PVR Wire

Here at PVR Wire we always keep you posted with the latest cutting edge PVR technology and news. But I would like to step back from that today and take a quick look at the history of PVRs.

We all think of PVRs as being something relatively recent only coming about at the turn of the 21st century. In fact the first Digital Video Recorder was tested back in 1965 on July 8. This was done when CBS were investigating the possibilities of freeze frame and rewind for sporting event broadcasts.

It was freeze framing and slow motion video that inspired the first commercial hard disk recorder, the Ampex HS-100 (pictured left), which was released back in 1967. By spinning a metal disc at 1800 rpm with a series of metal heads moving across the platter the HS-100 could record a grand total of 30 seconds of analog video to a digital hard disk at a rate of 30 frames per second.

By slowing down the recording heads a slow motion effect could be created and if the heads were stopped as the platter continued to spin at 1800 rpm a freeze frame effect was created.

The Ampex HS-100 made digital recording history when it was used for rapid playback in normal, slow motion and freeze frame action for the "World Series of Skiing" program from the U.S Ski Championships in Colorado.

The HS-100 recording only 30 seconds of video seems almost laughable compared to the 100GB plus PVRs we see today. The digital video recorder has come along way since its initial use for instant replays in commercial television but it was over 30 years before the PVR entered our households mainly held back by the small storage capacities of hard disks.

It was in 1999 when TiVo and ReplayTV launched the first household commercial PVRs. The first TiVo PVR had a modest 14GB hard drive which could record only 14 hours of video. TiVo of course went on to become a household name and PVRs still continue to grow in popularity and grow in their technical capacity.