What's iVDR, you ask? Only a whole new product class designed to replace mechanical video tape recorders and destined to revolutionize recording and distribution!

For example, an iVDR can record two channels and play out two channels all at the same time. The system is completely networkable. This means you could use the iVDR to record onto a DVD-R while at the same time outputting a Quicktime movie or AVI file! In short, it combines --

• the operational characteristics of a server,
• the usability and control of a tape machine, and
• the plug-and-play networking of a PC.

Just to show you how far this technology has come, herewith is a brief history of the A/V cosmos:

As a famous singer, Bing Crosby in 1948 was keenly interested in the technology to preserve his audio recordings. Living in the Bay Area, Crosby helped fund the AMPEX company, inventor of magnetic tape that transformed the recording industry. The AMPEX claim to fame was its 2-inch quad reel-to-reel video recorders Hollywood used for television shows. (WMS still has a couple of these historical archive reels, if you ever want to see what they looked like!)

In the early 70's, companies like Sony improved on the format and invented ¾-inch videocassettes for television recording. As a result, TV production business boomed. Corporate America hopped on the bandwagon when they saw an inexpensive way to reach their employees and customers through these videocassettes. The 80's brought even greater quality and clarity of pictures through a format called BetaCamSP. Then digital video recorders followed in the 90's that improved picture quality even more.

One common denominator among all these formats was the need for mechanical parts to pull the video through guides and pulleys. That's an obsolete requirement now, thanks to iVDR!