The

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

Ruvi is an analog

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

and still video camera released in 1998. The Ruvi was considerably smaller than any other camcorder available at the time, at 124 mm × 66 mm × 44.1 mm and 380 g. 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 The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 (analog recording) format and its improved successor Hi8 (analog video and analog audio but with provision for digital audio), as well as ...

tape permanently loaded around a conventional

helical scan Helical scan is a method of recording high-frequency signals on magnetic tape. It is used in open-reel video tape recorders, video cassette recorders, digital audio tape recorders, and some computer tape drives. History Earl E Masterson fro ...

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 Expandable storage is a form of computer storage that is designed to be inserted and removed from a system. Some forms of removable media, such as optical discs, require a reader to be installed in the computer, while others, such as USB flash dr ...

. 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 350 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 achieved only 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 briefly released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

References

External links

digicamhistory.com Ruvi DDC-CR1 gdgt.com Ruvi DDC-CR1photo Ruvi DDC-CR1 tape door opendigicamhistory.com Clear Cartridge photo
{{Video storage formats Sony camcorders Still video cameras Discontinued media formats