to use frequency division multiplexing with the 10 channels covering the desired video range.