• Ever since Thomas Edison and Louis Lumiere developed the first moving picture cameras, people have been fascinated with movies. Images recorded on celluloid film gave way over time to better technologies. Magnetic tape began to see widespread use in the 1950s, and twenty years later, videotape recording of movies became popular. Now movies are stored on high definition optical discs or as digital files. The way we watch and store movies has undergone many changes.
  
  

In the Beginning

• In 1893 the very first motion picture camera was invented by Thomas Alva Edison. In just a few years, silent movie cinemas were all over the country and America was officially hooked on movies. These first films were simply a series of pictures on celluloid film which were projected on a screen by shining a bright light through them. The technology was simple but effective. In 1927 a sound track was added to the film and audiences all over America flocked to the theater to watch "The Jazz Singer" make movie history.
  
  

New Technologies Emerge

• During the 1950s the technology began to change again. Films started being stored on magnetic tape. This happened alongside the early development of magnetic tape recording of audio signals. The technology was adapted from captured Nazi sound recording equipment brought back to America after WWII.
  
  The History of Magnetic Recording, a document published by the University of San Diego, records that 1953's "The Robe" was the first film recorded on stock with a four track magnetic tape sound track. Called CinemaScope, this technology eventually influenced the development by the Navy of magnetic data storage for computers. Navy Project Goldberg developed the first magnetic data disc.
  
  

The Video Revolution

• Competition between Japanese and American corporations led to the next revolution in movie storage. Developed as an extension of eight track audio cassette technology, the video tape recorder caused a marketing war between rivals Sony and JVC. Sony introduced the Beta VCR format to compete with JVC and the VHS video recorder. By the end of the 1970s, Beta was dead and inexpensive VHS Video Cassette Recorders were becoming more common.
  
  By the middle of the 1980s, the price of a VCR had shrunk from over a thousand dollars to less than two hundred dollars and millions were being sold. The movie studios were quick to begin selling movies on VHS tape to consumers and the new video rental stores.
  
  

Going Digital

• As with all things, the VCR is nearly a memory today. The combining of video storage technology with computer technology led to better methods of movie storage as well as to new and unique problems. The digital age is here.
  
  Researchers learned to store data on optical discs and to retrieve the data using a laser beam. The first of these compact discs were too small to hold full movies, but soon better ways were found to compress data, and the Digital Video Disc was born.
  
  

Movies on the Internet

• "High-Definition DVD Format War," published by U.C. Berkeley, describes the latest video war. Technology has evolved to allow the storage of movies in high definition. Toshiba Corp.'s HD DVD is vying for dominance in the video market with Sony's Blu-ray discs. Both technologies have support in the film entertainment industry. At this time it's too soon to say which technology will win.
  
  Digital compression of movies has led to watching and storing films as digital data files on computers. Many films are stored on the Internet for viewing and downloading. Companies like Blockbuster and Netflix now allow their subscribers to view feature films on their websites.