Videotape Recording

recording of television, radar, and other signals on magnetic tape or motion-picture film for their subsequent visual reproduction. It is possible to use thermoplastic recording and mechanical recording on a disk, from which phonograph records are then made.

Videotape recording is used in television as one of the methods of preserving documentary and performing-arts programs. Videotape recording on a videotape recorder affords the opportunity of reproducing a broadcast in its entirety or in part, bypassing, in contrast to motion-picture film, the complicated procedures of processing, printing, and editing the film, which are essential in film production. Moreover, videotape recording can be done many times on the same tape, which, however, has a limited period of ser-vice. In the preparation of documentary television programs (reports, interviews, and so forth), videotape recording makes it possible to preserve the “effect of immediacy” to create the illusion for the viewers that the event and its re-production on the television screen are occurring simultaneously. With the aid of videotape recording, television solves the problem of time barriers and of televising programs over long distances. With the introduction of videotape recording, countries with several time zones (the USSR, the USA, Australia, and other countries) have been able to organize unified national television systems.