Blog Post #4 EOTO Project

      For my EOTO project, I researched the history and the impact that VCR has on people, as well as focusing on who invented it and how it revolutionized home entertainment. The VCR was invented by Charles Ginsburg in the year 1956, VCR is a machine that plays tapes from movies or shows, Charles Ginsburg invented it because it was a way for people to consume television by allowing the audience to not only to watch their shows but also record them so that they could watch it later or on their own time. In the year 1900s and 2000s were the year that the VCR became really popular. VCR was a recording mechanism that allowed whoever to record what was on tv so they could watch it later or sell it for money. 

   It was invented in the 1950s, but it wasn't popular until the 1970s. VCRs were very expensive and only some people owned it so it was very rare to have a VCR in that time because of how expensive it was. When the prices began to drop and people were able to buy it.  The costumers that owned it were selling the tapes in the back of their car for people to buy and watch some shows. People finally were able to buy VCR  devices in a good price range so people could be able to buy it. 

     VCR became more available for the crowd making it common by the 1900s and the 2000s. Viewers were limited to what they air live on tv but the VCR allowed them to choose what they watch when they want to watch it. Before VCR people did not have a choice but to watch what was on the tv and there weren’t a lot of options, But when VCR was finally invented families could finally purchase movies from stores which has their favorite shows and movies.

 There were two main competitors that rose up to VCR which were the VHS and the Betamax tapes, both of them were very popular. Betamax had some advantage because of its video quality and the sharpness that the video had, but VHS had lower prices, longer recordings, and the wide range of titles that were available, which meant VCR won overall by the customers purchasing both of them. Sony was very impacted by VCR costing them 40% of their business. 

 Overall, the invention of the VCR had a major change in how people watch films and television shows in todays society. While the VCR fell out with the introduction of DVDs in 2003 and was offering more storage capacity, advanced features and overall was a better option for people to buy, the legacy of the VCR still lives on till this day.

     We would've never experienced an era of home cinema without VCR in the same way. It changed how people interact with social media by giving them control on their viewing habits. VCRs influence is still present in todays world.