Conclusion

As this report has sought to show, the history of video recording technology cannot be understood in terms of a linear development, from primitive to advanced; or from boring to entertaining. The way in which the technology developed was not predetermined by a demand from society for entertainment, or by governments for propaganda. It was the result of a convergence of multiple technologies, a process that was itself subject to political and social circumstances. In this co-constitutive process, both technology and people determine the form of video recording technology that would emerge; and both determine how they would use it. In the final analysis, the remarkable similarities between digital video and earlier forms of motion pictures, forces us to reconsider the claim by the IT and the entertainment industries that higher definition videos, even 3-D or 4-D, will bring deeper meaning to what we watch, or bring greater enjoyment.

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