1970           When video tape recorders were introduced to the general public they were first developed with an open reel.  However, at the beginning of the seventies with the market expanding, emphasis had been on models in which the tape is contained in cassettes, as in audio models.  It became necessary for all the video tape recorder producers to agree upon on certain standards, the most important being the style of the videotape.
         Philips Company finished its newest project: a video cassette recorder (VCR) in October of 1970 and was put on the market in April 1972.  The cassette design replaced the old, bulky reel-to-reel system.
        Dupont and BASF begin offering chromium dioxide recording tapes.  Also, Sony introduced the U-Matic video tape recorder.  The U-Matic did not succeed on the consumer market, but was greatly accepted by schools and television stations.