Broadcast Video Recording Timeline

A Timeline of Dominant Broadcast Video Recording Formats by Decade

Year	Dominant Formats	Media
1956	*Studio Recording* Format: Quad Company: Ampex Specs: B&W Analog/Composite Cost of Record/Player: $500,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: None Media: 2 inch video tape on reels Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $400 *Field Recording* Format: 16 mm film
1966	*Studio Recording* Format: Quad Company: Ampex, RCA Specs: Color Analog/Composite Cost of Record/Player: $200,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $2,000,000 Media: 2 inch video tape on reels Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $400 *Field Recording* Format: 16 mm film	See Above
1976	*Studio Recording* Format: Type C One Inch Company: Ampex, Sony Specs: Color Analog/Composite Cost of Record/Player: $100,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $500,000 Media: 1 inch video tape on reels Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $100 *Field Recording* Format: U-Matic Company: Sony Specs: Color Analog/Composite Cost of Record/Player: $8,500 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $55,000 Media: 3/4 inch video tape in cassettes Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $20 (portable machines limited to 20 mins.)
1986	*Studio Recording* Format: Type C One Inch Company: Ampex, Sony Specs: Color Analog/Composite Cost of Record/Player: $80,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $400,000 Media: 1 inch video tape on reels Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $80 *Field Recording* Format: BetaCam SP Company: Sony Specs: Color Analog/Component Cost of Camcorder: $80,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $300,000 Media: 1/2 inch video tape in cassettes Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $25 (camcorders limited to 30 mins.)	See Above
1996	*Studio Recording* Format: Digital BetaCam (DigiBeta) Company: Sony Specs: Color Digital/Component Cost of Record/Player: $120,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $500,000 Media: 1/2 inch video tape in cassettes Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $35 *Field Recording* Format: Digital BetaCam (DigiBeta) Company: Sony Specs: Color Digital/Component Cost of Camcorder: $85,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $500,000 Media: 1/2 inch video tape in cassettes Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $25 (camcorders limited to 40 mins.)
2006	*Studio Recording* Format: Video File Server Company: Apple, IBM, Dell and others Cost of Server: Variable!!! Cost of (non-linear) A/B Roll Editing: $12,000 Media: Usually expandable hard drive bays Cost of 1 Hour Hard Drive Capacity: $12 *Field Recording* Formats: DVCPro 50 (tape) & P2 (cards) Company: Panasonic Specs: Color Digital/Component Cost of Camcorder: $32,000 Cost of A/B Roll Editing System: $45,000 (editing mostly done on non-linear workstations) Media-DVCPro 50: 1/4 inch video tape in cassettes Media-P2: SD memory chips in Type II PC cards Cost of 1 Hour Tape: $20 Cost of 16 min. memory card: $4,000 (camcorders limited to 90 mins.)