When did home recording of television programmes begin?
That s not an easy question to answer. From the mid-1950s onwards some people with home tape recorders made audio recordings of the sound portion of television programmes and a few took 8mm or 16mm home movies off the screen. Film was extremely expensive so in the main, these were no more than fragments. Finding any of these recordings would be no more than chance. The first video system intended for the home was Sony s U-Matic system, with large tape cassettes containing -inch tape and extremely bulky and heavy machines. Its price meant that only millionaires and film stars could afford it. Sony s next development was a cheaper, open-reel product and when the company launched its CV-2000 recorder here in 1966, noted hi-fi writer Gordon J. King named it ‘a Japanese miracle’. Sold complete with a dinky little 9″-screen portable television, it was an instant hit with the press and other opinion formers. Its price didn’t exactly translate into huge sales, though. The recorder and TV cost
