In the early 1970's I implemented the driver for, and programs using, a digital videotape drive (IIRC, it incorporated an Ampex 2 inch reel-to-reel recorder, an

In the early 1970's I implemented the driver for, and programs using, a digital videotape drive (IIRC, it incorporated an Ampex 2 inch reel-to-reel recorder, and used the sound track for positioning information). It used hardware Reed-Solomon error correction (IIRC, it was capable of correcting up to 11-bit errors). It stored a massive (for the time) database of scanned drawings for a number of aircraft maintenance manuals.