video recorder is a machine used to store moving A pictures on magnetic TAPE. It receives signals through a cable connected to the TELEVISION aerial. As in a CAS- SETTE RECORDER, the tape is held against a spinning metal drum containing the recording heads. The drum is set at an angle to the tape. Each revolution of the drum records a single television picture across the width of the tape. To record, an erase head removes any existing magnetic pattern from the tape and a video head records new picture signals as a diagonal pattern on the magnetic tape. Sound signals are recorded along one edge of the tape by the audio head The first video recorder was developed in 1956 by the US Ampex Corporation. It recorded television pictures a line at a time across the width of 50mm-wide magnetic tape. The first video recorder for home use was deve- loped by the European Philips company in 1972. The most popular home video system or format is now VHS, the Video Home System developed by JVC in Japan in the mid 1970s. It uses cassettes of 12.65mm-wide tape.