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YouTube adds 'tape mode' to celebrate 57 years of noisy recordings

YouTube adds 'tape mode' to celebrate 57 years of noisy recordings

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youtube vhs mode
youtube vhs mode

You could be forgiven for not having the 57th anniversary of commercial videotape recording marked in your diary, but YouTube is here with a reminder. Certain videos on the site now give you the option to watch them in "tape mode," bringing all the fun of static and fuzz to your modern viewing experience. It's all in memory of the Ampex VRX-1000, which is commonly considered the world's first practical videotape recorder and blew competitors away when it was shown off on April 14th, 1956 at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention. If you'd like to know more about the device's place in history, LabGuy's World has a transcript of lead engineer Charles P. Ginsburg's presentation on its development.