"It didn't come onto the market as a home unit," Pfost told fellow members of Cupertino's Viewfinders Camcorder Club during a Nov. 9 presentation. "It came onto the market for use by schools and as a portable unit for television stations."

Pfost recently received an Emmy award for helping lay the groundwork for today's smaller, more user-friendly VCRs and DVD players. The Emmy, his third, was in honor of his lifetime achievement in video technology and engineering. Pfost was awarded his first Emmy in 1958 for his work on the video recorder and his second in 1967 for inventing the slow-motion recorder that powers instant replays in sports.

Pfost's other inventions include the first hard-disk data recorder for computers. He holds 50 U.S. patents.

Pfost developed the video recorder for Ampex Corp. along with a team that included Ray Dolby, who went on to invent the movie theater sound system that bears his name.

"Ray Dolby reached the billionaire level last year when he took his company public," Pfost told the Viewfinders. "He was a student at Stanford University when he was working with us on the video recorder part-time. We needed him more, so he dropped out of school."

That move led Dolby to lose his exempt status, and he was subsequently drafted into military service.

Despite these and other setbacks, Ampex was first to market with the video recorder.

"Our project was nearly cancelled on two occasions, and we were up against RCA, a formidable opponent," Pfost recalled.

The Ampex team unveiled its recorder at a 1956 convention, and RCA decided it couldn't compete. Unfortunately, Pfost said, Ampex didn't move quickly enough to establish its new product in the marketplace, allowing Japanese companies to corner the market on video technology.

"They developed the VCRs you see today," Pfost said.

Ampex went bankrupt, and Pfost moved on to consult for a company started by another ex-Ampex employee.

Among the many honors he has gathered over the years, Pfost holds the position of fellow in the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, and his peers have voted him into the Video Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Locally, a photo of Pfost and the rest of his old Ampex team is on view at the Sunnyvale Fry's Electronics store.

"It's on the wall with a bunch of other photos," Pfost said. "Go to the back of the store and look up."

The Viewfinders Camcorder Club meets the second Wednesday of each month, 7:30-9:30pm, at the Quinlan Community Center, 10185 N. Stelling Road, Cupertino. For more information, visit www.ascentjobs.org/viewfinders.