Once you capture an image, you have to find some way to record it. In the early days of television, there was no way to record shows. Well, there was one way--pointing a movie camera at the TV screen--not exactly a good solution. (The name for this lame process was "Kinescope").

Then, in 1956, Ampex (an American company) invented the first video recorder. It was bigger than a refrigerator and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The tape was a monstrous two inches wide and wrapped around massive reels nearly the size and weight of an inflated car tire.

We’ve come a long way. Today, there are lots of different methods of recording out there, each with strengths and weaknesses.