A photo from 1956 shows a home television tape player developed by RCA
 

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/...-master675.jpg New York Times and RCA

The concept for home videotape back in 1956. I doubt that the machine pictured could have housed the necessary tube electronics to operate a videotape playback or recording. The tape in the picture looks to be wound on ordinary reel to reel audio tape reels. Though the TV set looks like a B&W set, I don't think RCA had rectangular color CRTs in 1956. Being in B&W would make for a simpler videotape system, but I don't think there was tape back then that could hold a viewable video image. Oh, there were wider tapes that could. The picture looks like a prediction of the near future product RCA was hoping to make. A marketing mock-up.

The British and others made working video tape systems using 1/4" audio tape....To get the needed bandwidth (through tape to head speed) they ran the tape at obscenely high linear speeds (with fixed video and audio heads) that limited the record time of a reel like that to a few minutes. I believe that a working monochrome linear A/V track VTR could be built in that package back then....It just would have had pathetic recording run time.

Fisher Price had a similar item in the 80's called Pixelvision 2000, It used standard Audio Cassettes to record video at a low resolution.

There's a small cult following for these and there are examples of the video on YouTube.
The Cameras used to sell for big bucks a while back, not sure about now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFNkdHDaPNQ

The hubris of RCA in the day is breathtaking. Home video tape before Ampex broadcast. A hint of a connection to the failed Bing Crosby attempts which used a 1/4" spool the size of a kids swimming pool. Let's buy the Ampex BW decks and modify them to our own color format. Oops...the FCC did not like that. Calling Ed Reitan. Ok...lets sell a three rack wide 2" quad with tubes in BW.

I like the TV set in the picture, looks like it's black Lacquer, or maybe it's just a dark picture.

Why is it sitting on those little pods? Were they just trying to raise it up level with the Recorder for the photo shoot?

Never mind on the first question, it a dark picture, found this on CED Magic and it's a regular Cherry Colored set.
The picture is reversed however, look at the Deluxe script! (and the knobs)

http://www.cedmagic.com/history/rca-hear-see-player.jpg

It's the General himself laying hands via his own reverential and inventive palms on a reversed photo of a standard BW set of the day and in front of a dumbstruck engineer unaware of his magical corporate powers. RCA has invented home video and all gifts flow through his hands...even backwards. Where is the camera?

Eric, you are the best to find this.

Deluxe script looks readable to me in the posted photo....Your computer is not mirroring the image on you is it? On my screen the TV is right of the Tape deck.

It's okay in the B&W picture the OP posted, but backwards in the color photo I linked from CED Magic's Site in post #6.

Here's the direct link:
http://www.cedmagic.com/history/rca-...ee-player.html

That's just what I was thinking of. So using reel to reel tape might have been possible...if impractical.

LOL!!!! Looks as good of quality as the video i sent you to dub for me.

The content differs a bit......... BY FAR :D

SR

Unit looks like an old Magnecord cobbled up with a bunch of extra rollers & stuff.

From a tape transport standpoint, it's possible it's a real thing. The exaggerated distances in the tape path could be to take up slack during FF/RW of much higher tape speed recordings. Absent "logic controlled" transport, the usual way was to add 6+ inches of takeup in the mechanism. Audio decks of the day made do with about 1" of slack take-up.

I believe Pixelvision uses fm recording (of a CCD-captured signal). Data recorders back in the day used fm as well.

Chip

Here's a photo I found in the RCA Archives at the David Sarnoff Library

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...65&oe=569018F1

.

Well, that's interesting. Maybe a closed-loop/isolated tape transport (twin capstans), plus an interesting tape half-twist on a couple of guides.

Chip