Ruvi
Encyclopedia
The Sony
Ruvi was an analog video
and still video camera
released in 1998. The Ruvi was considerably smaller than any other camcorder available at the time, at 124 × 66 × 44.1 mm and 380g. This made the Ruvi small enough to keep inside a shirt pocket. Ruvi is an abbreviation of Recording Unit by Video.
The small size was achieved by making the tape essentially non-removable. A miniature "video cartridge" contained thirty minutes of Hi8 tape permanently loaded around a conventional helical scan
record head. The head itself was part of the cartridge, negating the need for a loading mechanism. Although user-replaceable, the cartridge was intended to be a service part and not a form of removable media
.
The Ruvi contained several features that were considered innovative at the time of its release. The camera had high-density electronics packaging and a color-reflective LCD screen. The Ruvi also featured mechanical linkages for zoom optics. It could record up to three hundred and fifty stills on the cartridge, each still being able to hold up to five seconds of audio, and a search function that would display them all in sequence. An "End Search" button automatically located the end of recorded material, readying the camera for new recordings.
Though it was considered an engineering marvel at the time of its release, the Ruvi only achieved mild success, mainly due to certain engineering trade offs to achieve a smaller size (such as using two AA batteries for power instead of the standard plug-in rechargeable battery). As a result, only one model was ever produced, the CCD-CR1, before the system was discontinued in 1999. The Ruvi was never released in the United States
.
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
Ruvi was an analog video
Camcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
and still video camera
Still video camera
A still video camera is a type of electronic camera that takes still images and stores them as single frames of video. They peaked in popularity in the late 1980s and can be seen as the predecessor to the digital camera...
released in 1998. The Ruvi was considerably smaller than any other camcorder available at the time, at 124 × 66 × 44.1 mm and 380g. This made the Ruvi small enough to keep inside a shirt pocket. Ruvi is an abbreviation of Recording Unit by Video.
The small size was achieved by making the tape essentially non-removable. A miniature "video cartridge" contained thirty minutes of Hi8 tape permanently loaded around a conventional helical scan
Helical scan
Helical scan is a method of recording high bandwidth signals onto magnetic tape. It is used in reel-to-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives....
record head. The head itself was part of the cartridge, negating the need for a loading mechanism. Although user-replaceable, the cartridge was intended to be a service part and not a form of removable media
Removable media
In computer storage, removable media refers to storage media which is designed to be removed from the computer without powering the computer off.Some types of removable media are designed to be read by removable readers and drives...
.
The Ruvi contained several features that were considered innovative at the time of its release. The camera had high-density electronics packaging and a color-reflective LCD screen. The Ruvi also featured mechanical linkages for zoom optics. It could record up to three hundred and fifty stills on the cartridge, each still being able to hold up to five seconds of audio, and a search function that would display them all in sequence. An "End Search" button automatically located the end of recorded material, readying the camera for new recordings.
Though it was considered an engineering marvel at the time of its release, the Ruvi only achieved mild success, mainly due to certain engineering trade offs to achieve a smaller size (such as using two AA batteries for power instead of the standard plug-in rechargeable battery). As a result, only one model was ever produced, the CCD-CR1, before the system was discontinued in 1999. The Ruvi was never released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.