Analog video in the context of Composite video

A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as time shifting. VCRs can also play back prerecorded tapes, which were widely available for purchase and rental starting in the 80s and 90s, most popularly in the VHS videocassette format. Blank tapes were sold to make recordings.

VCRs declined in popularity during the 2000s and in 2016, Funai Electric, the last remaining manufacturer, ceased production.

Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises a series of digital images displayed in rapid succession, usually at 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second. Digital video has many advantages, such as easy copying, multicasting, sharing and storage.

Digital video was first introduced commercially in 1986 with the Sony D1 format, which recorded an uncompressed standard-definition component video signal in digital form. In addition to uncompressed formats, popular compressed digital video formats today include MPEG-2, H.264 and AV1. Modern interconnect standards used for playback of digital video include HDMI, DisplayPort, Digital Visual Interface (DVI) and serial digital interface (SDI).

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a brand of proprietary digital interface used to transmit high-quality video and audio signals between devices. It is commonly used to connect devices such as televisions, computer monitors, projectors, gaming consoles, and personal computers. HDMI supports uncompressed video and either compressed or uncompressed digital audio, allowing a single cable to carry both signals.

Introduced in 2003, HDMI largely replaced older analog video standards such as composite video, S-Video, and VGA in consumer electronics. It was developed based on the CEA-861 standard, which was also used with the earlier Digital Visual Interface (DVI). HDMI is electrically compatible with DVI video signals, and adapters allow interoperability between the two without signal conversion or loss of quality. Adapters and active converters are also available for connecting HDMI to other video interfaces, including the older analog formats, as well as digital formats such as DisplayPort.

CV-2000 was one of the world's first home video tape recorders (VTR), introduced by Sony in August 1965. The 'CV' in the model name stood for 'Consumer Video' (消費者向けビデオ, shōhishamuke bideo). This was Sony's domestic format throughout the 1960s. It was the first fully transistorized VCR.

The CV-2000 was developed by Sony engineer Nobutoshi Kihara. On its release, the CV-2000D machine was listed for US$695—equivalent to $6,935 in 2024—while a portable version in a more durable case, the CV-2000, was listed for $730—equivalent to $7,284 in 2024. It used 1⁄2-inch-wide (13 mm) video tape in a reel-to-reel format, meaning the tape had to be manually threaded around the helical scan video head drum. The CV-2000 was one-tenth the weight and price of other analog video recording products of its era. It recorded television programs in black and white using the skip field process, which produced a maximum 200-lines resolution. The tape moved at a speed of 7.5 inches per second. Two different reels were marketed: A reel of video tape listed for about US$22—equivalent to $220 in 2024—had 30-minute playtime, and video-tape reel listed for about US$40 could hold one hour of video. Although CV-2000 was aimed at the home market, it was mainly used in business and educational institutions.

YPbPr or ${\displaystyle Y'P'bP'r}$, also written as YP_BP_R, is a color space used in video electronics, in particular in reference to component video cables. Like YC_BC_R, it is based on gamma corrected RGB primaries; the two are numerically equivalent but YP_BP_R is designed for use in analog systems while YC_BC_R is intended for digital video. The EOTF (gamma correction) may be different from common sRGB EOTF and BT.1886 EOTF. Sync is carried on the Y channel and is a bi-level sync signal, but in HD formats a tri-level sync is used and is typically carried on all channels.

YP_BP_R is commonly referred to as component video by manufacturers; however, there are many types of component video, most of which are some form of RGB. Some video cards come with video-in video-out (VIVO) ports for connecting to component video devices.

Video capture is the process of converting an incoming digital or analog video signal (and accompanying audio)—such as that produced by a video camera, or any other video source—for the purposes of using a computer, the cloud, content delivery network or AI servers to process, broadcast, provide image recognition, or otherwise share the captured video.

The earliest 16-bit ISA capture cards emerged in the early 90s. These cards were supported by VIDCAP as part of the Video for Windows package. One early card was a sandwich of two cards as early processors needed more logic to even get up to 15 frames per second (fps).

Component video is an analog video signal that has been split into two or more component channels. In popular use, it refers to a type of component analog video (CAV) information that is transmitted or stored as three separate signals. Component video can be contrasted with composite video in which all the video information is combined into a single signal that is used in analog television. Like composite, component cables do not carry audio and are often paired with audio cables.

When used without any other qualifications, the term component video usually refers to analog YP_BP_R component video with sync on luma (Y) found on analog high-definition televisions and associated equipment from the 1990s through the 2000s when they were largely replaced with HDMI and other all-digital standards. Component video cables and their RCA jack connectors on equipment are normally color-coded red, green and blue, although the signal is not in RGB. YPbPr component video can be losslessly converted to the RGB signal that internally drives the monitor; the encoding is useful as the Y signal will also work on black and white monitors.

S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate channels, achieving higher image quality than composite video which encodes all video information on one channel. It also eliminates several types of visual defects such as dot crawl which commonly occur with composite video. Although it is improved over composite video, S-Video has lower color resolution than component video, which is encoded over three channels.

The Atari 800 was the first to introduce separate Chroma/Luma output in late 1979. However, S-Video was not widely adopted until JVC's introduction of the S-VHS (Super-VHS) format in 1987, which is why it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as Super-Video.

Audio connectors and video connectors are electrical or optical connectors for carrying audio or video signals. Audio interfaces or video interfaces define physical parameters and interpretation of signals. Some connectors and interfaces carry either audio only or video only, whereas others carry both, audio and video.

For digital audio and digital video, this can be thought of as defining the physical layer, data link layer, and most or all of the application layer. For analog audio and analog video these functions are all represented in a single signal specification like NTSC or the direct speaker-driving signal of analog audio.

Video in video out (usually seen as the acronym VIVO), commonly pronounced (/ˈvi.voʊ/ VEE-voh), is a graphics port which enables some video cards to have bidirectional (input and output) analog video transfer through a mini-DIN connector, usually of the 9-pin variety, and a specialised splitter cable (which can sometimes also transfer analog audio).

VIVO was found on high-end ATI and NVIDIA computer video cards, sometimes labeled "TV OUT". VIVO on these graphics cards typically supports composite, component, and S-Video as outputs, and composite and S-Video as inputs. Many other video cards only support component and/or S-Video outputs to complement VGA or DVI, typically using a component breakout cable and an S-Video cable. While component-out operation supports high-definition resolutions, it does not support the HDCP standard which would be required for official HDTV support as set out by the EICTA.

The videotape format war was a period of competition or "format war" of incompatible models of consumer-level analog videocassette formats and video cassette recorders (VCRs) in the late 1970s and the 1980s, mainly involving the Betamax and VHS (Video Home System) formats. VHS ultimately emerged as the preeminent format.