When was VHS introduced and who made it?
VHS was introduced by JVC in Japan on the 31st of October 1976, when the company began selling the HR-3300 VCR in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. The format reached the United States in mid-1977.
Questions about VHS
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Why did VHS win the format war against Betamax?
VHS won primarily because its cassettes offered two hours of recording time from the start, while early Betamax machines were limited to one hour. VHS also had stronger manufacturer backing, with Matsushita, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Sharp all supporting the format, keeping unit prices lower than Betamax. By 1980, VHS held 60 percent of the North American market.
What copy protection did VHS tapes use?
The dominant VHS copy protection system was called Macrovision. It worked by inserting deliberate errors into a protected tape's video signal that disrupted the automatic gain control circuits of a second VCR trying to record the content. It was first used commercially on the 1984 film The Cotton Club and was applied to more than 550 million videocassettes annually at its peak.
When did VHS production end?
The last company to manufacture VHS equipment was Funai of Japan, which produced VCRs under the Sanyo brand in North America and ceased production in July 2016. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and other studios ended VHS production in South Korea in late 2010.
What is the most expensive VHS tape ever sold?
A VHS tape of the film Nukie sold on eBay in 2023 for 80,600 dollars, making it the most expensive VHS tape ever sold. It was listed by Red Letter Media, which had one copy professionally graded and destroyed the remaining copies to artificially inflate its value as a commentary on collector culture. All profits were donated to St Jude's Children's Research Hospital and the Wisconsin Humane Society.
What was VHS Hi-Fi audio and how did it work?
VHS Hi-Fi, introduced by JVC around 1984, recorded stereo audio using a technique called depth multiplexing, embedding the audio signal beneath the video signal on the same tape surface. It delivered a frequency response from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, a 70 dB signal-to-noise ratio, and 90 dB of dynamic range, making it comparable to CD audio quality in the consumer market of the time.