The very first device used to record a video signal was developed by John Logie Baird video information, Laird's invention to those used in audio recording. Soon, the practical video storage made this design obsolete, and began a sustained effort to create an affordable machine for the recording and playback of video signals.

The first machines to feature recording and playback 1948. Their main drawback was that they used a very high unwinding magnetic tape. Another tape speed constant, which signal loss.

In 1951 Alexander M. Poniatoff assembled at his California laboratory to design what would eventually the prototype video tape recorder. Among his team were Charles Ginsberg, Charles Anderson, and Ray Dolby. By 1954, the team had developed large quantities parent company, Ampex, in 1955, and on November in the first retransmission of a recorded television program, California television station to rebroadcast that day's showing "Douglas Edwards and the...