videocassette recorder (VCR), device that can record television programs or the images from a video camera on magnetic tape (see tape recorder); it can also play prerecorded tapes. A VCR converts the separate audio and video portions of a television or video camera signal to magnetic flux variations to magnetize the tape. The video recording heads move in a direction almost perpendicular to the tape movement, resulting in tracks that run diagonally across the tape width and increasing tape capacity. A camcorder combines a video camera and VCR in a single handheld machine.

The first commercially successful VCR, which used a Betamax format, was introduced in 1975. A competitive format, VHS (Video Home System), was introduced in the same year and became the dominant system. Although both systems use 0.5-in.- (13-mm-) wide tape, they are mutually incompatible; a tape recorded on one system cannot be played on the other. A third system using 0.3-in.-wide (8-mm) tape was introduced in 1984; it is used primarily in camcorders. In 1994 electronics companies agreed on international standards for a digital VCR. The introduction of the DVD (1996) and the recordable DVD (see digital versatile disc) led to a steady shift away from the VCR, and by 2003 rentals of DVDs surpassed VHS tapes.

tape recorder, device for recording information on strips of plastic tape (usually polyester) that are coated with fine particles of a magnetic substance, usually an oxide of iron, cobalt, or chromium. The coating is normally held on the tape with a special binder. Tape recorders can store many different forms of information. The first tape recorders were used to store audio information. In audio recorders, the sound to be recorded is picked up by a device such as a microphone, and transformed into an electric current. The current is fed to a transducer in the recording head of the tape recorder, which converts it into corresponding magnetic flux variations that magnetize the particles on the tape. Tape recorders always require that the recording media and the recording or playback tape heads move with respect to each other. A digital audio tape (DAT) recorder transforms the audio signals into digital pulses, which are then stored on the tape. Digital tape recording devices are also used to store information from a computer. Magnetic tape can also be used to store video information. Videocassette recorders use a rotating-head system to increase tape capacity. The recording heads move in a direction almost perpendicular to the tape movement, resulting in diagonal bands of information across the tape width. For audio tape recording, available formats include the compact cassette, digital audio tape, and digital compact cassette. For amateur videotape recording, VHS, VHS-C, SVHS, 8mm, and Hi8 are available formats. See sound recording; television.

recorder, musical wind instrument of the flute family, made of wood, varying in length, and having an inverted conical bore (largest end near the mouthpiece). Its tone is produced by an air stream against an edge, like that of the flute, but the air is conducted by a mouthpiece through a channel to the edge; intonation is somewhat less flexible on the vertical recorder than on the transverse flute. The recorder has a soft, sweet timbre which makes it an ideal chamber instrument. It was known in Europe as early as the 10th cent., and at first was the principal flute instrument. By the 16th cent. it was made in a variety of sizes, and in the 17th and early 18th cent. it was a very important solo, chamber, and orchestral instrument. Until c.1750, the term flute referred to the recorder; the transverse flute was always distinguished by a qualifying adjective. After that time the recorder was too weak for the continually growing orchestra, and it fell into disuse until the revival of interest in older music and instruments in the early 20th cent. Since it lacks keys and a complicated embouchure, the recorder is one of the few instruments of artistic importance easily played by an amateur, a fact that has contributed to its growing popularity. It has a huge literature of solo and ensemble music from the 16th to 18th cent., to which many 20th-century composers have added. Related to the recorder is the flageolet, which differs mainly in that it has fewer holes, usually six, two of which are closed by the thumbs. It was known as early as the 16th cent. and has seldom figured in serious music.

in full videocassette recorder

Electromechanical device that records, stores on a videotape cassette, and plays back on a TV set recorded images and sound. The first commercial VCRs were marketed by Sony Corp. in 1969. VCRs are used to record broadcast TV programs for later viewing and to play commercially recorded cassettes. They have from two to seven tape heads that read and inscribe video and audio tracks on magnetic tape. Home movies can be made with a camcorder system, a VCR connected to a simple video camera.

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In music, a cylindrical, usually wooden, wind instrument with fingerholes. As a fipple (duct) flute, its rather soft tones are produced by air blown against the sharp edge of an opening in the tube. The large recorder family includes instruments ranging from the sopranino to the contrabass. The recorder emerged in the 14th century and was widely used in ensembles and orchestras in the late Renaissance and throughout the Baroque era. Displaced by the transverse flute after the mid-18th century, it was revived in the 20th century.

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Instrument that records the performance and condition of an aircraft in flight. Regulatory agencies require these devices on commercial aircraft to make possible the analysis of crashes or other unusual occurrences. They are housed in heavy steel within layers of insulation, protecting them against impacts and fires. The recording tape is also protected against inadvertent erasure and contact with seawater. It records airspeed, altitude, heading, vertical acceleration, and aircraft pitch. It also includes a separate device that records voice communication within the aircraft and by radio. Both recorders are carried in the tail of the aircraft.

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