April 17, 2020

One of the orders that was dropped off to my studio today was a large crate filled with U-Matic videotapes.

The U-Matic 3/4 inch videotape cassette, made by Sony, was the very first video format to contain the tape within a cassette. Prior to its creation, all videotapes were designed as an open reel or reel to reel format.

Originally planned for consumer use, it did not prove popular in that market due to its high manufacturing cost which resulted in expensive retail equipment. However, industrial and institutional customers had budgets that could afford this new technology so Sony quickly shifted their marketing to target the industrial, professional and educational sectors where it found widespread popularity.

During the 1970s, most local TV news stations adopted them as a time saving replacement for the 16mm film cameras which were being used for on-location news gathering. Since the videotape had immediate playback capabilities as opposed to 16mm film which required development, news stations were able to broadcast their breaking news stories much faster.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio Mount Dora specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of films, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.