Home Video Cassette Recorders Research Articles

Anticipatory effects of voluntary export restraints: a study of home video cassette recorders market, 1978–86

This paper investigates the impact of voluntary export restraints (VERs) at the pre-implementation stage when exporters have a good prospect for the VERs. Distinctive features of the VCR market in 1978–86 provide a testable hypothesis to analyze the effect of the EC–Japan VERs, which were implemented in the fiscal years of 1983–85. The paper finds consistent evidence that the VERs affected firms’ pricing behavior in the U.S. market prior to the VER period, as a result of Japanese exporters’ anticipation of the VERs.

Econometric Analysis of Price Index for Home Video Cassette Recorders in the U.S., 1978-87

This paper conducts an empirical analysis on the U.S. VCR market using a hedonic approach. The paper finds that quality-adjusted price indexes decline at 11-12% per year, with a large annual drop of about 18% from 1982-85. Estimation and data analysis reveal interesting aspects of the evolution of quality and price in the VCR market. Finally the paper estimates a bias of 2.4% per year in the CPI electronics subindex due to the missing category of VCR until 1986.

Magnetic force microscopic study of magnetic tapes recorded at MHz frequencies

We have undertaken a comparative study of recorded signals on a standard video tape using a magnetic force microscope (MFM) and a recording head. The tapes examined were coated with the usual iron oxide particles but had different values of residual magnetisation and coercivity. They were magnetised by recording a sinusoidal signal in the frequency range 1 to 9 MHz corresponding to a wavelength of 5.8 to 0.64 μm. These recordings were made using a standard VHS home video cassette recorder with the recording current set to near its optimum value. Samples for MFM measurement were made by cutting material from the recorded tapes. The response of the MFM showed a higher value for the better quality tapes where the quality was determined by the product BrHc. The response of the microscope decreased with increasing spacing height of the tip in broad agreement with the standard theory. The recording frequency dependence of the MFM response had a maximum at about 3–4 MHz and then decreased rapidly with increasing frequency. The output from a standard recording head showed a similar frequency dependence to the MFM response.

Technology and the Language Classroom. Available Technology

0 When one thinks of technologies in language education, two things generally come to mind: the videocassette recorder (VCR) and the microcomputer. Indeed, these are the basics in terms of equipment for numerous technological approaches to language instruction. Add to this picture the capabilities of closed-captioned video, optical-disc technology such as compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) for microcomputers, interactive videodisc systems that combine the microcomputer with pictures, a plethora of software programs (see Healey & Johnson 1991; Thomas, Passentino, & Hambrook 1991), as well as the possibilities offered by satellite transmission, and the view that emerges is a complex set of technological applications that are increasingly available and popular in educational settings. The mainstay technique for the VCR is the use of prerecorded materials. Teachers record authentic video and television programs on their home VCRs (i.e., feature films, documentaries, sitcoms, news programs) and create their own instructional materials for classroom use. A 1991 pilot survey of 119 U.S.-based members of the TESOL Video Interest Section (Stempleski, 1991) revealed five major tendencies in the use of video: (a) integration of video with other course content; (b) teacher-made support materials; (c) teacher-student inhouse video production; (d) emphasis on aural/oral skills; and (e) focus on cultural content. Video producers and educational publishers are collaborating on the development and production of video-based language courses that follow a predetermined scope and sequence and are complete instructional packages including videotapes and accompanying print materials (see Thomas, Passentino, & Hambrook, 1991),

The Impact of the Home Video Cassette Recorder on Egyptian Film and Television Consumption Patterns

The Impact of the Home Video Cassette Recorder on Egyptian Film and Television Consumption Patterns

A simple electronic device for time-lapse recording of neural and other cell movements using a home video cassette recorder

This article describes a simple electronic unit to obtain time-lapse recordings with the use of a common remote-controlled home video cassette recorder, for example a VHS recorder. The electronic unit is a timer to be connected to the remote-control unit. The video cassette recorder itself remains unchanged. Replay of the recorded images speeds up the original process by a factor of 2–100 × or more. This technique has been applied in video micrographic studies of (1) the development of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells in culture, including growth cone and Schwann cell movements, and (2) tumor cell killing by natural killer (NK) cells.

