The Home: Self-Service TV

In an age of electronic gadgetry, the U.S. home is taking on the look of a radio-TV station. Most of the equipment, including tape recorders, stereo, FM tuners and color TV, is already in place, and the next giant step should turn the home into a full-time producing studio. After years of effort (TIME, Feb. 19, 1965), the manufacturers of video tape recorders have finally perfected a machine for home use, and the screen on which home movies were shown is to be replaced by TV.

First on the market is Sony, whose compact, low-cost ($1,345) Videocorder, available since September, has already sold more than 1,000 units. In June, Ampex will introduce its $1,675 home video tape recorder. Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corp. and RCA are working on models that they hope will eventually retail for around $500.

Sony’s Videocorder is composed of three units: a recorder, a 9-in. monitor and a TV camera. Putting both picture and sound on tape, the Videocorder can record regular TV broadcasts off the monitor or take what’s happening anywhere within reach of an electric outlet. The image appears on the TV screen with no delay for processing, or it can be stored on tape and played back in the future. The magnetic tape is good for as long as one hour, can be erased and re-used up to 500 times. A battery pack for outdoor use will be available this summer, color by 1967.

Already the Videocorder has become a show-business prop. Performers can tape their rivals’ shows; mimics are building up libraries of fresh material. Some colleges are testing it; Fairleigh Dickinson tapes chemistry lectures, suggests that students who were absent make up by watching tapes. A new rental market is opening up for TV-taped plays, operas and movies. And for homemade shows, there’s nothing like it to keep little Polly’s ninth birthday a joy forever. In fact, for the self-watcher the joys are limitless; when he has run through his whole library of tapes, he can always take himself watching himself making video tape.