As technologies improve, so have videotape recorders. They have become portable and become smaller than before. Also other special equipment and other special features has been created but the basic structure remains the same.

Video recorders and players utilizes a videotape. Videotape is a plastic strip covered with particles of iron oxide. As videotape travels through the videotape recorder, the recorder forms patterns of magnetization in the iron oxide. These patterns represent television signals. The recorder uses electricity and magnetism to form the patterns. It converts the TV signal into electric current, which travels through wire coils of small electromagnets called heads. A head is a ring of metal that has a narrow cut called a gap. Opposite the gap, a coil of wire is wrapped around the ring. This coil conducts the current corresponding to the TV signal. The current produces a strong magnetic field in the ring.

Without the invention of the videotape recorder, it would be hard to record events that are special to us. It could be used in the home, in schools, and especially in television industry. Different special events and also it has lead to development of other media equipment.