Strategic Maneuvering and Mass-Market Dynamics: The Triumph of VHS over Beta

This article deals with the diffusion and standardization rivalry between two similar but incompatible formats for home videocassette recorders (VCRs): the Betamax, introduced in 1975 by the Sony Corporation, and the VHS (Video Home System), introduced in 1976 by the Victor Company of Japan (Japan Victor or JVC). Despite being first to the home market, the Beta format fell behind the VHS in market share during 1978 and declined thereafter. By the end of the 1980s, Sony and its partners had ceased producing Beta models. This study analyzes the history of this rivalry and examines its context—a mass consumer market with a dynamic standardization process subject to “bandwagon” effects that took years to unfold and that were largely shaped by the strategic maneuvering of the VHS producers.

Infrared decoding and vertical sync extraction techniques for automatic home video editing

The design and development of a low-cost video editing controller that can be used on home video cassette recorders (VCRs) are described. Infrared decoding and vertical sync pulse extraction techniques are used to perform automatic video editing with remote control. This approach also makes the video editing controller compatible with various models of home VCRs. Descriptions of the microprocessor/microcontroller-based hardware design and implementation as well as software development are provided. Text techniques are also described, and test results are discussed. >

Children's Uses and Gratifications of Home VCRs

This study examines gratifications associated with home video cassette recorder use among Israeli school children in order to map the position of the VCR as a “new” medium in the overall media environment of young people. A sample of 576 children in grades 4 through 10, all from VCR households, rated the ability of VCRs and six “old” media (newspapers, radio, television, books, cinema, and records/audio tapes) to gratify twelve social and psychological needs. The study found that while the VCR is often used, it has not achieved any special priority in its perceived utility to gratify various needs. Moreover, based on smallest space analysis, the data suggest that VCRs have neither established a separate “identity” among children, nor created a “revolution” in the mass communication process.

The homology hypothesis: Pornography on the VCR

In this essay, I develop the argument that texts may be especially rhetorically effective when the content, the medium used to convey the content, and real life experiences that make the content relevant are formally or structurally similar. I examine the work of several scholars from different traditions to show that many schools of thought have suggested that formal linkage creates rhetorical effect: some structuralists, Marxists, recent media theorists, and the work of Altheide and Snow. Burke's theory of form is offered as a useful way to explain the effect of formal links. The ways that formal linkages and the symbolic dynamics of content, medium, and experience might be discovered are illustrated in an analysis of conventional, heterosexual, male‐dominant pornography as viewed on home videocassette recorders. Finally, I consider the implications of discovering such formal links and outline research strategies needed to develop this argument further.

VCR use and the concept of audience activity

The audience experience with home video cassette recorders (VCRs) is examined from the perspective of the active audience concept. Based on interviews and mail questionnaires with a representative sample of Israeli VCR owners, the study finds that the orientation of VCR users to this new technology can be characterized as selective, somewhat involved, and generally productive of gratifications. Moreover, the kinds and levels of activity associated with VCR use are found to be modestly consistent across the communication sequence. Implications for the conceptualization and measurement of audience activity are also discussed.

ECONOMIC HARM IGNORED: BETAMAX REVISITED

This paper assesses the economic harm to copyright owners from selected uses of home videocassette recorders. Specifically, we examine the consequences of such household behavior as the copying of prerecorded videocassettes and taping television broadcasts for permanent collections (i.e., “librarying”). Such uses have an adverse effect on the efficiency of intellectual property creation, and on the equitable distribution of monetary rewards generated by commercial exploitation of those private properties. Economic harm is described in the context of existing property rights enforcement. We also present estimates of lost monetary rewards (royalties) to copyright owners from displaced sales of prerecorded videocassettes due to such librarying.

Developmental impact of the home video cassette recorder on third world countries

Home video cassette recorders (VCRs) are becoming increasingly popular in the Third World. Even among lower socioeconomic groups in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, VCRs are being acquired at what some government officials believe to be a disturbing rate. The study examines theoretical implications of media in the development process, explores the reasons for VCR popularity in the developing world, assesses VCR impact on local television and film industries, and discusses potential effects of viewer‐chosen programming on development.

Triple Color Signal Process IC for VCR

Recently the home video Cassette Recorder (VCR) has remarkably come into world-wide use. However, complicating the situation are three different kinds of television standards: NTSC, PAL and SECAM, and the specifications of their chrominance signal are different from each other.

Low Voltage ICs for Home VCR Using NSA Technology

In the growing market of the Video Cassette Recorders (VCR), sales of battery operated portable models have been increasing. The most important points in consideration of this type of VCR are reduction of size and number of electronic components together with power consumption and accurate factory adjustments.