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• 1893 First magnetic recorder, Valdemar Poulsen's Telegraphon
• 1920 First proposal for a magnetic coating on tape
• 1927 Rtcheouloff patent application
• 1931 First magnetic tape created at I.G. Farben
• 1932 Handbuch der Bildtelegraphie und des Fernsehens describes helical and transverse videotape recording schemes of Dr. Fritz Schroeter
• 1945 "Liberation" of the Magnetophone audiotape recorder from Berlin
• 1948 Ampex introduces the Model 200, the first successful American audiotape recorder
• 1951 Armour Research demonstrates crude VTR for Ampex executives
  Ampex research program begins
  First Bing Crosby demonstration
• 1952 Second Bing Crosby demonstration
  First in-house Ampex demonstration
  BBC research program begins
• 1953 Ray Dolby (THE Dolby), key member of the Ampex team, drafted by Army
  German patent application for 2-head helical recorder by Eduard Schueller
  Toshiba begins work on VTR-1 helical VTR
  GE demonstrates longitudinal video recorder (LVR)
  RCA demonstrates color LVR
• 1955 First FM recorded pictures viewed in-house at Ampex
  Army releases Dolby (he contributed to the VTR by mail while in service)
• 1956 Ampex markets first VTR, 2" transverse-scan, quadruplex
  First program broadcast from tape, Douglas Edwards and the News
  13 VTRs in the field at the end of the year 1957
  First VTR remote trucks
  First tape interchange between VTRs
  First quad color demonstration (RCA)
  Mechanical videotape editing begins
• 1958 SMPTE forms Video Tape Recording Committee to establish standards
  BBC airs program from VERA (vision electronic recording apparatus) LVR
  CBS airs The Red Mill, first full length program edited on videotape (over 100 splices)
• 1959 Ampex introduces Intersync for first synchronizable playback VTR
  GE proposes thermoplastic, rather than magnetic recording
• 1960 First time base corrector introduced
  Ampex keeps a helical VTR (VR-8000) hidden at NAB just in case a competitor unveils one; no one does 
  951 VTRs in the field at the end of the year

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• 1961 First direct color VTR (a VTR that would record the NTSC composite signal without having to separate color from black & white detail)
  JVC 770 helical recorder begins the long list of incompatible helical formats that will be introduced
  Ampex takes orders for helical VTRs, then decides it's not ready
  RCA and Sony both introduce all transistor VTRs
  Ampex introduces electronic editing
• 1962 Ampex Editec allows frame-by-frame animation on a VTR
  Machtronics introduces helical VTR with low tape consumption
• 1964 Sony PV-100 VTR installed on American Airlines and Pan Am aircraft
  Ampex introduces high-band color, the last significantly accepted change in quadruplex recording
• 1965 Sony introduces the 1/2" CV-2000, the first "consumer" VTR format
  RCA introduces the first quadruplex random access cartridge machine
  Precision Instrument introduces Variscan for continuously variable playback speed
• 1966 Westel introduces conical scanning
• 1967 IVC introduces its 1" helical recorders
  Ampex introduces a backpack quadruplex recorder, the VR-3000
  Sony introduces the CV-2400, the first 1/2" Porta-Pack, and spawns the first generation of video freaks
  CBS announces electronic video recording (EVR) on a film cartridge
• 1969 RCA announces Selectavision Holotape, a holographic videotape recorder
  EIAJ standards for 1/2" video recording bring order to the chaos of the educational and industrial VTR marketplace
• 1971 Sony introduces the 3/4" U-matic videocassette recorder
  SMPTE time code makes computer-assisted editing (CMX 300) possible
• 1972 First proposal for a digital VTR
• 1973 Ampex begins research on the moving heads that will make broadcastable slow-motion and still frames possible
  IVC introduces the 9000 2" segmented helical scan recorder
• 1974 Sony demonstrates magnetic video card recording and calls the system Mavica, a name that will see more Sony use in the future
  BASF announces : will introduce a consumer LVR
• 1975 Sony introduces the Betamax SL-6300, the first consumer VTR format that lasts, perhaps because of advertising that refers to "time-shifting"
  Bosch introduces new familie, what will become the Type B VTR, the BCN
• 1976 Ampex perfects the moving head principle for variable tracking
  JVC introduces the Video Home System (VHS) format, which follows the success of the Betamax with enough capacity (2 hours) for a movie
  Britain's Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) demonstrates the first digitally recorded videotape pictures (half-size) on an IVC-9000
• 1977 ABC and CBS circulate a "white paper" at the Winter SMPTE Television Engineering Conference that sparks standardization of the Type C format
  Television Research International introduces Tri-Chroma, a scheme for recording component (color and detail separate) rather than composite signals
• 1978 IBA demonstrates full-size digitally recorded pictures
• 1979 Ampex, Bosch, and Sony all demonstrate digital VTR prototypes
  Toshiba demonstrates a consumer LVR as BASF opens its LVR plant
  Longest playing NTSC 1/2" consumer speeds (Beta III and VHS EP) introduced

• 1981 SMPTE and EBU conduct digital video tests; the result is the digital component video recommendation that forms the basis of the D-1 recorder
  RCA and Panasonic jointly unveil what will be known as the Type M component color recorder, using VHS cassettes;
  Sony shows its version, Betacam, in a hospitality suite at NAB
  these devices, which include cameras, are dubbed "camcorders" by David Lachenbruch of Television Digest
• 1982 122 companies begin working out standardization of an 8 mm consumer VTR
  Hitachi and Bosch introduce 1/4" component recorders based on the CVC (Funai/Technicolor) cassette
  IVC introduces the first full-bandwidth RGB recorder
• 1983 Last NAB show with a quadruplex VTR exhibit
• 1984 Sony introduces Betacart, a Betacam-based alternative to quadruplex carts; Asaca and Panasonic show other alternatives
  ABC's Olympics coverage uses Super Slo-Mo, Sony's Super Motion Video System, which records 90 frames per second on a Type C - compatible tape
  JVC markets VHS-C, small cassettes containing VHS - compatible tape
• 1985 Sony markets SuperBeta, a compatible improvement to the Betamax format, and an "HDVS" recorder for 1,125-scanning-line high definition pictures
  Panasonic introduces the M II format, based on 1/2" metal tape
• 1986 Alpha Video & Electronics begins to market a direct color 3/4" VCR
  Ampex introduces the ACR-225 composite digital 3/4" VCR
  Sony unveils the first D-1 recorder on the NAB exhibit floor and markets 3/4" U-matic SP improvements
  Hitachi introduces 8 mm cassettes as a professional camcorder medium.