Piero Angela in 1959: the magnetic tape

ARTS AND SCIENCES

NEWS REPORTS

CURATED BY
LEONE PICCIONI

REALIZED BY
RAIMONDO MUSU

TECHNOLOGY

From the Paris expo,

Piero Angela tells us
about a technical novelty...

...that will be extraordinarily
important for television.

A revolutionary procedure...

...in the field of
image reproduction is displayed...

...at the American pavilion
at the Paris expo.

For the first time
since photography exists.

since cinema exists,

it won't be necessary
to use film tape...

...to reproduce an image,

but a magnetic tape will suffice:

the videotape,
the television recorder.

Here's how it works.

Here is a normal camera,

which sends the picture
to the van outside,

van normally equipped
for television filming.

And down here is the magnetic recorder.

Look at the spinning reels:

the working principle is exactly
the same as a voice recorder.

The speed is the same,
15 inches per second.

The maneuvers are the same too:

a series of buttons to stop the tape,

rewind it, inserting or removing
the recording at will.

The tape is simply taller,
it's 5 centimeters tall.

The upper part records sound,

the lower part the image.

How does it record the picture?

Exactly as with the sound.

Lights and shadows are translated
into electric impulses,

and a magnetic head,

above the recorder,

imprints on the tape.