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B E K E R S '   C U R I O U S    E V R   D O N A T I O N S  .   .   . 

Of all the film-based video formats kicking around or being considered, EVR (Electronic Video Recording) made the greatest impact, mainly because of the heavyweight status of its developers. Head of the technology team was Dr Peter Goldmark, president and director of research at CBS Laboratories, who had been involved in developing the CBS color television that almost became the US standard and was responsible for the LP disc.  CBS retained North American rights and formed the EVR Partnership for the rest of the world.  Members of the EVR Partnership with CBS were Imperial Chemical Industries of the UK and Ciba-Geigy, the Swiss chemicals firm. CBS acxtually announced EVR in October 1967. The 750 ft film was stored on a seven-inch diameter spool in a plastic cartridge. It used a twin-track 8.75mm film onto which signals were transferred by electron beam recording.  It was thus not an electronic image, not really 'video' (except in the sense that it player back on a TV set) and certainly not intended for home recording.  The players did feature still framing and manual individual frame advance. The first public demonstration was staged at the Internavex exhibition in London in July 1969.  Queen Elizabeth (see below) came along in her tiara and decorations to inspect the system. She seems duely impressed . . . CBS created a 13-minute film about EVR worth watching if for nothing else than its dated, corporate look.  It is here. Please be sure to click on the cartridge or the player images at the top of this page top learn more about each item. And for those moved to learn more about the whole EVR saga, Click Here for an interesting essay (reprinted by permission) by Catlin Hammer entitled A Spectacular Failure, The History of Electronic Video Recording.