"Gone are the days where you had to choose between the big game or dinner with the family." [3]

Summary

Home videos began with the invention of the VHS and like all old things, was soon replaced by the DVD. Now the DVD and TiVo are competing in todays world. When the VHS was invented society was not as consumed by the television unlike today's world were the average person has at least two televisions in their home.

History of the VHS

The VHS also known as the video home system is a recording and playing standard developed by Victor Company of Japan, limited and launched in Europe/Asia in September 1976.[1] The VHS was used to watch movies and to record selected shows. The videotape is a means of recording television pictures and accompanying sound onto magnetic tape as opposed to movie film.[2] The developement of the VHS allowed for people to record their favorite television program and then watch them at a later time. As the VHS became a popular home video, it lead to the invention of the VHS machine. The VHS machine rewinded or fast-forward the video. The invention of the VHS allowed for viewer to rent movies and watch them. You no longer had to go to the movie theater or wait to see if they put it on TV.

The end of VHS and the Rise of DVD

DVD rentals soon surpassed the VHS rentals in the US in 2003, by 2006 most major film studios stopped releasing new movie titiles in VHS format, opting for DVD-only releases.[1] The DVD also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" is a popular optical disc storage media format.[1] Its main uses are for watching videos or storing data. DVD as an industry standard was announced in November 1995 and backed by major players in the CE, IT and movie industry.[3] The first DVD players appeared in Japan in November,1996, followed by U.S. players in March, 1997.[3] Matshusita was the company mainly responsible for the development of DVD as it is today. Philips, was one of the first companies to make CD players, was the first to make a DVD player. The invention of the DVD cannot be attributed to one person or one company.[3] As more and more movies come out they are no longer distributing them in VHS most resent movies are only on DVDs.

The Beginning of TiVo

TiVo was incorporated on August 4, 2007 as "Teleworld, INC." by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay.[1] They created the idea to record digitzed videos on a hard disk. TiVo was created so that viewers would never miss their favorite episode and to ensure that viewers could find and record shows that matched their interests.[1] It allowed viewers to selection a show based on their favorite actor, by title, or catergory. The selected show can be stored until the hard disk is full or until you erase it.[1] TiVo also lets you record two weeks ahead if you choose and then the viewer can watch it when ever they want.

Implications for Media Ecology

First came the VHS then the DVD and now TiVo and DVR. Much like first came radio then came television. Our society started out as a family unit that was connected by one radio or one certain television show. Now with the average family having at least two televisions we are seperated by the one thing that united a family. DVDs and TiVo allow families to record their favorite shows and then watch them whenever they want. Most likely while the mom and dad sit in the living room watching their previously recorded evening news. Their children are in their rooms watching MTV or The OC. As a society we spend our extra 30 minutes in day catching up with our favorite TV episode, when we should spend it with our families.

References

1."Wikipedia".nov.29.2008

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

2."Burn World- History of VideoTape".Nov.29.2008

http://www.burnworld.com/dvd/primer/history-of-videotape.htm

3. "Digital Video Recorder History of TiVo"