a
type of videocassette format newly created by
Sony Corporation in the
late 1960s. Consisting of a
hard plastic,
self-contained cassette, it
holds a 3/4 inch high
tape for recording or playing back video. Although too bulky and expensive for
home use, they became popular for educational and industrial
use, such as in broadcast and video
production and dominated the
market in the early 1970s.